The trend has pushed up rents and prices for warehouse space.
Shoppers are increasingly turning to the internet rather than local shopping centers when they look to buy.
That's not great news for store owners, but it's very good for anyone who owns warehouse space, particularly in northern New Jersey, which has a big shopping population and access to the biggest port on the east coast.
In recent months Amazon has leased warehouses in the Meadowlands, while FedEx has leased space in Wayne and plans to build a distribution center in North Arlington. With e-commerce retailers increasingly pushing next-day and same-day delivery, they are increasingly thinking like brick-and-mortar retailers, by trying to find warehouse locations that are in close proximity to affluent shoppers.
That has pushed up prices for warehouse spaces in northern New Jersey, where the market was already tight.
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"All these e-commerce firms need to be close to New York City so they can do next-day, same-day delivery," said Stan Danzig, executive vice president for Cushman & Wakefield, a real estate services firm.
E-commerce sales account for more than 8 percent of total retail sales, or $101.3 billion the Census Bureau estimates. E-commerce's share of retail sales has steadily risen over the past 10 years and is expected to continue growing, especially as traditional retailers like Walmart try to beef up their online sales, Danzig said.
The focus on quick delivery has prompted a shift in where companies look for space. Brick-and-mortar retailers typically draw concentric circles around prospective locations, marking off household income and population around certain areas.
E-commerce retailers targeting customers who want their goods within hours may try the same approach, said Clark Machemer, senior vice president at the Rockefeller Group, a real estate developer based in Morristown. That will draw them to places like northern New Jersey, which has a dense, affluent population that has made it a shopping mecca.
However, there's not much available warehouse space in northern New Jersey. Amazon quietly snapped up warehouses in Moonachie and Teterboro over the past two years, part of a push to bring same-day delivery to northern New Jersey.
But many companies have had to build their own, according to a Cushman and Wakefield report.
Rockefeller Group demolished a former bakery in Wayne to build the warehouse FedEx leased there. The distribution center FedEx is building in North Arlington is a former steel dumping ground.
"Some of the factors we consider in choosing our service center locations are their ease to access tomajor highways, proximity to customers and strong local community workforces," a FedEx spokesman said.
The combination of scarce warehouse space and high rents in Bergen County have made for a strong market for landlords, Machemer said, and it's not clear how high the peak is.
On one hand, the number of people buying goods online is likely to grow. On the other, it's not guaranteed that they'll be willing to pay for instant delivery.
"It sounds great, but how often do people actually need it today or tomorrow? There's no doubt about it. There's huge growth in the e-commerce world," Machemer said. "How far can it go? That's what I'm trying to find out."
Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.