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Global e-commerce jumps to $26.7 trillion, COVID-19 boosts online sales

03 May 2021

The pandemic has, however, resulted in mixed fortunes for some e-commerce companies, reversing the profits of firms offering services such as ride-hailing and travel.

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The dramatic rise in e-commerce amid movement restrictions induced by COVID-19 increased online retail sales’ share of total retail sales from 16% to 19% in 2020, according to estimates in an UNCTAD report published on 3 May.

UNCTAD released the report as it hosted a two-day meeting on measuring e-commerce and the digital economy.

According to the report, online retail sales grew markedly in several countries, with the Republic of Korea reporting the highest share at 25.9% in 2020, up from 20.8% the year before (Table 1).

Meanwhile, global e-commerce sales jumped to $26.7 trillion in 2019, up 4% from 2018, according to the latest available estimates.

This includes business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sales, and is equivalent to 30% of global gross domestic product (GDP) that year.

“These statistics show the growing importance of online activities. They also point to the need for countries, especially developing ones, to have such information as they rebuild their economies in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Shamika Sirimanne, UNCTAD’s director of technology and logistics.

 

Table 1: Online retail sales, selected economies, 2018-2020

Economy

Online retail sales

($ billions)

Retail sales

($ billions)

Online share

(% of retail sales)

 

2018

2019

2020

2018

2019

2020

2018

2019

2020

Australia

13.5

14.4

22.9

239

229

242

5.6

6.3

9.4

Canada

13.9

16.5

28.1

467

462

452

3.0

3.6

6.2

China

1,060.4

1,233.6

1,414.3

5,755

5,957

5,681

18.4

20.7

24.9

Korea (Rep.)

76.8

84.3

104.4

423

406

403

18.2

20.8

25.9

Singapore

1.6

1.9

3.2

34

32

27

4.7

5.9

11.7

United Kingdom

84.0

89.0

130.6

565

564

560

14.9

15.8

23.3

United States

519.6

598.0

791.7

5,269

5,452

5,638

9.9

11.0

14.0

Economies above

1,770

2,038

2,495

12,752

13,102

13,003

14

16

19

Source: UNCTAD, based on national statistics offices.

 

Mixed fortunes for some firms

The COVID-19 pandemic has also resulted in mixed fortunes for leading B2C e-commerce companies, according to the UNCTAD report.

Data for the top 13 e-commerce firms, 11 of which are from China and the United States, shows a notable reversal of fortunes for platform companies offering services such as ride-hailing and travel (Table 2).

All of them experienced sharp declines in gross merchandize value (GMV) and corresponding drops in ranks.

For instance, Expedia fell from 5th place in 2019 to 11th in 2020, Booking Holdings from 6th to 12th and Airbnb, which launched its initial public offering in 2020, from 11th to 13th.

Despite the reduction in services companies’ GMV, total GMV for the top 13 B2C e-commerce companies rose by 20.5% in 2020, higher than in 2019 (17.9%). There were particularly large gains for Shopify (up 95.6%) and Walmart (72.4%). Overall, B2C GMV for the top 13 companies stood at $2.9 trillion in 2020.

 

Table 2: Top B2C e-commerce companies by GMV, 2020

Rank by GMV

Company

HQ

Industry

GMV

($ billions)

GMV change

(%)

2020

2019

2018

2019

2020

2018-19

2019-20

1

1

Alibaba

China

E-commerce

866

954

   1,145

10.2

20.1

2

2

Amazon

USA

E-commerce

344

417

575

21.0

38.0

3

3

JD.com

China

E-commerce

253

302

379

19.1

25.4

4

4

Pinduoduo

China

E-commerce

71

146

242

104.4

65.9

5

9

Shopify

Canada

Internet Media & Services

41

61

120

48.7

95.6

6

7

eBay

USA

E-commerce

90

86

100

-4.8

17.0

7

10

Meituan

China

E-commerce

43

57

71

33.0

24.6

8

12

Walmart

USA

Consumer goods retail

25

37

64

47.0

72.4

9

8

Uber

USA

Internet Media & Services

50

65

58

30.5

-10.9

10

13

Rakuten

Japan

E-commerce

30

34

42

13.6

24.2

11

5

Expedia

USA

Internet Media & Services

100

108

37

8.2

-65.9

12

6

Booking Holdings

USA

Internet Media & Services

93

96

35

4.0

-63.3

13

11

Airbnb

USA

Internet Media & Services

29

38

24

29.3

-37.1

   

Companies above

 

2,035

2,399

2,890

17.9

20.5

Source:  UNCTAD based on company reports.
Note: Alibaba year beginning 1 April, Walmart year beginning 1 February. Figures in italics are estimates. GMV = Gross Merchandize Value (as well as Booking Value).

 

Business-to-business sales dominate e-commerce

The report estimates the value of global B2B e-commerce in 2019 at $21.8 trillion, representing 82% of all e-commerce, including both sales over online market platforms and electronic data interchange (EDI) transactions.

The United States continued to dominate the overall e-commerce market, ahead of Japan and China (Table 3).

B2C e-commerce sales were estimated at $4.9 trillion in 2019, up 11% over 2018. The top three countries by B2C e-commerce sales remained China, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Cross-border B2C e-commerce amounted to some $440 billion in 2019, an increase of 9% over 2018. The UNCTAD report also notes that the share of online shoppers making cross-border purchases rose from 20% in 2017 to 25% in 2019.

 

Table 3: E-commerce sales: Top 10 countries, 2019

Rank

Economy

Total e-commerce sales

($ billions)

Share of total e-commerce sales in GDP (%)

B2B e-commerce sales

($ billions)

Share of B2B e-commerce sales in total e-commerce (%)

B2C e-commerce sales

($ billions)

1

United States

9,580

45

  8,319

87

  1,261

2

Japan

3,416

67

  3,238

95

     178

3

China

2,604

18

  1,065

41

  1,539

4

Korea (Rep.)

1,302

79

  1,187

91

     115

5

United Kingdom

    885

31

     633

72

     251

6

France

    785

29

     669

85

     116

7

Germany

    524

14

     413

79

     111

8

Italy

    431

22

     396

92

       35

9

Australia

    347

25

     325

94

       21

10

Spain

    344

25

     280

81

       64

 

10 above

20,218

36

16,526

82

  3,691

 

World

26,673

30

21,803

 

  4,870

Source: UNCTAD, based on national sources.
Note: Figures in italics are UNCTAD estimates.

 

E-commerce firms perform poorly in digital inclusion

Despite e-commerce firms’ sizeable fortunes, an index released by the World Benchmarking Alliance in December last year rated them poorly on digital inclusion.

The index ranked 100 digital companies, including 14 e-commerce firms, based on how they contribute to access to digital technologies, building digital skills, enhancing trust and fostering innovation.

E-commerce enterprises underperformed compared to companies in other digital industries such as hardware or telecommunication services.

For instance, the highest-ranked e-commerce company was eBay at 49th place. Overall, e-commerce companies obtained a score of just 20 out of a possible 100.

According to the UNCTAD report, a main factor for the poor performance is that e-commerce companies are relatively young, typically founded only in the last two decades.

“These firms have been more focused on shareholders rather than engaging with a wide group of stakeholders and compiling metrics on their environmental, social and governance performance,” the report says.

Nonetheless, there are some bright spots. For instance, several e-commerce companies provide free training to entrepreneurs on how to sell online including in some cases, specifically targeted at vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities or ethnic minorities.