****% of the top 500 online shops in Germany for which information about social media usage was researched, have a profile on Facebook. This represents the maximum percentage among all countries that were considered in the analysis.

86% of the top 500 online shops in the U.S. for which information about social media usage was researched, have a profile on Instagram. This represents the maximum percentage among all countries that were considered in the analysis.

Of the countries analyzed, Argentina and Chile exhibited the greatest change in e-commerce sales in 2020, growing by ** percent and ** percent, respectively, over the previous year. In the same period, Spain saw its online sales rise by ** percent, followed closely by the United Kingdom with ** percent.

As of 2022, mobile e-commerce dominated online retail in Africa. Among the selected countries, Morocco recorded the highest share of mobile shopping, with this modality accounting for ** percent of the total e-commerce. Kenya and Nigeria followed, with shares of ** percent and ** percent, respectively. On the continent, South Africa and Morocco ranked as the countries with the largest number of B2B online marketplaces for physical goods.

In 2024, global retail e-commerce sales reached an estimated ************ U.S. dollars. Projections indicate a ** percent growth in this figure over the coming years, with expectations to come close to ************** dollars by 2028. World players Among the key players on the world stage, the American marketplace giant Amazon holds the title of the largest e-commerce player globally, with a gross merchandise value of nearly *********** U.S. dollars in 2024. Amazon was also the most valuable retail brand globally, followed by mostly American competitors such as Walmart and the Home Depot. Leading e-tailing regions E-commerce is a dormant channel globally, but nowhere has it been as successful as in Asia. In 2024, the e-commerce revenue in that continent alone was measured at nearly ************ U.S. dollars, outperforming the Americas and Europe. That year, the up-and-coming e-commerce markets also centered around Asia. The Philippines and India stood out as the swiftest-growing e-commerce markets based on online sales, anticipating a growth rate surpassing ** percent.

A league table of the 120 cryptocurrencies with the highest market cap reveals how diverse each crypto is and potentially how much risk is involved when investing in one. Bitcoin (BTC), for instance, had a so-called "high cap" - a market cap worth more than 10 billion U.S. dollars - indicating this crypto project has a certain track record or, at the very least, is considered a major player in the cryptocurrency space. This is different in Decentralize Finance (DeFi), where Bitcoin is only a relatively new player. A concentrated market The number of existing cryptocurrencies is several thousands, even if most have a limited significance. Indeed, Bitcoin and Ethereum account for nearly 75 percent of the entire crypto market capitalization. As crypto is relatively easy to create, the range of projects varies significantly - from improving payments to solving real-world issues, but also meme coins and more speculative investments. Crypto is not considered a payment method While often talked about as an investment vehicle, cryptocurrencies have not yet established a clear use case in day-to-day life. Central bankers found that usefulness of crypto in domestic payments or remittances to be negligible. A forecast for the world's main online payment methods took a similar stance: It predicts that cryptocurrency would only take up 0.2 percent of total transaction value by 2027.

In 2022, seven percent of all purchases in South Africa were made online. This was the highest share of e-commerce retail among the five African countries taken into account. Nigeria and Kenya followed with *** and **** percent, while e-commerce in Egypt and Morocco accounted for ***** percent and *** percent of the total retail, respectively.

Throughout 2020, Latin American countries introduced a range of movement restrictions aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19. As a result, consumers across the region increasingly turned to online solutions for their purchases. During a survey conducted in ** Latin American countries, Chile showed the highest online shopping increase by e-commerce buyers during the pandemic, with more than ** percent stating to have incremented their purchases through this channel. Puerto Rico ranked second, with ** percent of online shoppers surveyed saying to have purchased more on the internet.

As of 2020, Costa Rica, Chile, and Brazil ranked as the countries best prepared to support e-commerce in Latin America and the Caribbean. This according to the UNCTAD B2C E-commerce Index, which measures the economy's readiness for shopping online in a country based on four categories (internet usage, security, account ownership, and postal reliability). Costa Rica reached an index value of ****, scoring the highest at internet usage and account ownership. Chile had a B2C E-commerce index score of ****, ranking it 59th worldwide.

Online shopping in the Netherlands increased significantly since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. All product categories enjoyed an increase in online sales, according to a survey among Dutch consumers. Furthermore, this change in consumer behavior was expected to persist in the post-coronavirus era, as Dutch consumers signaled the intention to increase their online shopping for all product categories. At the time of the survey, clothing and entertainment goods were purchased online by nearly 60 percent of the respondents, making them the most e-commerce-oriented product categories. The hardware and tools market was predicted to make the largest digital shift, with an online shopping increase of almost ten percent.

