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Americans Adopting E-Commerce Faster Than Ever Amid Pandemic

  • Adobe Analytics shows online grocery shopping surged in March
  • Expert says the rapid change has been ‘pretty staggering’

A worker pulls a trolley loaded with packages on 5th Avenue in New York.

Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg
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The coronavirus pandemic is sparking enormous changes in e-commerce over a very short period of time, according to a study from Adobe Analytics.

Average daily online sales for groceries, for example, doubled by the middle of March compared with the start of the month, the study shows. Overall, e-commerce is up 25% over the same period, which compares March 13 to 15 with the first 11 days of the month. Using a longer view, grocery spending now represents 8% of overall e-commerce, up from 6% three years ago, Adobe Analytics said.