China continues to dominate global e-commerce

Nearly 60% of all online sales worldwide are made by just six large companies. Four of these are based in China. This is shown in a new report from Activate Consulting.

Amazon in top 3

Amazon is the largest non-Chinese e-commerce player. According to the study, Jeff Bezos’ company generates around 13% of global online turnover. The only other Western company in the top 6 is eBay, which accounts for around 3%, writes Charged Retail.
 

42% of global online turnover is generated by four major Chinese platforms. Taobao and Tmall, both part of Alibaba Group, achieve 15% and 14% respectively, while JD.com and Pinduoduo represent 9% and 4% respectively. In total, the 6 largest e-commerce players realise 58% of all online turnover, or a sloppy 3.4 trillion dollar (2.88 trillion euros).

Ubiquitous

According to the study, Chinese dominance is mainly due to the fact that e-commerce is much more widespread in the Asian country than anywhere else in the world. Moreover, the majority of Chinese e-commerce sales are made through marketplaces that facilitate transactions by bringing buyers and sellers into contact with each other. Direct sales to consumers are much less developed.
 

Activate Consulting expects global online retail sales to rise to 18% of all retail sales this year, partly as a result of the corona pandemic. By 2024 the online share would even rise to 23%.