Online Shopping in the Netherlands

Aside from the change in shopping behavior due the coronavirus lockdown, the survey also revealed that a large portion of Dutch consumers were already more likely to shop on the internet than in physical stores. E-commerce in the Netherlands expanded rapidly in recent years, almost doubling in revenue between 2014 and 2019. From a European perspective, the Netherlands was among the countries with the highest share of online shoppers. As of May 2020, online retailers Bol.com and Coolblue have been the main drivers behind the expansion of e-commerce in the Netherlands, with Amazon playing a relatively small role. However, the official launch of the Dutch platform Amazon.nl in 2020 was expected to send shock waves through the online retail industry in the country.

COVID-19 and shopping behavior

The coronavirus outbreak changed the retail climate in the Netherlands dramatically, as social distancing rules caused the closure of many physical stores in March and April 2020. Unlike in other European countries, shops were not forced to close in the Netherlands. However, a widespread fear, combined with compliance with governments's recommendations to stay at home, led to a freefall of sales in physical stores.

Unlike the boom experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the e-commerce sector in Latin America suffered from global economic instability in 2022. The Brazilian e-commerce market revenue is forecast to grow by *** percent in 2026. Mexico is forecast to grow by almost ***** percent in 2026, and Argentina by *** percent during the same period. Regional powerhouses drive market expansion Brazil currently dominates the Latin American e-commerce landscape, but Mexico is rapidly closing the gap. In 2025, Brazil's e-commerce revenue is forecast to reach approximately **** billion U.S. dollars, while Mexico is expected to generate over ** billion U.S. dollars in online sales. Argentina is also showing strong growth potential, with projections indicating revenue of over ** billion U.S. dollars by 2025. The competition between these key markets is fueling growth across the entire region, with smaller countries like Peru and Chile also experiencing substantial increases in online retail activity. Market penetration fuels growth The overall e-commerce market penetration rate in Latin America is expected to reach ***** percent in 2025, reflecting a consistent upward trajectory. This trend is further supported by the important role that marketplaces like Mercado Libre Amazon play in the region. As the market continues to evolve, MercadoLibre is expected to capture a significant share, with forecasts suggesting it will account for ** percent of all e-commerce sales in Latin America by 2026. Amazon, with an offer of over *** million products in Brazil, pretends to remain a main player in the largest market in Latin America.

The United Kingdom consistently maintained the highest share of online retail, rising from 23 percent in 2017 to a peak of 28 percent during 2020 and 2021, before stabilizing at around 27 percent in 2024. Germany and France began with much lower shares, at 11 and 10 percent, respectively, in 2017, but both experienced steady increases, particularly during the pandemic, reaching 18 and 17 percent by 2021. After this surge, all three countries saw a slight decline as physical retail recovered, with levels remaining relatively stable by 2024. The European e-commerce giant Globally, online commerce is on the rise. It was estimated that in 2024 online retail sales would sum to around 7.4 trillion U.S. dollars, and additionally it is forecast to increase to 9.4 trillion U.S. dollars by 2026. When taking a closer look at Europe, the UK not only had the highest share of online retail sales but also had the highest retail sales value in Europe, followed by Germany and France. In 2022, the UK reached approximately 106 billion British pounds in online retail sales, while Germany generated around 90 billion British pounds and France accumulated less than 60 billion British pounds. Rise of online retail within the UK Within the UK, the index that measures the value of monthly internet retail sales in Great Britain grew from 124.6 in November 2022 to 216.2 in November 2023. The rise of online retail in Great Britain can also be seen in the percentage change in monthly online retail sales, which increased to 6.6 percent in June 2023. When looking at all sectors of online retail, household goods stores incurred the largest increase in online sales, with almost a 12 percent YoY change, while department stores saw the lowest YoY change of just under one percent.

Forecasts indicate significant growth in the e-commerce sectors of Asia in 2024. Topping the list are the Philippines and India, poised for a surge of approximately ** percent and ** percent in online sales, respectively. Following closely behind, Malaysia secures the third spot with an **** percent growth rate. Meanwhile, Bolivia and Mexico were expected to outpace other nations, with e-retail sales forecast to grow by over ** percent. A growing global e-retail market Partly fueled by a rapid increase in internet users worldwide over recent years, along with mobility constraints and the shutdown of physical stores during the COVID-19 pandemic, the global e-commerce retail market expanded fourfold from 2014 to 2022. Central to this growth has been the widespread adoption of mobile commerce, which entails online shopping through smartphones, particularly prominent in various regions of the global South. Forecasts suggested that m-commerce sales in Argentina are poised to surge by around *** times between 2022 and 2026. Fast-growing markets fueled by local players While online retail giants Amazon and Alibaba Group wield global dominance in the e-commerce landscape, they do not hold the top positions in many of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets. Based on monthly website traffic, Singaporean e-retailer Shopee is the leading e-commerce site in Singapore by a significant margin. This trend is even more pronounced in Argentina, where Mercado Libre garners nearly ** times the traffic witnessed on Amazon's Spanish page, amazon.es.

