Global B2C e-commerce sales cracked the $1 trillion mark last year, and should reach almost $1.3 trillion this year, per new estimates from eMarketer. And while the US is forecast to remain the dominant market this year ($384.8 billion in sales), the Asia-Pacific region will grow to command one-third share of global sales, surpassing North America’s share (31.5%) for the first time. The largest contributor to APAC’s total will be China, with online sales predicted to jump by 65% this year to $181.6 billion.
While China will remain well behind the US this year, one projection (from Translated.net) sees China rising to account for 20.1% share of potential online sales volume in 2016, versus 15.6% for the US.
Looking out as far as 2016, eMarketer predicts that APAC spending will grow to 39.7% share of the global total, while North America’s share will gradually decline to 28.2%. Western Europe will also see a declining share (from 26.9% to 22.6%) of the world’s total B2C e-commerce spending.
Other Findings:
- B2C e-commerce sales per user will hit $2,466 in the US this year, among those who buy goods online.
- Average spending in China will be far lower, at $670 this year, but total e-commerce sales will be boosted by the massive volume of digital buyers in the country.
About the Data: A full description of eMarketer’s methodology can be found at the link above.
