eCommerce Sales & Size Forecast

eCommerce Sales & Size Forecast

eCommerce sales for businesses have been steadily increasing for years, and with the migration of virtually all transactions to digital due to the COVID Pandemic, worldwide sales through ecommerce sales channels such as websites and online marketplaces increased overall in 2020.

Retail B2C eCommerce 

Retail consumer goods ecommerce is by far the most dynamic and leading of the two consumer focuses. It had an 18% share of the total global retail sales for 2020, and is forecast to have over a 1% annual growth rate, achieving a nearly 22% share of total global retail sales by 2024. 

 In the chart above we can see worldwide retail ecommerce sales figures jump from 2019 to 2020, illustrating some of the Impact of the COVID Pandemic on eCommerce sales where pandemic lockdowns gave virtual purchases a boost. This forecast also signals continued, steady 8% growth for all worldwide retail ecommerce sectors sales through 2024 as we see illustrated broken down by retail sector in the chart below. 

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Services B2B eCommerce

The B2B ecommerce sectors follows the trends and business adaptations of B2C, because people bring their learned consumer preferences and apply those to scenarios in their professional lives, such as being employed as a purchasing agent for B2B transactions. There is strong growth forecast for all B2B sectors due to the ongoing COVID Pandemic restrictions, in addition to consumer adaptation to the  initially necessary - but now preferred - online interface in business purchases.

 
In the chart above, we see B2B ecommerce gross merchandise value growing at a similarly steady rate through 2019 as to mirror its retail B2C counterpart. The chart below shows us Asia leading the regions for gross merchandise value of B2B ecommerce sales, followed by North America, Rest of the World, and the European Region.

Asia Pac Region Forecast to Lead eCommerce

The sheer volume of the Chinese eCommerce Market is the driving force behind the growth of the Asia Pacific countries, with both consumer and B2B purchases dwarfing all other markets by comparison. Key to this region are the Indonesian, Vietnamese, Philippine, and other Southeast Asian markets which are essential to China’s national strategy to grow its business and political influence in the region. Businesses looking to gain a foothold here and avoid complications inherent within the Chinese online market, should approach these key secondary markets as entryways to the Chinese and greater SE Asia region online consumer markets.