According to estimates, Amazon claimed the top spot among online retailers in the United States in 2023, capturing 37.6 percent of the market. Second place was occupied by the e-commerce site of the retail chain Walmart, with a 6.4 percent market share, followed in third place by Apple, with 3.6 percent.

Amazon’s continued success

Amazon has long dominated the e-commerce market as the world’s favorite online marketplace. In 2022, company hit over half a trillion U.S. dollars in net sales. The United States is by far Amazon’s most profitable market, as the U.S. branch generated over 356 billion U.S. dollars in sales in 2022. Germany ranked second, with 33 billion dollars, followed closely by the United Kingdom with 30 billion dollars.

Online shopping on the rise

Online shopping has grown significantly over the past decade, with more people turning to the internet for their shopping needs. The proof is in the numbers: the U.S. e-commerce industry was worth almost a trillion dollars in 2023. By 2027, forecasts show that the online market will grow to more than 50 percent. U.S. online shoppers purchase fashion and food and beverages the most via the internet.

In 2020, the value of the average e-commerce basket in Singapore was 62 U.S. dollars which was the highest from the selected Southeast Asian countries. Comparatively, consumers in Vietnam spent 17 U.S. dollars on average per e-commerce basket.

In 2020, a total of over ** percent of consumers across the globe shopped online: reaching nearly ** percent each, the leading regions that year were South America and Asia. North America had the lowest share with just over ***** in **** consumers buying items on the internet. The online store that was used most frequently by shoppers worldwide was Amazon.com.

Favorite online stores in the U.S. As of November 2020, an estimated ** percent of U.S. consumers stated that their online shop of choice was Amazon, making it by far the favorite e-commerce shop among online shoppers. With less than ** percent, Walmart’s web shop ranked second. Both male and female consumers in the country had a clear preference for Amazon, however, certain online stores were more popular among specific genders. For instance, more men liked visiting eBay, while a higher percentage of women had a preference for Target.

Why do consumers like Amazon? There were various reasons why U.S. shoppers used Amazon to buy products in 2020, the leading reason being the fast and free shipping services provided. Other key factors consumers mentioned, included Amazon’s broad selection, the easy return process, and the platform having some of the lowest prices.

In 2020, the UK was the country with the biggest cross-over B2C e-commerce market. Its revenue amounted to ** billion euros if transactions of travel services are excluded. Germany followed with ** billion euros, while France ranked third with a cross-over e-commerce revenue of ** billion euros.

European cross-border e-commerce from China

The cross-border e-commerce purchases from Chinese retailers were remarkable. In 2020, it was reported that more than ** percent of consumers living in Poland, Hungary, Latvia, and Lithuania have bought physical goods from Chinese online retailers over the previous three months. In turn, ** percent of individuals have made cross-border purchases from EU sellers in 2020.

Cross-border platforms

Cross-border shopping is popular outside Europe, too. A global survey from ************ revealed that more than ** percent of the shoppers in ** countries have made their most recent cross-border purchases from the e-commerce giant Amazon. AliExpress followed with ** percent and eBay with ** percent of preferences, respectively.

In 2024, global e-commerce sales grew by *** percent compared to the previous year. In that period, e-commerce accounted for approximately ** percent of all retail sales worldwide. Asian countries lead the way According to an estimate, China and Indonesia ranked **************** respectively on the list of countries with the greatest share of retail sales projected to take place online in 2023. Following the same trend, estimates also revealed that the three fastest-growing retail e-commerce countries in the world are all in Asia. Amazon on top When looking at the leading e-commerce companies worldwide, as opposed to the leading e-commerce countries, ****** is the clear market leader with a market cap of over************n U.S. dollars as of March 2025. Not only that, but the *************************** company is also by far the***** visited online marketplace in the world, with approximately *** billion monthly visits.

As of November 2020, roughly six in ten consumers in the United States stated that Amazon was their favorite online store, making it the country's unequivocal e-commerce leader. With a total of just over ten percent, Walmart was the second-favorite among U.S. shoppers.

Online store favorites among men and women

Online store preferences in the United States were in many cases quite similar among male and female consumers, however, there were a few noticeable differences in 2020. For instance, women had a slight shopping preference for stores, such as Target and Etsy, while men were bigger fans of eBay.

U.S. sentiments towards Alibaba

AliExpress, a company owned by the Alibaba Group, is currently one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the world. But despite its global presence and success, the online retail service is not very commonly used in the United States. What is more, approximately 15 percent of the country’s online users felt that the company should be banned from operating in the U.S.. The majority of the country’s consumers, however, did not have an opinion on the matter.

A 2025 survey revealed that, of all the countries studied, online shoppers in India were the most familiar with live commerce, with ***percent of online shoppers having already purchased products via live-streaming. China ranked second in live e-commerce adoption, with over ***percent of respondents claiming to have used it in the past.