The Growth of E-Commerce
March 12, 2019
Trade has long since moved online, and the world of e-Commerce is ever-changing. New sales channels, digital techniques, social media, and platform changes are hard to keep up with. In this article, we will talk about the growth of e-commerce.
E-commerce growth continued to dominate the global retail market at a rate of nearly 20 percent per year and is on course to overtake brick-and-mortar growth in the next five years. Currently, western Europe holds the highest percentage of E-commerce retail sales with 17%, compared to the US with only 9%.
Online Payment
People want an easy way in everything, an easy life, and easy money. The existence of e-commerce made it easy for consumers to purchase goods and services. Though some e-commerce sites offer cash-on-delivery services, the ability to pay virtually using different types of payment gateways has helped a lot in the success of e-commerce. The advantages of wide-reaching global payment systems allow for easier online shopping, especially when taking the growth of mobile commerce into account. A survey says that over 40% of global online shoppers pay via Paypal for the products they purchase online. In the second quarter of 2018, Paypal had a total active user account of 244 million on the online payment platform.
Popular Shopping Categories among Consumers Worldwide
- 63%: Books, music, movies, and video games
- 43%: Consumer Electronics and Computers
- 40%: clothing, accessories, and footwear
- 39%: Toys
- 37%: Health and Beauty (Cosmetics)
Let’s take a look at some of the success stories of today’s top e-commerce companies worldwide
Amazon, Inc.
This American e-commerce business was founded in 1994 in Seattle, Washington, by Jeff Bezos. In the years since, Amazon has become a household name when it comes to online shopping. Amazon holds the largest revenue in the world, but its beginnings were humble. The company started as an online bookstore and later expanded to sell video (downloads and streaming), MP3 (downloads and streaming), audiobooks (downloads and streaming), software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, and jewelry.
They even have separate retail websites for different countries, like the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, Japan, China, India, and Mexico.
Jingdong
Formerly known as 360buy, Jingdong is an e-commerce company operating from Beijing and is the first of three major Chinese companies we list here. It is one of the two massive B2C online retailers in China, Rivaled by the more popular Alibaba. It was founded in 1998 and started trading online six years later.
It started as an online magneto-optical store but later expanded to sell electronics, mobile phones, computers, and similar items. Today, the company flourishes with its high-tech delivery system, comprised of robots, AI, and a fleet of drones.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
Alibaba is a Chinese multinational e-commerce, retail, Internet, AI, and technology conglomerate owned by Jack Ma. The Chinese business magnate’s life is a riches-to-rags story. He has been rejected from more than 30 job postings since the early 1990s, when he started making websites for companies with his wife and a friend. The business grew, and in 1999, Jack Ma founded the Alibaba Group, which became the world’s largest retailer today, operating in more than 200 countries.
It has been named one of the world’s most admired companies by Fortune.
eBay Inc.
eBay’s beloved red-blue-green-yellow logo is, for many, a symbol of the 1990s, and for a good reason. It was one of the first successful dot-com bubble companies that epitomized online shopping. The company was founded by Pierre Omidyar in San Jose, California.
It has no doubt become a multibillion-dollar business that operates in about 30 countries as of 2011.
It’s never too late to try your luck in the online retail business. E-commerce has a lot of benefits to offer that will surely help you build your success.