U.S. E-Tailing Business Information Report E-Tailing Industry

Internet retailing or e-tailing industry continues to experience significant revenue and structural growth, despite the global economic downturn that occurred over the last six years and lingers today. One of the primary catalysts of this industry's continued growth is the continued reliance on multichannel retailing and online multichannel management by retailers, who are increasingly relying on these frameworks to accelerate product lifecycles (Keh, Shieh, 73, 74). The ability to orchestrate these many online e-tailing channels across social networks is also changing the nature Internet retailing, accelerated by the intensive use of analytics for real-time reporting of transactions (Ling, Choon, Chai, Piew, 63, 64). The intent of this analysis is to define the U.S. market for e-tailing in terms of its market size, growth trends, and areas of consumer products in which online selling is pervasive and growing. In addition there are industries mentioned that are also not well-suited for e-tailing, and those are also mentioned in the context of this report. The critical success factors, advantages and disadvantages are also discussed in this analysis.

Analysis of the U.S. E-Tailing Industry

The e-tailing industry in the United States continues to be one of the most recession-resilient there is, as this industry grew at a compound...

DataMonitor and IBIS World, two market research firms specializing in quantifying the competitive dynamics and growth of the e-tailing industry, have projected $14.9B in profits on $219.2B in sales, with 52,969 businesses operating in this entire industry through the close of 2013 (Doherty, Ellis-Chadwick, 963, 65). Industry growth is projected to stabilize at 8.8% through the forecast period of 2012 to 2017(Doherty, Ellis-Chadwick, 944, 45). Amazon has 12.1% of the e-tailing market today in the U.S., and is the market share leader, followed by eBay with 2.4%.
The most significant market trends affecting this market include the continued stabilization of per capita disposable income, percentage of households who have a personal computer and increasingly smartphones and tablet PCs, the continued growth of the consumer sentiment index, and the pervasive availability and adoption of broadband throughout homes, public meeting areas and in some cases, across entire metro areas (Ling, Choon, Chai, Piew, 64, 65). All of these factors taken together create a profitable platform for current and future e-tailing growth. The majority of these factors are also well-suited for consumer products that can be quickly sold online and shipped at a relatively low cost. These include products and services, with…