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

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.

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 globally 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.