America’s Online Shopping Revolution Will Outlast the Lockdown
- Target, Walmart among retailers to report surge in e-commerce
- Economists see ‘massive rotation’, some of it likely permanent
Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
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U.S. retailers are reporting a surge in online sales in the first quarter of 2020, when the country’s virus-driven lockdown began. Economists reckon the shift in consumer habits may prove to be lasting.
Target Corp. said yesterday that its digital sales jumped more than 140% from the same period of 2019. Earlier in the week, retailers from Walmart Inc. to Home Depot Inc. and Lowe’s Companies Inc. had reported increases in the range of 70% to 80%.