US online shopping spending rose at the fastest rate in five years in the second quarter of this year.

And Amazon appears to have driven about half of that growth.

Online accounted for 12 per cent of US shoppers’ spending on goods other than fuel and motor vehicles, highlighting the damage being inflicted on traditional brick-and-mortar retailers across the nation.

That data was based on an analysis of US Commerce Department figures by Internet Retailer.

Total online sales in the US reached $150.1 billion in the second quarter, 16.3 per cent above the same period last year.

Amazon has reported North American net sales of $22.37 billion in the period to June 30, up 26.6 per cent from $17.67 billion last year.

“Including sales on its marketplace (and factoring out sales in Canada and Mexico), Internet Retailer estimates Amazon sold $39.93 billion worth of goods in the US during the second quarter, a 22.2 per cent increase compared with $32.66 billion in the second quarter of 2016.

That means Amazon accounted for roughly 38 per cent of second quarter e-commerce sales in the US versus 36.1 per cent a year ago.”

As such, Internet Retailer calculated, it was responsible for 49.4 per cent of the total quarterly US e-commerce growth.

Read more data and see explanatory tables at Internet Retailer.