What Is E-Commerce?
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E-commerce refers to online commercial transactions made through electronic devices such as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, etc. Almost all product types can be traded in the form of e-commerce, including both tangible and intangible products.
The e-trade process commences from searching for products and making purchases, to after-sales service. Simply put, e-commerce is buying and selling goods or services online.
E-commerce is the process of buying and selling products or services on the Internet.
What Are the 4 Types of E-Commerce?
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There are 4 major types of e-commerce:
- B2C (Business to Consumer): B2B refers to the process of selling and purchasing products or services between a business and end consumers. Take Google, Facebook, Tencent, Walmart, etc. for examples.
- B2B (Business to Business): B2B is a digital sales model in which transactions are made between two businesses, such as a wholesaler and retailer. Amazon Business, Alibaba, AliExpress, Rakuten, and TradeKey are typical examples.
- C2C (Consumer to Consumer): C2C a business model whereby consumers trade with each other using a third-party platform such as eBay and Craigslist.
- D2C (Direct to Consumer): D2C refers to a retail sales model where a manufacturer builds, sells, and delivers products directly to end consumers without intermediaries.
There are 4 main types of e-commerce: B2C (Business to Consumer), B2B (Business to Business), C2C (Consumer to Consumer), and D2C (Direct to Consumer).
How Big Is E-Commerce?
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#1: Global e-commerce market value reached $13 trillion in 2021. [Statista]
#2: Retail e-commerce sales amounted to approximately $4.9 trillion, accounting for 20% of total sales worldwide in 2021. [PRnewswire]
#3: B2B market value was $8.5 trillion, making up 63% of the total global market share. [MarketWatch]
#4: There are an estimated 12 million – 24 million e-commerce sites globally, with more and more being formed every single day. [WPForms]
#5: The number of digital buyers is at 2.14 billion in 2021. [Statista]
#6: There are more than 150 e-commerce marketplaces across the entire globe. [Bigcommerce]
E-commerce plays a vital role in the modern retail industry, accounting for 20% of total sales worldwide.
What Will Be the Future of E-Commerce?
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#7: The global e-commerce market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.7%. [Grand View Research]
#8: In 2018, retail e-commerce sales reached $2.8 trillion worldwide. [Statista]
#9: The demand for online shopping has doubled after COVID-19. In 2022, global e-commerce sales are estimated to total $5.5 trillion. [Shopify]
#10: In 2025, worldwide e-commerce sales are projected to top $7.4 trillion, overtaking in-store sales. [Shopify]
#11: By 2040, 95% of purchases will happen online. [California Business Journal]
COVID-19 has fueled demand for online shopping and changed the way people shop. It is more likely that e-commerce will dominate retail sales in the future.
What Are the Top Things in E-Commerce?
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#12: Tech products are what people buy online the most (69%), followed by books (67%) and clothes (63%). [Invespcro]
#13: China is the largest e-commerce market in the world. In 2021, it reached $2,779 billion, accounting for slightly over half of total retail e-commerce sales. Whereas, the second (US) and third-largest e-commerce markets (UK) lagged far behind with $843 billion and $169 billion respectively. [Insider Intelligence]
#14: Top 3 most commonly-used platforms to build digital storefronts by users are WooCommerce (35%), Squarespace (14%), and Shopify (10%). [Datanyze]
#15: Amazon, JD, and Alibaba are the 3 biggest players in e-commerce with the market value of $386 billion, $108 billion, and $104 billion correspondingly. [Global Data]
#16: Most purchases were made on mobile phones (56%), desktops/laptops (28%), and tablets (16%). [Marketing Dive]
#17: Maersk possesses the highest container capacity of any shipping company. It has 713 ships in operation with a collective TEU of 4.1 million. MSC and COSCO follow with roughly 3.9 million and 3.0 million. [Statista]
#18: 77% of people prefer to visit Facebook when researching products. Twitter and LinkedIn are 26% and 22% respectively. [Invespcro]
#19: Approximately 392 million people made payments via PayPal, while that of Amazon Pay and Skrill are 300 million and 40 million correspondingly. [Statista]
- Tech products are what people purchase online the most.
- China has the largest portion of global e-commerce sales.
- The biggest e-commerce company is Amazon.
- WooCommerce is the most famous e-commerce platform.
- The most favorite social network used for product research is Facebook.
- People mostly use smartphones to shop online.
- PayPal has been confirmed as the most popular online payment gateway.
- The greatest global container shipping company is Maersk.
How Do Online Consumers Behave?
