People spent less when shopping online in 2021. The median online web sales growth of Top 1000 retailers fell to 22.4% compared with 26.9% in 2020, as tracked by Digital Commerce 360 when including all ranked retailers in North America.

After revamping the home during the height of the pandemic in 2020, shoppers cut back on housewares/home furnishings shopping. Median online sales for this category reached 25.9%, a notable drop from 33.8% a year before. A closer look at categories in the Top 1000 showed a decline in hardware/home improvement, which fell to 27.8% compared with 37.7% median 2020 web sales growth. It suggests that the homebound flurry of do-it-yourself projects also decreased.