When Will Online Spending Exceed Spending On Motor Vehicles And Parts?

Here’s the demise of department stores and the rise of nonstore sales in pictures.

Nonstore sales surged past spending on food and drinking in March of 2020 and never looked back.

Nonstore sales are now poised to top spending on motor vehicles and parts, possibly as soon as next month.

Let’s step back and see how we got here.

Advance Retail Sales Select Categories Millions of Dollars

Select Categories Percent of Total Advance Retail Sales

Nonstore Sales Percent

I calculate the nonstore sales percentage two ways. The first is straight up. That’s 18.17 percent up from 3.20 percent in January 1992.

Second I exclude things you cannot or usually do not buy online.

You can, but usually don’t, buy cars online (and those might not get recorded properly anyway). A small percentage of grocery store sales are made online, but again this isn’t typical, and I doubt they would be properly recorded.

Other than buying a gas card online, you certainly don’t order gasoline online and have it delivered.

My exclusion percentage subtracts out all of those items. Of the items that remain, 36.37 percent of sales are online, topping the Covid spike high.

Reflections on Department Store Sales

The department store percent of total retail sales fell from 8.88 percent in January of 1992 to 1.47 percent in march of 2025.

The BLS stopped reporting department store sales in April of 2025.

If all the department stores all closed tomorrow, would anyone but the employees care? What’s the limit? Is there one?

Take It to the Limit

For more on retail sales including real inflation-adjusted sales, please see Retail Sales Up 0.5 Percent in April but Inflation-Adjusted Sales Decline

Retail sales look strong in April but it’s all a mirage of inflation.

The second chart in this post is nothing but a mirage of inflation. Click for details.