Most Americans have changed their buying behavior, ordering goods online almost daily as a need arises or just on a whim. In fact, e-commerce sales were up 39% in the first quarter of this year vs. the year prior.

But, what are U.S. consumers buying online? Here we take a look at the top types of products being purchased and delivered.

Food

We all know more food than ever came to our doors during the pandemic. According to the Wall Street Journal, that translated to a $28 billion increase in the US Food Delivery business for total sales of $51 billion in 2020. Looking to the future as brick and mortar restaurants reopen, it will be interesting to see how that number shifts.

But even if food delivery levels off or hits the skids, online grocery sales are expected to continue to grow and grow. They hit nearly $100 billion in 2020, an increase of over 50% from the previous year. One analysis shows that by 2024, grocery delivery will be a $188 billion dollar industry.

Fashion Items

With malls becoming fulfillment centers for e-commerce retailers, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that clothes and shoes are two of the top deliveries coming to homes across the United States. In 2020, 46% of all clothing and apparel sales came via digital channels, up from 30% in 2019 and 27% in 2018.

Of course, the pandemic and stores closing had a lot to do with this bump, but don’t expect it to reverse course. Pre-internet, clothing catalogs made people comfortable shopping for apparel at home and the world wide web has only made things easier for consumers as they dropped $111 billion on apparel in 2020 alone. Usually malleable and small, most of the products in this category fit nicely in a delivery lock box.

Cosmetics

Personal care and beauty products are predicted to be a $511 billion industry, and with 22% of those sales coming via digital channels, that makes for a lot of deliveries of hair care, skin care, fragrance, shaving and hair removal, makeup and oral care products.

Online shopping is the third most popular way to get beauty and grooming products and that market is continuing to grow in the percentage of overall sales while in-store sales continue to lose percentage points.

In fact, it is predicted that by 2023, e-commerce will account for nearly 50% of the United States’ personal care sales.

Tech Products

E-commerce sales for electronics has increased every year since 2017 and is expected to keep doing so at least through 2025, and probably beyond. In 2020, Americans spent $156.5 billion on consumer electronics products via digital channels.

What does that mean? In terms of sales categories, during 2020 it had the largest product share of US retail e-commerce, coming in at 22% of all online sales. This means that lots of phone tablets, computers, mobile devices, TVs, stereos and so many more expensive products are landing on door steps across the USA every day.

Games & Toys

Kids want stuff. And more stuff. And more and more and more. That’s why the second-largest online shopping category among consumers and at the top of the list of the product categories sold via Amazon are games and toys.

In 2019, the value of toys and hobby goods e-commerce sales was $16.2 billion. Driven by Barbie and Hot Wheels, Hasbro alone did almost $2 billion in sales during the Christmas quarter in 2020. The toy space is growing at such a pace that former brick and mortar juggernaut Toys R Us is being reinvented as an “omni-channel brand.”

Furniture & Decor

Think about all the home furnishing websites and apps out there that can help home owners and apartment dwellers virtually redecorate, paint and remodel spaces. Given all those tools, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that consumers are taking that knowledge and applying it to buying products online that can spruce up their homes. Across the globe, e-commerce furniture and appliance sales rose to over $250 billion in 2020 and are expected to hit almost $400 by 2022.

Customized Products

One of the reasons cosmetics are growing so much is because they give people what they want: customizable products. Over 50% of consumers want customized products and 25% are willing to shell out more for those items. It is not only items that are shipped that are customized but also the delivery, including the packaging and where, when, and how they dropped off. You can get personalized shoes, vitamins, shampoo, suits, art and more.

Subscriptions

Set it and forget it. That’s what people do with subscriptions and why they like them. There’s no thinking. Sign up and what you want comes to your door once a week, once a month, once every few months and so on and so forth. This type of passive consumerism increased more than 300% from 2012 to 2019. With help from the pandemic, the “subscription economy” is going to double to $1.5 trillion by 2025, according to UBS, a global financial services firm.

That number probably shouldn’t come as a surprise as some sources say that nearly three-quarters of all Americans receive multiple subscription boxes.

Importance of Protecting These Deliveries

With this large influx of packages at the doors of homes, it’s important for Americans to protect them from theft, inclement weather, and spoilage. Food is expensive and also perishable, which makes it doubly important to protect. Though small, cosmetics can be pricey and delicate making them critical to safeguard during the last foot. Expensive electronics should not be left just sitting unprotected unless the recipient has a delivery plan in place.

Given the size of some of the products (bed, fridges, sofas), a lot of furniture deliveries require special arrangements be made with the shipping company so that someone is there to receive the items, but many smaller items in this category (plates, vases, lamps, mirrors) can be delicate and will benefit from a secure delivery option that is strong and weatherproof.

The most flexible and safest solution for protecting all of these deliveries is a lockable, package delivery box. Adoorn's lockable package boxes are some of the worlds leading delivery box among consumers, as they are not only safe, but simple to use and work well with all of the carriers.