With the number of people shopping online increasing year after year, it should come as no surprise that global ecommerce sales have also been rising.
Here’s a look at how annual ecommerce sales worldwide have risen in the past few years and are forecast to grow.
Global ecommerce sales: 2021–2027
Year |
Global ecommerce sales |
2021 |
$4.98 trillion |
2022 |
$5.29 trillion |
2023 |
$5.82 trillion |
2024 |
$6.33 trillion |
2025 |
$6.86 trillion |
2026 |
$7.41 trillion |
2027 |
$7.96 trillion |
Global ecommerce sales are expected to total $6.33 trillion worldwide in 2024. This number is expected to continue growing over the next few years, proving that the ecommerce business model is becoming an increasingly lucrative option for companies.
2024’s number also marks an 8.8% annual increase—the third-fastest global ecommerce sales growth rate in the forecast period between 2021 and 2027.
Online sales are expected to continue rising and take a larger piece of the retail pie. In 2025, global ecommerce sales are forecast to rise to $6.86 trillion, before adding another $550 billion in 2026, to $7.41 trillion. By 2027, it’s estimated that world retail ecommerce sales will hit $7.96 trillion.
From 2021 to 2027, annual global ecommerce sales is projected to increase by nearly $3 billion. This marks an overall increase of 59.8% and an average annual growth rate of 8.1%.
Global ecommerce sales: largest contributors
As the world’s top exporter, China is also the world’s top ecommerce market, with total online sales exceeding the $3 trillion mark in 2023. Together with the United States, ecommerce sales from these two countries totaled more than $4.1 trillion.
It should come as no surprise then, that some of the world’s top ecommerce companies come from these two powerhouses. In fact, more than half of the top 10 hail from either China or the US.
Rising ecommerce sales worldwide: biggest drivers
This divide between online and in-store widened significantly in 2020 in 2021 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, experts say the pandemic accelerated the shift to online shopping by as many as five years.
But that’s not the only reason ecommerce is on the rise.
The infiltration of mobile technology into consumers’ lives has more than helped to move things along. Recent figures show the number of people shopping online worldwide is set to rise by 2.7% in 2024 to hit 2.71 billion. Data also shows an increasing reliance on shopping via mobile devices. In fact, mobile commerce sales are also set to grow. In 2024, total sales from mobile devices are projected to hit $2.5 trillion, from $2.2 trillion in 2023.
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