E-Commerce Market: Facts & Insights

Overview

The term "e-commerce" historically refers to the trading and distribution of goods and services through the Internet. Technological advancements, increased availability of internet access, and changes in consumer behavior have driven the development of e-commerce into a crucial foundational building block of today's global economy. This growth in the global e-commerce markets is unprecedented, as it reconfigures all existing and future sectors and consumer markets around it.

Market size in e-commerce

Asia-Pacific continues to remain the biggest trading space, followed by North America and Europe.

Major fields in e-commerce

Retail: Web-front retailing platforms such as Amazon, Walmart, and Alibaba are key players in this market.

Fashion: Retailers such as ASOS and Zalando, along with fast-fashion giants, dominate the digital space.

Electronics: From Best Buy to Newegg for the tech-savvy of the world

Grocery: Spaces like Instacart, Amazon Fresh, and Ocado are transforming groceries.

Healthcare: Among the industries with rapid growth are online pharmacy retailers and health product stores.

Luxury Goods: Brands of high sophistication are increasingly embracing the digital storefront.

Industry Trends

Retailers are using advanced artificial intelligence to provide a perfect match with the products that consumers are interested in.

Subscription model players, particularly those providing affordably priced offers such as Netflix, Dollar Shave Club, and meal kits, are reaping impetus in the market.

Faster Deliveries: Drone-delivered products and same-day shipping are merely a few of the options a rapidly growing number of companies offer to serve their customers.

Augmented Reality (AR)-enabled tools avail consumers a virtual trial run of items before purchasing them. 

Payment Pioneers: Advancements such as virtual cards, wallets, cryptocurrency use, and even "buy now, pay later" have seen growing numbers of adopters.

Facts & Insights

The global e-commerce economy was estimated to be valued at approximately $5.7 trillion by 2024 and is expected to exceed $8 trillion in value by 2026. 

More than 70% of all domestic e-commerce trade now goes through mobile data devices...

In fact, shopping beyond borders is not implausible, as over 20% of global online transactions are cross-border.

Social commerce: From shoppable posts to direct checkout features, the number of sales and conversions related to online shopping recovers every day through platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest. 

Sustainability: Increasingly, consumers would choose eco-friendly packaging and a green supply chain in their e-commerce experiences.

Market Segment

Business to Consumer means a direct sales system through platforms like Amazon and eBay.

On the other hand, B2B refers to business-to-business (B2B) communication, which occurs through platforms like Alibaba and ThomasNet.

Consumer-to-consumer, or C2C, refers to a platform that facilitates peer-to-peer interaction on items such as art pieces, coins, and industrial machinery. One popular C2C platform is Etsy or eBay. Business itself essentially represents the p-o-c of the business-to-business model through a copyright-free pictogram relationship.

D2C: Direct-to-Consumer contrasts with B2B and B2C. Understanding the differences between B2B and B2C, such as C2C vs. B2C or D2C vs. C2C, can simplify the process. It involves a direct seller delivering a product directly to the end customer, eliminating the need for middlemen. However, brand building tends to benefit more quickly from B2B-generated sales.

Industry Leader

Amazon has provided complete access to worldwide markets and competitors with all essential resources. Every consumer has easy and simple online shopping platforms.

Alibaba is the fastest-growing and bestselling B2B establishment in China.

eBay mainly operates through the online auction system and further facilitates C2C, which has become the front-runner entity in electronic auctioning, badging it with the name the world's most popular C2C online marketplace. 

Shopify has a slew of benefits to offer the smaller and medium-sized companies that are into e-commerce: the benefits are not only industry-low costs but also ease of building a store, inventory management, and other online shopping aspects of a company. 

Walmart is investing heavily in incorporating its huge physical retail footprint with online selling.