Statistics

Findcheap estimates that the average online shopper in the U.S. overpays by about $1,298/year. Because no widely-recognized organization publishes data on this, we used data from several credible sources to calculate it. We extend our sincere gratitude to these organizations.

First, we measure average spending per consumer.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates $1.2337 trillion in U.S. retail e-commerce sales in 2025. Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Capital One Shopping estimates 288.5 million Americans shopped online in 2025 (equivalent to 84.3% of the U.S. population). Source: Capital One Shopping

Taking these two figures together, we estimate average annual online retail spending per U.S. online shopper:

$1.2337 trillion ÷ 288.5 million = $4,276.26 per year

Next, we estimate the portion of this annual spending users could save by comparison shopping.

In 2025, in one of the largest-ever studies on this topic, Omnisend compared Amazon products with alternatives available on Temu. The study examined 23 product categories, analyzing the top 25 best-selling products in each category. Omnisend defined a match as a product that was similar in function and attributes to the Amazon product (not necessarily same SKU). Source: Omnisend

The study found that 77.39% of Amazon products had a close match on Temu, and of those, matches were 39.24% cheaper on average. If we conservatively assume that products without a match had zero potential savings, we can estimate a potential savings rate of:

77.39% × 39.24% = 30.37%

Finally, we apply that rate to estimated annual online spending:

$4,276.26 × 30.37% = $1,298.62

To add some context, it's worth mentioning an adjacent study conducted by CouponFollow in the online coupon space. The study analyzed 435,000+ actual successful coupon uses from their browser extension and estimated an average household could save $1,465/year from coupons alone. It found 39.9% of purchases could be matched with a valid coupon and successful coupons saved 17.2% on average. Source: CouponFollow