E-commerce experienced significant growth during the pandemic as people turned to online shopping to get what they needed from the safety of their homes. In fact, e-commerce experienced a “10-year growth spurt” in a matter of weeks. Even as the world re-opens, e-commerce is expected to see continued expansion this year, per data from eMarketer.
The Asia-Pacific market will be the largest e-commerce market in the world this year, reaching $3 trillion in sales. China, alone, is forecast to account for more than half (52.1%) of global online retail sales.
The Asia-Pacific market is reportedly three times larger than that of North America, which will approach $1 trillion in online retail sales in 2021. Accounting for one-fifth (19%) of global e-commerce sales, the US is the second-largest single e-commerce market this year.
eMarketer estimates that US retail e-commerce sales will see 17.9% year-over-year growth in 2021, with 15 companies accounting for 72.3% of total e-commerce sales. Eight of these companies, having benefited from pandemic spending on home improvement, online grocery sales and pet care, are expected to exceed the US retail e-commerce sales growth rate.
The largest e-commerce retailer in the US, Amazon, will enjoy the fourth largest growth rate this year (+24.9%), behind Etsy (26.9%), Walmart (26.4%) and Chewy (25.0%). Costco will see 21.7% growth over 2020, likely thanks to the rapid growth of FMCG e-commerce. Apple (19.7%), Wayfair (19.4%) and The Home Depot (18.0%) round out the top 8 companies, in terms of year-over-year e-commerce growth.
After two years of growth, fueled partially by pandemic-induced spending on consumer technology, Best Buy will be the only company to see its e-commerce sales drop this year. The company is expected to see a 3.1% year-over-year decrease in e-commerce sales.
