eCommerce Sales Continue to Rock On

We all know eCommerce continues to grow rapidly and is dramatically changing the retail landscape.

But it's nice to quantify growth that every now and again.

Estimates of US eCommerce sales and growth vary depending on the source, so we'll just go with the Commerce Dept. numbers, which come out quarterly, with several weeks of lag after the quarter's end.

So here are the numbers in terms of year over year percentage growth in the US over the past few quarters, including Q1 2015, the most recent estimate.

Source: US Commerce Dept.

So, year over year growth has been in the 14-16% range for most recent quarters, meaning eCommerce sales will double about every five years. Obviously, that is many times faster than overall retail sales growth, which was about 3.6%, according to US government data, though again different sources have different numbers.

eCommerce growth is strong - but Amazon.com's numbers are even stronger. Its 2014 full year merchandise sales in the US were up an incredible 28.5% in 2014, far higher than general ecommerce sales. So it is continues to gain market share.

Someday soon, Amazon might even find a way turn all that growth into a reasonable profit.