The latest ecommerce statistics show this form of business is thriving all over the globe. However, retailers need to stay on top of the latest trends in the industry while meeting customers’ needs.
Still, retailers face many other challenges. For example, some customers commit fraud while others deliberately overbuy items and then return them. If you own an online store, check out the latest market data.
Ecommerce Facts (Editor’s Choice)
- About 64% of small businesses have a website.
- Amazon was the leading retailer online in 2020, with monthly traffic of about 3.68 million people.
- It’s expected that 21% of sales will be made online in 2022.
- Small retailers are 30% more likely to see a higher mobile conversion than the big ones.
- Millennials aged 25 to 34 are the largest group of online shoppers in the US.
- About 49% of US online buyers research the internet before major shopping online.
- Online shoppers return about 25% of the products they buy.
- Card not present fraud losses climbed to $12 billion in 2020.
General Online Business Statistics
There are millions of ecommerce websites out there, and only those that offer great customer experience keep their customers. Still, ecommerce will grow so much that almost all shopping will happen online by 2040.
1. There are about 12 to 24 million ecommerce websites.
(Webflow)
That’s a lot of competition for every online store, but ecommerce businesses are here to stay, ecommerce trends show. In addition, finding the perfect CMS for an ecommerce site should be a part of everybody’s plan.
2. About 64% of small businesses have a website.
(SmallBusinessTrends)
However, another 36% don’t know where to start or it’s too hard or too expensive for them. Moreover, 58% of business owners without a website want to build one.
3. By 2040, 95% of purchases will happen via ecommerce.
(Nasdaq)
Ecommerce industry analysis shows the most commonly purchased things are electronics and digital media, including computers, phones, video games, e-books, and music downloads.
4. About 46.5% of small and medium-sized business owners think free shipping increases sales profit.
(MultiChannelMerchant)
The main point is finding the balance between costs and increased sales. For example, some companies offer free shipping on standard delivery, but charge a premium for premier services or provide free shipping for certain carriers.
Global Ecommerce Statistics
Ecommerce grew during 2020, as the pandemic started spreading and lockdowns became more common. Overall, there was double-digit growth in almost all countries. According to the current data, the growth of ecommerce is likely to continue.
5. More than 2 billion people purchased goods or services online in 2020.
(Statista)
The number of people who purchase goods online has been increasing, following the growth of internet access. During the same year, the global ecommerce market size surpassed $4.2 trillion.
6. It’s expected that 21% of sales will be made online in 2022.
(Shopify)
That would be a 17.9% growth in the ecommerce market in the last two years. The increase is projected to continue and reach 24.5% by 2025, which represents a 6.7% increase in just five years.
7. With 46.3%, China has the highest percentage of ecommerce retail sales in 2022.
(Statista)
This makes it the world’s most penetrated ecommerce market and gives the country a high percentage of ecommerce market share. The United Kingdom is second with 36.3%, and South Korea is third with 32.2%.
8. The global ecommerce market is expected to hit $5.55 trillion in 2022.
(Shopify)
This number will also grow in the next few years since borderless ecommerce is becoming crucial for online retailers. Moreover, online retail sales will increase to $6.17 trillion by 2023, while ecommerce will take up 22.3% of total retail sales. In addition, ecommerce growth projections show that the growth is expected to continue and reach 24.5% by 2025..
9. Latin America saw abnormal ecommerce growth of 36.7% in 2020.
(eMarketer)
All ecommerce markets finished 2020 with double-digit growth. For example, Latin America saw huge growth, regardless of the bigger-than-average drop in overall retail sales. Argentina’s retail commerce grew by an astonishing 79%, and Singapore was close with 71.1%.
US Ecommerce Statistics
When it comes to the US, Amazon is the key player in the ecommerce market. The platform has the largest number of active monthly users and the highest gross merchandise value. The second-best platform was eBay.
10. Revenue from retail ecommerce was estimated at $768 billion in 2021.
(Statista)
For comparison, this number was about $644 billion in 2020. Moreover, the ecommerce market size and revenue in the US are expected to surpass $1.3 trillion by 2025.
11. Food is the fastest-growing product category in ecommerce in the US.
(Statista)
The compound annual growth rate of ecommerce categories averaged 13.5% in the period from 2017 to 2025. The highest CAGR was expected to be in the food segment, with 26% growth. Moreover, fashion and personal care are expected to have a CAGR of about 14%.
12. About 54% of online shoppers have purchased clothes in the last 12 months.
(Statista)
When it comes to ecommerce sales by product category, the numbers show that clothing was the most sold category in 2021. The survey was conducted on 7,013 respondents from the 18–64 age group.
13. Amazon was the leading retailer online in 2020, with monthly traffic of about 3.68 billion people.
(Statista)
Amazon is also a leading online retailer in the US, and it accounted for 41% of the ecommerce market, according to the latest data on the market share of ecommerce platforms.
