We are days away from the holiday season and all major online retailers in the US are already prepared to entice customers with their exciting deals and loyalty programs. The e-retail market in the US is a multi-trillion dollar economy. In 2019, the industry generated close to USD 4.9 trillion dollars in online sales, which is projected to cross USD 5.3 trillion in 2025. Even if we discount the 18 months of COVID-19 scare, this run-rate of revenue growth is phenomenally high. In the US, where reports speculate that there are over 4 million retail establishments, we zeroed onto the top destinations that every shopper definitely visits before making a transaction.

Here is a list of the most popular retailers in the US.

Amazon

Amazon is the world’s leading retail platform that connects merchants with online shoppers. In the US, this popular retail company occupies a lion’s share in the industry that has other big players such as Walmart, Etsy, and others. The unique product recommendation engine works in sync with various Customer experience initiatives taken up at Amazon retail and allows a shopper to make the quickest decision based on look-and-feel, pricing, and featured displays. Using AI-based recommendation engines and next-word prediction models, Amazon retail platform provides enough reasons to an online buyer to stay awed by the experience.

Compared to other e-commerce platforms, online shoppers prefer to buy more apparel, electronics, books, and jewelry from Amazon retail platform.

Etsy

Founded in 2005, this retail company deals majorly in handmade crafts, supplies, and antique goods. Last year, the e-commerce company generated $1.725 billion dollars in annual revenue. It was the first vocally-active company to encourage sellers to make face masks during the COVID-19 period.

Even during the pandemic, Etsy sellers managed to keep up with their pre-COVID momentum as far as sales are concerned. Popular items are advertised on Etsy to attract shoppers in specific categories. For example, wedding planners and event organizers are more likely to buy from Etsy than anywhere else.

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Etsy was among the first retail platforms to develop and include an AI capability. This was achieved by virtue of acquiring Blackbird Technologies in 2016. Earlier this year, the retail platform acquired Depop in a $1.6 billion USD deal.

Target

The brand that goes by the tag line “Expect More, Pay Less”, Target is a major e-commerce hub in the US.

Also known as the grand old retailer in the US, this century-old entity remained operational even during the pandemic. Often pegged as an Amazon rival in the e-commerce segment, Target is actually a handy destination for many private labels. This season, you can opt for worthy deals ahead of the shopping season.

You can even review the products and deals through numerous testimonials published on the site. Check out the useful Holiday Gathering and Gift Ideas here on Target.

Uncommon Goods

Looking for something unusual for this holiday season with popular retailers in the US?

Uncommon Goods is the ideal destination to surf through the online store and find the perfect gift for your loved ones and friends. This is actually one place where you can search for products by not just searching but also through planning using keywords related to occasions and themes. For example, anniversary, wedding, or baby shower. It works with merchants as well as individual designers who are willing to showcase their great work through Uncommon Goods.

Walmart

Walmart is another top retail house that competes directly with Amazon. Many industry analysts project online sales of up to 30% come from Walmart e-commerce, a very handsome figure that could change in the coming months in Walmart’s favor. Easily the world’s biggest company by revenue ($548 billion USD in 2020), Walmart owes its success run to mostly US and UK, despite having operations in Canada, Central America, and China. In India, one of the world’s largest e-commerce markets, Walmart has a majority stake in Flipkart, which started Flipkart Wholesale during the pandemic months to support wholesale merchants, producers, and suppliers.

In August 2021, Walmart announced it would open Spark crowdsource delivery model, enabling other non-competing businesses to leverage white-label services for various operations, such as online food ordering and wholesale grocery shopping.

Barnes & Noble

Love books and having trouble shortlisting from the popular retailers in the US? Try this.

Barnes & Noble is the top-ranking online bookstore for the adult US population. It is a very popular holiday shopping and gifting destination for shoppers looking to buy literary masterpieces online. Recently, the top retailer announced its list of top ten books of 2021, and it features some really great ground-breaking works in the field of journalism, poetry and reflective biographies. For those looking to buy gifts for office colleagues and boss, you can opt for B&N’s Corporate Cards and Gifts.

 

Best Buy

Best Buy is a go-to shopping center for many US families.

Currently, this top US-based retailer is running “The Wishlist Event” for holiday shoppers.

Best Buy also provides shoppers with a unique shopping experience through “personalized” assistants and salespeople that help through the entire journey. Its Best Buy Home Experts are in big demand during the holiday shopping season.

Reason: The Best Buy Home Experts can help you with anything from setting up a home office or theater to updating your Wi-Fi network. Tell us where you are going to shop from this holiday season- What, according to you, should be among the popular retailers in the US?

[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]