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#20: Roughly 55% of consumers made purchases via social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. [Retail Touch Points]
#21: 59% of shoppers use Google for product research before making purchases to ensure they are making the best possible choice. [Think with Google]
#22: Digital wallets accounted for 45% of global e-commerce payment transactions, making it by far the most popular online payment method worldwide. [Statista]
#23: Over 8 in 10 people (about 83%) satisfy overall with their online shopping experiences. [Invespcro]
#24: The need for convenience has become more prominent for consumers. It makes sense that more than 75% of people shop online at least once a month. [YouGov]
#25: Over 69% of high frequency and high spending consumers are more likely to shop with overseas merchants. [Clear Sale]
#26: For every 100 potential customers, 70 of them will leave without buying. High extra costs (shipping, taxes, fees, etc.) at checkout remain the biggest reason for cart abandonment. [Shopify]
#27: Research found that conversion rates increased by 35% on the websites thanks to better checkout designs. [Ced Commerce]
#28: 38% of consumers said that they have made a purchase due to a good live chat session itself. [Invespcro]
#29: 75% of shoppers agreed that they would switch brands for a better loyalty program. It is evident that brands and retailers should focus on it so as to retain customers. [KPMG]
#30: In a world of celebrity endorsements, sponsored posts, and paid influencers, shoppers crave authenticity more than ever. Studies revealed that 88% of people consider authenticity the most important factor when deciding which brands to make purchases. [SocialMediaToday]
#31: 80% of consumers are more likely to buy a product online when offered free shipping. [Shopify]
- Today we live in a technological era, where most consumers rely on Google and social media to research products. Modern technology has also paved the way for digital payment methods.
- The demand for online shopping and overseas online shopping are on the rise.
- Affordable extra costs and high customer service quality are the determining factors in purchasing decisions.
What Are Online Shopping Trends in 2022?
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#32: Companies are expanding payment options to satisfy customer requirements, both contactless in-store and flexible choices online.
In 2021, 38% of businesses reported adding more digital payment methods. This momentum is poised to increase at an accelerated rate in 2022 at 53%. [Global Payments]
#33: Big data support businesses tailor their products and promotions based on what their customers buy or browse. The retail e-commerce sector will get a 13.2% revenue boost by using big data. [Finances Online]
#34: Businesses tend to integrate AI into customer analysis. 79% of them stated this has significantly increased their sales. They were able to generate at least 20% additional sales thanks to AI-based marketing strategies. [Master of Code]
#35: Email marketing still plays an indispensable part in online communication with an ROI of 4,200%. It means that an email marketing campaign generates $42 for every dollar spent. [HubSpot]
#36: The use of QR codes on mobile devices will witness an exponential leap. The number of QR code payment users will reach 2.2 billion globally by 2025, accounting for 29% of total mobile users. [Pay Space Magazine]
#37: Chatbots automation will save up to 30% on customer support costs. Chatbots e-commerce transactions are expected to amount to $112 billion by 2023. [Juniper Research]
#38: More e-commerce companies will go global in the future to overcome growth bottlenecks. In fact, research revealed that 76% of online shoppers have made purchases on a website outside their own countries. [Forbes]
#39: 2/3 of consumers tend to do online shopping via social media. Worldwide social commerce will grow 3 times faster than traditional e-commerce, doubling from $492 billion in 2021 to $1.2 trillion in 2025. [Insider Intelligence]
#40: Product preview using AR will improve customer shopping experience, leading to more products being sold. By 2022, there will be around 3.5 billion AR users, amounting to over 25% of the world's population. [Techjury]
#41: The subscription model will be widely used in the market as it continuously keeps customers coming back. It also has a higher conversion rate (65%) than curation (52%) or access services (51%). The global subscription in e-commerce market are going to reach $478.2 billion by 2025. [Invespcro]
#42: The future of e-commerce is headless and API-driven. Headless commerce is an architecture where the front-end is decoupled from the back-end functionality. Thus, it you can update your site interface without interfering with the back-end.
Last year, 61% of e-commerce companies were using or planning to use a headless platform. That number is going to soar dramatically. [Bigcommerce]
#43: Voice assistants become more and more popular. The worldwide transaction value of e-commerce purchases made through voice assistants will rise from $4.6 billion in 2021 to $19.4 billion in 2023. This is more than 400% growth in just two years. [Statista]
High technology and automation will be the future of e-commerce.
Which Are Common E-Commerce Security Issues?
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The world of e-commerce has seen a large jump in the total number of cyberattacks compared to 2019, including:
#44: Bad bots (increased 32%).
#45: DDoS attacks (increased 38%).
#46: Credit card skimming (increased 43%).
#47: Credit card fraud (increased 65%).
#48: SQL injections (increased 45%).
#49: Account takeover attacks (increased 41%).
#50: Magecart attacks (increased 81%).
#51: Brute force attacks (increased 238%).
[Webscale]
The growth of e-commerce is proportional to an increase in cybercriminals. Brute force attacks is the most common method that hackers use to gain unauthorized access to online accounts.
