The eCommerce industry has grown immensely in the past few years. These days, our favorite product or service is just one click away from us. Search it, add it to the cart, make the payment, and you are done!
In this article, I will share some of the best global eCommerce statistics that can help you in your eCommerce market research.
Here are the 5 key statistics about global eCommerce statistics:
- Almost 2.14 billion people purchased products through different eCommerce websites in 2021.
- eCommerce websites recorded almost 22 billion visits in June 2020, during the Covid-19 period.
- Reports say that over 14.2% of sales came from the United States alone in 2021.
- In 2021, retail eCommerce websites generated over 72% of their traffic from mobile devices.
- Taobao was the world's most popular eCommerce platform in 2021 in terms of GMV.
These are some of the key stats of global eCommerce. Read ahead to get a detailed overview of each statistic. Follow the given heading to take a look at these stats in detail.
On This Page
- 1 5 Top Global eCommerce Statistics
- 1.1 Almost 2.14 Billion People Purchased Products Through Different eCommerce Websites in 2021.
- 1.2 eCommerce Websites Recorded Almost 22 Billion Visits in June 2020, During the COVID-19 Period.
- 1.3 Over 14.2% of Sales Came From the United States Alone in 2021.
- 1.4 In 2021, Retail eCommerce Websites Generated Over 72% of Their Traffic From Mobile Devices.
- 1.5 Taobao Was the World’s Most Popular eCommerce Platform in 2021 in Terms of GMV.
- 2 Sources
5 Top Global eCommerce Statistics
Here are the 5 top global eCommerce stats.
Almost 2.14 Billion People Purchased Products Through Different eCommerce Websites in 2021.
(Source: Statista.com)
According to Statista, around 2.14 billion people purchased products online in 2021. While this number stood at 2 billion in 2020. In 2021, e-retail sales touched the mark of $4.9 trillion worldwide. Compared to 2020, this number was around $4.28 trillion worldwide in 2020. Researchers reported a difference of $0.62 trillion in e-retail sales between both years.
The same report by Statista states that we could expect e-retail sales to cross the $7.4 trillion threshold by 2025. It is expected to grow by 50% over the next four years. To summarize, global eCommerce sales are increasing continuously with time.
eCommerce Websites Recorded Almost 22 Billion Visits in June 2020, During the COVID-19 Period.
(Source: Statista)
Covid-19 has drastically affected offline businesses around the globe. But, at the same time, the pandemic helped many online businesses to grow and generate tons of traffic. Researchers recorded a substantial increase in online traffic from January 2019 to June 2020.
As per the research by Statista, eCommerce websites recorded almost 22 billion visits in June 2020. In January 2020, the global eCommerce traffic was around 16.07 billion. There were an additional 6.7 billion visits in June 2020. This was all because of the pandemic that forced users to shift to online shopping.
People use online stores to buy daily products, such as groceries, toilet papers, etc. Here's another interesting fact. Around 5% of people from Canada and France made their first purchase because of Covid-19.
Over 14.2% of Sales Came From the United States Alone in 2021.
(Source: Statista.com, Census.gov)
According to the latest report by Census.gov, Total e-commerce sales for 2021 were around $870.8 billion. They reported an increase of 14.2 percent (±0.9%) from 2020. According to the same report, total e-retail sales in 2021 increased 17.9 percent from 2020.
Research by Census.gov, states that eCommerce sales in 2021 were reported at 13.2 percent of total sales. eCommerce sales in 2020 were reported for 13.6 percent of total sales.
As per Statista, In addition, it is expected to rise to 22% by 2025. The United States is expected to surpass $1.3 trillion in online shipping revenue by 2025.
Amazon and eBay were the most visited eCommerce websites in North America in the year 2021. US e-retail sales were reported at around 13% in the third quarter of 2021.
Additionally, there were around 256 million online buyers in the United States in 2021. And this number of online buyers is expected to grow to 291.2 million by 2025.
In 2021, Retail eCommerce Websites Generated Over 72% of Their Traffic From Mobile Devices.
(Source: Statista.com)
Statista’s latest report shows there will be around 15.96 billion mobile devices in 2022. In 2021, there were approximately 15 billion mobile devices, and this number is expected to reach 18.22 billion by 2025.
According to research by Statista, retail eCommerce websites generated over 72% of their traffic from mobile devices in 2021. Over 60% of their sales came from that traffic.
In 2017, they recorded 58.9% of traffic from smartphones. As the internet and mobile devices are becoming more accessible to everyone, this number is also growing constantly.
Taobao Was the World’s Most Popular eCommerce Platform in 2021 in Terms of GMV.
(Source: Statista, Digitalcommerce360.com)
There are a lot of eCommerce platforms, such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy, etc. All platforms hold a significant share in the eCommerce industry. But, as per research by Digitalcommerce360.com, Taobao was the world’s most popular eCommerce platform in 2021 based on its gross merchandise value.
It reported a gross merchandise value of approximately $711 billion. On the other hand, another China-based eCommerce website called Tmall stands in second place with a gross merchandise value of $672 billion. At last, we have Amazon with over $475 billion in gross merchandise value.
Image Credit: Oberlo.com
