Consumer Electronics: Market Share & Top Stores

Online Consumer Electronics Market in the United States: Key Insights 

• Market Dominance: Amazon.com leads the U.S. online consumer electronics market, significantly outpacing competitors. Major players like Apple, Walmart, and Best Buy also significantly shape the market's tiered competitive landscape.

• Growth Trend: The U.S. online consumer electronics market has seen significant growth, particularly due to a dramatic increase during the pandemic. It is projected to continue expanding, with revenue expected to reach US$204 billion by 2028.

• Share Fluctuations: The online share of the U.S. consumer electronics market has seen ups and downs, rising steadily until 2020, then experiencing a decline. However, it is poised to return to previous highs by 2026 and is projected to increase to 57% by 2028.

• Category Shares: Telecommunications holds the largest segment in the U.S. online consumer electronics market with a 31% share, closely followed by computing at 30%. Other categories such as TV & video, audio, and game consoles occupy smaller shares.

The online consumer electronics market in the United States has seen remarkable changes and shifts in the past few years, particularly since the pandemic.

Before diving into the market dynamics, it is better to take a look at the top players of the market.

Amazon.com: Leader in the U.S. Online Consumer Electronics Market

Looking at the top 10 online stores in the U.S. consumer electronics market, we see a tiered competitive landscape.

In the top tier, amazon.com is arguably in a league of its own. The retail giant's main domain generated nearly US$37 billion in U.S. online consumer electronics sales last year. In second place is apple.com with a respectable US$25 billion.

The second tier consists of walmart.com and bestbuy.com, which will generate US$5.8 billion and US$5.1 billion, respectively, in 2023.

The rest of the players in our top 10 belong to the third tier, with revenues ranging from US$860 million to US$1.6 billion. These online stores are dell.com, target.com, samsclub.com, costco.com, ring.com, and hp.com.

Nearly 50% Revenue Jump in 2020

The online consumer electronics market in the U.S. has made significant progress, especially with a considerable increase during the pandemic.

Back in 2017, revenue stood at US$63.5 billion. By 2019, this figure had risen to nearly US$73 billion, showing steady growth. The pandemic marked a pivotal year for online consumer electronics in the country, reaching US$107 billion in 2020 with a dramatic 47% jump in revenue.

Post-pandemic, the growth continued: By 2023, the market revenue reached US$146.3 billion. The upward trend is projected to continue, with the revenue forecast to increase to US$156.5 billion by the end of 2024.

The market is expected to keep growing strongly towards 2028, as the anticipated revenue is US$204.5 billion for that year.

Online Share Decline Since 2021
Expected to Reverse

The online share of a market is a key metric for understanding the eCommerce dynamics of a particular industry and/or country.

In the case of the US consumer electronics market, this share has experienced fluctuating trends in recent years. From 41% in 2017 to 52% in 2020, the market has seen a steady increase in online share.

However, from 2021 onwards, this share started to decline, reaching a low of 43% last year. However, the future seems optimistic for eCommerce.

The online share of the market is expected to reach 2020 levels by 2026, before increasing at a faster pace to reach 57% by 2028, according to our forecast.

Telecommunications and Computing Make Up Over Half of the Market

Looking at different sub-categories in the online consumer electronics market in the U.S., we see varying shares.

Telecommunications sit at the top with 31%, followed by Computing at 30%. While TV & Video takes up 10% of the market, rest of the market is split between Audio (6.5%), Game Consoles (3.2%) and Other (18.5%).