If you added up every dollar spent online worldwide, where would it go?
The online basket is dominated by two categories, and the mix tells you exactly which kinds of products the internet sells best.
TL;DR
- Apparel is the single biggest e-commerce category by global revenue, at roughly $694 billion in 2025, closely followed by consumer electronics at about $688 billion.
- Electronics and fashion together dominate the online basket, with food and beverage a large but less online-penetrated category.
- Fashion drives online frequency, while electronics deliver the backbone of online revenue.
The category revenue figures here come from e-commerce aggregators including ECDB and Statista, and vary by methodology.
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The online basket, by sales increase (%)
| wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Category | 2023 | 2027 | Abs Growth | % Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | Consumer electronics | 30.60 | 44.00 | 13.40 | 0.40 |
| 2 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | DIY & Hardware | 29.00 | 38.00 | 9.00 | 0.30 |
| 3 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | Furniture | 28.70 | 35.00 | 6.30 | 0.20 |
| 4 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | Apparel | 26.40 | 34.00 | 7.60 | 0.30 |
| 5 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | Household appliances | 25.00 | 34.00 | 9.00 | 0.40 |
| 6 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | Accessories | 23.80 | 29.00 | 5.20 | 0.20 |
| 7 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | Beauty & personal care | 17.70 | 22.00 | 4.30 | 0.20 |
| 8 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | Luxury goods | 13.70 | 18.00 | 4.30 | 0.30 |
| 9 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 07/08/2026 02:51 AM | Food | 4.20 | 6.00 | 1.80 | 0.40 |
According to Statista Market Insights, online sales of consumer electronics and apparel were still growing fast as a share of total sales, while hardware and furniture (including their convenient deliveries) have also established themselves as goods sold online.
Around every fourth household appliance is also already bought online, according to the data, and that share is expected to grow to 34% by 2027.
These two categories anchor the online basket everywhere, because they combine high demand with products well-suited to shipping.
Why the basket looks the way it does
The composition follows the same logic as category penetration. Fashion and electronics win because they are standardized, shippable, and high-demand, though fashion carries the trade-off of high return rates.
Food is a huge category in total but a small share of the online basket, because groceries resist moving online.
So the online basket is not a miniature of all retail; it is skewed toward the categories the internet handles well, and away from the ones it handles poorly.
ALSO READ: The 25-Year Rise of E-commerce in America
ELI5
Most of the money spent online goes to two things: clothes and electronics. Food is a huge category overall, but people still mostly buy it in stores, so it is a smaller slice of the online basket.
Sources
