Contents
- Car accessory retail sales statistics: U.S. auto-parts store sales and monthly trend
- Car accessory retail sales statistics: sound-system and audio market size
- Car accessory retail sales statistics: where audio accessories are purchased
- Car accessory retail sales: audio accessory spending by vehicle segment
- Car accessory retail sales statistics: online ordering and fulfillment
- Car accessory retail sales: mobile electronics market scale and buyer age
- Sources
Car accessory retail sales statistics: U.S. auto-parts store sales and monthly trend
The closest supplied measure for car accessory retail sales is the U.S. Census Bureau’s retail category for auto parts, accessories and tire stores. It combines all 3 kinds of business; the reported sales do not isolate accessory merchandise from parts or tires. Values are in millions of dollars and cover employer businesses only. The September 2026 figure is an advance estimate, while the July 2026 and September 2025 figures are revised estimates. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services, September 2026, Table 1
| Month | Sales (millions of dollars) | Estimate status |
|---|---|---|
| September 2025 | $11,970 | Revised |
| July 2026 | $11,316 | Revised |
| September 2026 | $11,680 | Advance |
These 3 observations give a limited view of the monthly trend. The September 2026 estimate is below the September 2025 estimate, while the July 2026 revised estimate is below the September 2026 advance estimate. The figures are not seasonally adjusted, so they should be read as reported monthly totals rather than as a seasonally corrected trend. The Census release identified September 2026 as its latest available month on the research date, November 12, 2026; its listed next release date was November 17, 2026. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services, September 2026, Table 1 and release notes
Car accessory retail sales statistics: sound-system and audio market size
SEMA’s 2022 Market Report lists the U.S. sound-system and audio-accessories market at $1.03 billion in 2018 and again at $1.03 billion in 2019. It reports $1.06 billion in 2020 and $1.12 billion in 2021. The report labels this series as 2021 SEMA U.S. Market Data, so the figures are historical observations rather than current market estimates. Source: SEMA, 2022 Market Report, p. 27 (printed p. 26)
| Year | U.S. sound-system and audio-accessories market size |
|---|---|
| 2018 | $1.03 billion |
| 2019 | $1.03 billion |
| 2020 | $1.06 billion |
| 2021 | $1.12 billion |
The series shows the reported market size for 4 consecutive years, with the same published value for 2018 and 2019 followed by larger reported values for 2020 and 2021. These are market-size figures for sound systems and audio accessories together; they are not a count of transactions, units sold, or sales limited to any single retail channel. Source: SEMA, 2022 Market Report, p. 27 (printed p. 26)
Car accessory retail sales statistics: where audio accessories are purchased
SEMA reports channel shares as shares of dollars, separating physical-location sales from online sales. Among physical-location sound-system and audio-accessory sales, general retail chains and specialty retailers or installers each received 9% of dollars. Auto-parts chains accounted for 8%, new-vehicle dealerships 7%, and car or truck shows, direct-from-parts-manufacturer outlets, and tire shops each accounted for 2%. These percentages describe the physical-location channel only. Source: SEMA, 2022 Market Report, p. 27 (printed p. 26)
For online sound-system and audio-accessory sales dollars, online-only general retailers received 15%, specialty retailers or installers 11%, auto-parts chains 9%, and general retail chains 9%. Online marketplace or auction sites accounted for 6%, direct-from-parts-manufacturer outlets 4%, other sellers 2%, and tire shops 1%. These shares apply to online dollars, not to all audio-accessory sales. The report dates its channel observations to 2021 SEMA U.S. Market Data. Source: SEMA, 2022 Market Report, p. 27 (printed p. 26)
| Channel and sales basis | Share of dollars |
|---|---|
| General retail chains, physical location | 9% |
| Specialty retailer/installer, physical location | 9% |
| Auto-parts chains, physical location | 8% |
| New-vehicle dealership, physical location | 7% |
