Various stay-at-home orders and non-essential businesses closures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 dramatically shifted what U.S. consumers were purchasing online last month. Stackline, a Seattle retail intelligence and software company, released lists of the “Top 100 Fastest Growing Categories” and “Top 100 Fastest Declining Categories” in March last week.

While there was a surge in online home fitness product sales (+307 percent), hand sanitizer/soap (+262 percent) and yoga equipment (+154 percent), eight footwear segments suffered steep declines in March e-commerce sales. The group of laggards were led by boys’ athletic shoes (-59 percent), women’s boots (-51 percent) and women’s sandals (-50 percent) and followed by girls’ athletic shoes (-44 percent), women’s shoes (-44 percent), men’s athletic shoes (-40 percent) and boys’ shoes (-31 percent).

No doubt, having no place to go and no sports to participate in contributed to consumers’ smaller online appetite for footwear in March. Pent-up demand could reenergize at least some of the categories once normal daily activities resume across the nation.

Of course, footwear did not suffer the most, on a percentage basis, in March online sales. Those honors belonged to luggage/suitcases (-77 percent), briefcases (-77 percent) and cameras (-64 percent).