New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals fewer people are shopping on any given day than they were 20 years ago, and those who do are spending less time on the task.
People shop in the Glendale Galleria shopping mall on the day after Christmas on December 26, 2023 in Glendale, California. Buying things takes less time these days — you can have your week’s groceries, a new outfit and a used car headed to your front door in a matter of hours, thanks to technology. But this convenience comes with a price.
Further, when we do shop, we’re being a little quicker about it. The amount of time spent by those shopping on a given day fell by about six minutes during the 20-year period. Over the past two decades, we’ve seen online shopping go from novelty to commonplace. Spending on “electronic shopping and mail order houses” — the quaint-sounding U.S. Census Bureau category that applies to your late-night, couch-side shopping sprees — has grown from about $17 billion to $99 billion since 2003, after adjusting for inflation. That’s an increase of about 470%. And the inflation adjustment means we’re not just spending more, we’re buying more “stuff.
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