| Online-only general retailer, online | 15% |
| Specialty retailer/installer, online | 11% |
| Auto-parts chains, online | 9% |
| General retail chains, online | 9% |
The two channel groups answer different questions: one describes where physical-location dollars went, and the other describes the mix within online dollars. Their percentages should not be combined to infer the overall online share of the audio market. Source: SEMA, 2022 Market Report, p. 27 (printed p. 26)
Car accessory retail sales: audio accessory spending by vehicle segment
SEMA’s vehicle-segment measure is also a share of sound-system and audio-accessory sales dollars. Pickups represented 26%, the largest listed share. Midsize and large cars and SUVs each represented 18%; small cars represented 12%; and crossovers, identified as CUVs, represented 9%. The figures describe the vehicle segments associated with dollars, not the proportion of vehicles on the road or the proportion of owners purchasing audio products. Source: SEMA, 2022 Market Report, p. 27 (printed p. 26)
| Vehicle segment | Share of sound-system and audio-accessory sales dollars |
|---|---|
| Pickup | 26% |
| Midsize / large car | 18% |
| SUV | 18% |
| Small car | 12% |
| CUV | 9% |
| Alternative power | 5% |
| Classic | 7% |
| Sports car | 3% |
| Van | 3% |
The remaining listed segments are alternative-power vehicles at 5%, classic vehicles at 7%, sports cars at 3%, and vans at 3%. Together, the rows show how the report distributes audio-related sales dollars across vehicle types. The percentages are not average spending per vehicle, and the source does not provide corresponding dollar totals by segment. Source: SEMA, 2022 Market Report, p. 27 (printed p. 26)
Car accessory retail sales statistics: online ordering and fulfillment
The SEMA report distinguishes how a purchase was ordered from how it was fulfilled. Among sound-system and audio-accessory purchases ordered online, 41% were shipped to home and 21% used in-store pickup or installation. For purchases ordered in-store, 4% were shipped to home and 33% used in-store pickup or installation. These are fulfillment shares within the stated ordering groups, based on 2021 SEMA U.S. Market Data. Source: SEMA, 2022 Market Report, p. 27 (printed p. 26)
| Purchase order method | Shipped to home | In-store pickup or installation |
|---|---|---|
| Ordered online | 41% | 21% |
| Ordered in-store | 4% | 33% |
The report also gives a 60% DIY installation share for sound-system and audio-accessory purchases. Separately, it says manufacturers with sales growth represented 76%. That manufacturer measure is not a consumer purchase or fulfillment share, so it describes a different part of the market. The source provides these measures without a more detailed definition in the supplied evidence. Source: SEMA, 2022 Market Report, p. 27 (printed p. 26)
Car accessory retail sales: mobile electronics market scale and buyer age
A 2026 SEMA release describes the U.S. automotive mobile-electronics aftermarket as a $3.36 billion market. The cited passage does not state the underlying measurement year, and the aggregate is not limited to car audio. The same release says that, across most mobile-electronics segments, 55%–67% of spending came from buyers under age 40. This is a range across segments, not one age share for the entire market or an audio-only finding. Source: SEMA, “Mobile Electronics Take Center Stage at the 2026 SEMA Show”
A separate SEMA release reports $52.92 billion in U.S. accessory and performance-parts sales for the broad specialty-equipment market in 2025. It also says pickup-related accessories and performance products accounted for 30% of total specialty-equipment industry sales that year. These provide wider aftermarket context, not car-audio retail figures, and should not be read as direct additions to the mobile-electronics market measure. Source: SEMA, “New 2026 SEMA Market Report Reveals a Nearly $53 Billion Aftermarket”
The available measures therefore cover distinct scopes and periods: Census sales for a combined store category, historical audio-market sizing and behavior from SEMA’s 2021 U.S. data, and broader mobile-electronics and specialty-equipment figures in later SEMA coverage. The supplied public evidence does not isolate a current-year total for car-accessory merchandise or provide a newer audio-only market breakdown.