14. In 2020, Amazon was the marketplace with the highest gross merchandise value of $475 billion.
(Statista)
Amazon was also the most popular online marketplace based on merchandise value. It was followed by eBay, with a GMV of $100 billion.
15. In 2021, the ecommerce share of total US retail sales was 13%.
(Statista)
This is slightly lower than in the same quarter of the previous year when the percentage was 13.8%. Moreover, retail e-commerce sales in the US surpassed $220 billion from April to June of 2021.
Mobile Ecommerce Statistics
There are 3.5 billion smartphone users in the world, and many use it to shop online. By 2025, chances are 10% of all sales will happen via mobile devices. Still, if a shop is poorly optimized for mobile, 40% of visitors will go back to the computer to shop.
16. By 2025, more than 10% of all sales will be generated via mobile devices.
(Statista)
Mobile devices are becoming the main tool people use to shop online, online retail data shows. In fact, the estimates for 2025 represent an increase of nearly 7% from 2018.
17. Small retailers are 30% more likely to see a higher mobile conversion than big ones.
(Optinmonster)
The increasing mobile usage has a positive effect on small retailers. There are 1.92 billion digital buyers, and ecommerce sales account for 14.1% of retail purchases worldwide, ecommerce industry size statistics show.
Since online shopping is growing so fast, eCommerce retail purchases are expected to increase from 14.1% to 22% in 2023.
18. 40% of online shoppers will head for a computer after a poor mobile shopping experience.
(Overboxdesign)
Unfortunately, not all online stores are properly optimized for mobile shopping. As a result, about 84% of shoppers have experienced difficulty completing a mobile transaction.
19. More than 230 million US consumers own smartphones.
(Overboxdesign)
Moreover, the latest ecommerce traffic statistics show that about 79% of smartphone users have visited an online store and purchased in the last six months. On the other hand, about 100 million US consumers own tablets.
20. About 80% of shoppers use a mobile device to get more information while inside a physical store.
(Overboxdesign)
They usually look for product reviews online, compare prices, or check for another store location. Around 22% of smartphone owners used a retail mobile app at least once a day in 2020.
Ecommerce Demographics and Behavior
Millennials are the largest age group that orders online. Their favorite categories are fashion, electronics, and media. What’s more, many use social media to refer people to ecommerce stores.
21. There were about 256 million digital buyers in the US in 2020.
(Statista)
By 2025, this number is expected to hit 291.2 million. The most popular online categories are fashion, electronics, and media.
22. Social referral to retail commerce sites has grown 110% in the last two years.
(eMarketer)
Social media ecommerce statistics show that many people use social media to refer people to ecommerce stores. Facebook drives the majority of referrals at the moment, while Pinterest and Instagram also have a big share.
23. Millennials aged 25 to 34 are the largest group of online shoppers in the US.
(Statista)
This demographic group accounted for 20.2% of all digital buyers in the US, ecommerce statistics from 2021 show. The second-largest group was people aged 35 to 44, with 17.2% of buyers.
24. A total of 59% of millennials will go to Amazon.
(Inviqa)
Amazon remains the favorite platform for millennials, as one in five of them visit it before checking out any other website. This makes Amazon one of the biggest competitors in the industry, the latest ecommerce sales statistics show.
25. About 49% of US online buyers search the internet before major shopping online.
(Statista)
Moreover, almost half of US online shoppers perform research before conducting a major online purchase. Major purchases can be a challenge, so it’s no wonder people will look for more information online.
26. A total of 56% of Americans who shop online love direct delivery.
(Statista)
Ecommerce facts show that getting the item straight to the doorstep is one of the key drivers of online purchases in the US.
27. 64% of shoppers use smartphones for online purchases.
(Statista)
This is why proper website optimization is a must for ecommerce stores. In second place are laptops with 47%, and in third desktop PCs with 28%. Tablets are not so popular for online shopping as only 27% of shoppers use them.
Ecommerce Return Rate Statistics
Online stores need to understand that returns are important to their customers. Many won’t even purchase the item online if the return channels are limited. On the other hand, ecommerce businesses are losing money with every returned item.
28. Online shoppers return about 25% of products they buy.
(Salecycle)
Returns are often a challenge for retailers. While the return rate for in-store purchases is only 8%, the average return rate of ecommerce is significantly higher. This means more expenses related to processing returns. Additionally, the returned item sometimes can’t be resold, which is another loss.
29. About 30% of shoppers deliberately over-purchase.
(Salecycle)
Afterward, they return the items they didn’t want. In addition, about 19% of them admitted over-purchasing more versions of the same item so they could select the best one once they got them all.
