Global e-commerce sales reached $26,7 billion globally in 2019, an increase of 4% compared to 2018, reported the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
In the technical note entitled “Global e-commerce estimates 2019 and preliminary assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on online sales 2020”, the agency clarified that this figure includes business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sales and is equivalent to 30% of the world's gross domestic product (GDP) 2019. The information was published within the framework of a two-day intergovernmental meeting it organized on the measurement of electronic commerce and the digital economy.
Regarding the business to business sales (B2B), the report estimates the value of global e-commerce at $21,8 billion in 2019, representing the 82% of all e-commerce. The United States dominates the global e-commerce market, followed by Japan and China.
Meanwhile, business to consumer sales (B2C) were estimated at $4,9 billion in 2019, a 11% more than in 2018. The top three countries for B2C e-commerce sales continued to be China, the United States and the United Kingdom, the report highlights.
UNCTAD notes that the share of consumers making cross-border purchases Online contact, that is, people who buy from websites located outside their own country, increased by 25% in 2019 from 20% in 2017.
“These statistics show the growing importance of online activities. They also point to the need for countries, especially developing ones, to have such information as they rebuild their economies after the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Shamika Sirimanne, Director of Technology and Logistics at UNCTAD.
UNCTAD estimates also indicate a uneven impact among major companies e-commerce (B2C), according to some available data from 2020.
Data from the top 13 e-commerce companies, 11 of which are from China and the United States, show a change of fortunes for platform companies that offer tourist services and private transport.
All of them recorded sharp declines in gross merchandise value and have therefore fallen in the industry rankings. For example, Expedia dropped from 5th place in 2019 to 11th in 2020, Booking Holdings from 6th to 12th, and Airbnb, which went public in 2020, from 11th to 13th place.
UNCTAD clarifies that despite the reduction mentioned in the previous paragraph, the total value of merchandise of the 13 main e-commerce companies (B2C) increased by 20,5% in 2020, which represents a higher growth than in 2019 (17,9%). The gains were especially significant in the case of Shopify and Walmart, according to the UN organization.
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