E-Commerce Now Represents 4.9% of Retail Sales & VC Investments in Retail Are at their Highest Since 2000

Below is a quick rundown of some interesting statistics that were just released.

Last Friday, the Department of Commerce reported that e-commerce sales were up 17% YoY in Q3 '12. Retail sales were up 4% during the same period. The Department also announced that e-commerce sales now represent 4.9% of retail sales, which is up from 4.3% of retail sales in Q3 2011 and 3.3% during Q3 2007. Below is a chart summarizing the DoC's statistics since Q4 1999, which is when they started tracking e-commerce.

This Monday, Bloomberg published an article titled “Most E-Commerce Froth Since 2000 Stirs Up Investor Doubts: Tech.” Based on that article I decided to dig up the NVCA/PwC statistics on VC investments in retail over the past 13+ years. The below chart summarizes these statistics. Note that the average deal size in Q3 2012 is almost as high as it was during 2000. That said, the number of deals per quarter are below average. There were an average of 15 deals per quarter during 2011 and 2012, this is down from an average of 20 per quarter since 1998. Most notably, the industry has already raised more in 2012 than in any year since 2000.

Lastly, in honor of Black Friday. It is worth looking at IBM's Benchmark report on Thanksgiving shopping. Earlier today, IBM released an estimate that Thanksgiving e-commerce sales are up 17.4% versus 2011. I don't have my hands on the actual data at this point, but here are some good articles on the subject: Business Insider, Internet Retailer and Seeking Alpha.