2014’s been a great year for retail with sales expecting to hit $22 trillion.
Market research company, eMarketers predict that this figure will increase by 5.5 percent and ‘is projected to hit $28.3 trillion’. This figure includes a breakdown across 22 countries. Ecommerce is growing year on year in popularity,
“When it comes to retail products and services purchased on the Internet, e-commerce will account for 5.9 percent of the total retail market worldwide in 2014, or $1.316 trillion. By 2018, that share will increase significantly to 8.8 percent, yet retail e-commerce will still account for just a fraction of in-store purchases even as it nears $2.5 trillion by the end of our forecast.”
The two countries leading the way in eCommerce sales are China and the US with a combined total of 55 percent of internet retail sales. While they are currently close, China is expected to grow in the next 5 years and become the global leader in eCommerce sales.
While eCommerce is certainly growing in popularity every year, brick-and-mortar stores are still the majority choice by consumers.
“Approximately 63 percent of the U.S. population will make a digital purchase this year, yet only 6.5 percent of U.S. retail sales are expected to come from Internet transactions, increasing to 8.9 percent by 2018. In other words, a majority of U.S. consumers are making purchases online, but more than $10 out of every $11 are still spent in stores.”
Leading the way for eCommerce sales is the UK with 11.6 percent of total retail sales being eCommerce, which is 3% higher than China’s. This shows the popularity of digital and eCommerce sales in the UK compared to the rest of the world.