30. Dealing with returns has a negative impact on about 57% of online retailers.
(Salecycle)
Ecommerce statistics also show that 33% of businesses offer free returns but charge the shipping to cover the costs, and 20% have to increase the price of their products to cover return costs.
31. About 80% of items are returned because they’re broken or damaged.
(Deliverr)
Other reasons for returns include products not meeting expectations or consumers getting the wrong product. Moreover, about 12% of shoppers return items simply because they changed their mind, ecommerce return statistics show.
32. About 68% of online shoppers check return policies before making a purchase.
(Salecycle)
Moreover, 50% of online shoppers have abandoned a purchase due to a lack of options for returns channels. About 56% of consumers were also deterred from shopping because of the online store’s return policy.
33. Approximately 30% of products bought online are returned.
(Invespcro)
On the other hand, buyers return only 8.89% of products bought in stores. Moreover, 92% of consumers would buy again if the product return process was easy, whereas 79% of them want free return shipping.
Ecommerce Fraud Statistics
Besides dealing with returns, ecommerce stores are often victims of fraud. The data shows that business owners need to secure their mobile apps and learn more about preventing chargebacks and other frauds.
34. The ecommerce fraud attempt rate jumped by 13% in April 2020.
(Retailtouchpoints)
More consumers started shopping online in 2020. Unfortunately, that also meant more people attempted frauds with ecommerce stores. Global ecommerce stats show that the fraud attempt rate jumped to 4.3% in April 2020, from 3.8% a year before.
35. Friendly frauds rose by 25%.
(Retailtouchpoints)
Friendly frauds happen when a customer asks for a chargeback on their credit card under false pretenses. They include untrue claims that a digital service was not ordered, purchases were not received, or a product was defective or damaged.
36. Card not present fraud losses climbed to $12 billion in 2020.
(Forbes)
The latest ecommerce statistics estimate that CNP already accounts for more than 50% of total fraud losses sustained in the US.
37. E-retailers spend over 7% of their yearly revenue on frauds.
(EKN)
When it comes to expenses, merchants usually spend from 14 to 23% of the operational budget on frauds and chargeback management. They should also learn how to detect chargebacks more effectively, these ecommerce facts show.
38. Every $1 merchants lose on a mobile payment fraud costs them $3.60.
(CNP)
When it comes to mobile payment frauds, they’re pretty devastating to ecommerce stores. Current numbers represent a 7% increase from the previous year and a 15% growth compared to two years ago.
Conclusion
The development of the internet brought up the growth of ecommerce stores. Ecommerce statistics show there are somewhere around 12 to 24 million ecommerce websites. Still, Amazon is at the top, with the highest number of monthly users and gross merchandise value, and is a favorite among millennials.
Based on forecasts, ecommerce will continue to grow, but merchants need to remain careful. Many customers will attempt fraud, and ecommerce business owners should do everything they can to learn how to defend themselves.
People Also Ask
It takes a lot of effort to make an ecommerce business successful. In fact, the current success rate of ecommerce businesses is around 20%. This means that 80% of businesses fail. One of the major reasons behind many failed businesses is the lack of market understanding.
Ecommerce websites collect a lot of customer data, which could be the key to succeeding. With properly segmented information, ecommerce businesses could improve their targeting and build a good business strategy.
The pandemic caused a giant ecommerce surge, but online sales growth slowed down in 2021. Many vaccinated customers returned to stores as well. Overall, the total estimated jump of ecommerce in 2021 was 14.2%, led by digital spending during the holidays.
Ecommerce share remained somewhat steady during 2021, with $1 in $5 spent coming from digital orders during both 2020 and 2021.
The global ecommerce growth rate for 2022 is forecasted at 12.7%. This would bring the total ecommerce sales up to $5.5 trillion. Still, 2020 remains the year with the largest growth—a total of 25.7%.
The increase from 2019 and 2021 can be attributed to the beginning of the pandemic. With lockdowns and brick-and-mortar stores shutting down, consumers had to stay inside and order online.
There are three types of ecommerce businesses. The first one is business to business (B2B), where stores sell their products or services to other businesses. The second is business to consumer (B2C), where stores sell their products and services to individuals. The third type of ecommerce is consumer to consumer, where individual consumers sell their personal items to other people.
Ecommerce may seem like a lot of work, especially for small businesses. However, creating an online presence means reaching new customers. Furthermore, being present on the market and offering a great customer experience online usually puts a business in front of its competitors.
In addition, ecommerce brings increased efficiency through streamlining production and delivery. Furthermore, it simplifies sales and marketing.
In 2020, the B2B ecommerce market was estimated to be $6.64 trillion. It’s also expected to expand at a CAGR of 18.7% from 2021 to 2028. Even though B2B ecommerce is slow to develop, businesses are looking into digital means to increase sales.
The success of Amazon Business and the change in demographics will lead the way for B2B ecommerce in the future, ecommerce statistics show.
