The global E-Commerce market is going to become one of the favorite investing options amongst investors worldwide. Global e-commerce is estimated to reach a massive 16,215.6 billion USD in valuation by the year 2027 ( source-Yahoo finance). Retailers are realizing the importance of the e-commerce market thereby actively choosing online platforms, or, blending physical with online platforms creating a phygital environment in the shopping world. As a retailer, you can do so in two ways: choosing marketplaces where customers can buy your products, and another option, building your e-commerce site and application. New e-commerce markets are emerging with each passing day while the journey for established markets is reaching new milestones. In this blog, we will talk about the world’s largest e-commerce markets by country and see how the e-commerce market looks promising down the line.
Quick Facts
- The global e-commerce market reached unprecedented heights in 2020, with a massive sales growth of about 33.6%, reaching $799.18 billion.
- As people are getting accustomed to the new normal, e-commerce sales are further estimated to grow by 13.7%, thereby reaching a huge $908.73 billion (source-yahoo finance).
- Amazon.com, Walmart Inc., eBay Inc., Shopify Inc. are spreading wings on the online platform in the current pandemic, gaining analysts, investors’ confidence.
With Mobile phone penetration in people’s lives, mobile shopping reached a huge $284 billion in the year 2020, which amounted to 45% of the overall e-commerce market in the US (source- Insider Intelligence).
1. China
China is the top-ranking country in the world for the e-commerce market. With the latest sales forecast statistics showing $2,779.3 billion , China leads in the digital commerce world. Alibaba Group is the unanimous leader in the market with its varied online subsidiaries. China’s retail sales have exponentially grown over the last decades and probably the first country in world history where e-commerce sales have surpassed physical retail sales. At present, retail e-commerce sales stand at 52.1% of the country’s total retail sales. China has the largest population of online buyers in the world despite there exist very tough restrictions on importing goods. The e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has the following subsidiaries adding to the company’s economy :
- Alibaba.com
- Taobao
- Tmall
- 11 Main
- Fliggy Corporate
- AliExpress
Besides Alibaba, Pinduoduo, JD.com were the notable Chinese e-commerce retail brands that had together accounted for 80% of the total retail sales (online platform) in 2019.
2. USA
The USA comes after China in the global e-commerce market ranking, and in 2021, e-commerce sales are expected to reach $843.15 billion (source-eMarketer) in the country. The USA had been leading the e-commerce global market until China overtook the position. Today, giants like Amazon,eBay are based in the US making it the second largest e-commerce market, and a massive $340billion e-commerce sales are reported to have taken place this year, and it comes out to be7.5% of the total sales in retail. 49% surge in the online retail sales in the country is attributed to coronavirus as 90% of buyers/shoppers were reluctant to shop in a retail physical store.
3. UK
The United Kingdom (UK) has recorded $180 billion in e-commerce sales in the year 2020, and a little lower side forecast of $169.02 billion for 2021. However, the UK is the world’s third top e-commerce market so far. As per eMarketer prediction, the online platform, e-commerce sales will represent 28.5% of the total retail sales in the year 2022. Today, it stands at 28.3%. Only a minor increase is showing as per this prediction for 2022. Play.com, Amazon U.K, and Argos are some of the biggest e-commerce retailers that contribute to the country’s ranking on top. In reality, the country has a big scope for e-commerce businesses looking to explore cross-border opportunities. However, there’s been some VAT rule changes post BREXIT. Travel, Sports-Items, Household Items, Fashion are some top-selling product categories.
4. Japan
The expected $144.08 billion e-commerce retail sales for 2021 justifies Japan’s position as the 4th topmost e-commerce market in the world. Japan is a growing player and is creating spur in the b2c market(doubled in the last decade). Earlier, the country was dominating in the b2b e-commerce market. There’s been c2c growth, too. As per JP Morgan’s estimate, the current b2c market is around $112.4 billion, while expected to reach $143.3 billion by the year 2025. And this is just for the b2c market(not b2b and c2c). Some top-ranking e-commerce companies are Amazon, Yodobashi,Apple,plst.com.
5. South Korea
South Korea is the world’s 5th and Asia’s 3rd top e-commerce market with massive e-commerce sales projected at $120.56 billion for 2021. And, the country is very famous for its fastest, wireless internet speed. The online consuming habits of South Korea can be connected with the fastest internet speed as well the fact that people there are very fond of M-Commerce. Some local marketplaces that make the country world’s 5th largest e-commerce market are GMarket, Coupang.
India as a Top E-Commerce Market
Standing at a $ 67.53 billion sales record in online retail (source-eMarketer), India ranks as one of the top 10 e-commerce markets worldwide. The country is poised to become the 3rd biggest market globally in online retail by 2030 (source-Redseer), only next to the US, and China, expected to reach $350 billion worth GMV by that year. New online shoppers are adding to the list every day and 88% of the new addition will further fuel the growth of this sector over the next decade(2020-2030) and will hail from small cities. Interestingly, the new section of D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) brands that directly sell to consumers online, is going to boost the Indian e-commerce retail market in the coming years. Despite the pandemic, 20 million new shoppers were added to online retail in 2020. The figure is expected to be doubled this year, 2021 (source-RedSeer).
Conclusion
Consumers are mostly buying things on the online platform and this trend unexpectedly grew very high due to the COVID-19 and consequent restrictions in movement and staying at home being the only option. For instance, in the UK, two out of five shoppers say that they will choose e-commerce platforms for online purchases even after the COVID crisis gets over, and this is going to happen across the world. B2B, B2C, C2C, D2C, all are adopting the convenient platform of e-commerce that is so promising in terms of business returns and high-value purchasing experience.
Leveraging E-Commerce Markets in a true sense is very difficult, it requires sound e-commerce application plus market expertise and industry knowledge. Reach our experts today to know more.
