Commentary

US Hits #1 in Online Retail Sales Rank; China 2, UK 3

Even though most consumers prefer to go to stores to shop, online retail commerce is booming.

Online sales globally increased to $840 billion as online retailers expanded globally and physical retailers entered new markets through e-commerce, based on a new study.

Global online sales, including those from mobile and desktop, will reach $995 billion this year and $1.1 trillion next year, according to the Global E-Commerce Index by A.T. Kearney.

The annual index rates the most attractive countries for online retail, which they define as sales from online-only retailers or those owned by store-based retailers. The ratings take into account the online market size, technology adoption, consumer behavior, infrastructure and growth potential.

In this year’s ranking, the U.S. moved up to the top spot, replacing China, which dropped to second place due to a decline in online commerce. A.T. Kearney pegs the U.S. online commerce market at $238 billion.

It can be expected that a growing percentage of that revenue is coming via mobile device.

To wit, a recent global study by Criteo found a rise in the number of people using mobile for commerce transactions, as I wrote about here recently (29% of US Ecommerce Transactions Now Mobile; 34% Globally).

The increase in revenue projected by A.T.Kearney aligns with the expected increase in the overall number of mobile shoppers.

A recent study by Global Web Index found that there now  are 500 million mobile shoppers globally with an expected 654 million by the end of next year, which I wrote about here last week (70% of Shopping App Users Market a Mobile Purchase).

Here are the top online commerce markets, based on the A.T. Kearney index:

  1. United States
  2. China
  3. United Kingdom
  4. Japan
  5. Germany
  6. France
  7. South Korea
  8. Russia
  9. Belgium
  10. Australia

Lowest ranking in the index are Ireland, Argentina, New Zealand, Finland and Venezuela.

With the explosive growth of mobile, it’s only getting easier to buy online, no matter where or when.

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About the Author

Chuck Martin is Editor of the AI & IoT Daily at MediaPost and writes the daily Connected Thinking column. He is a NY Times Business bestselling author and his latest book is “Digital Transformation 3.0” (The New Business-to-Consumer Connections of The Internet of Things.) He is CEO of Net Future Institute and a frequent keynote speaker internationally. Follow him on Twitter @chuckmartin and contact him at Chuck@MediaPost.com.