The impact the COVID-19 pandemic made on supply chains was, according to Morris Cohen, Wharton Professor of Operations, Information, and Decisions, “a major disruption, along the lines of having an earthquake or tsunami.” For decades, the core features of supply chain management were: At ShipBob, it’s why we have opened fulfillment centers in Canada and the UK and are about to open another in Australia.” He adds, “Merchants can shift where they sell based on this data and the demand on ecommerce from these countries. Trends from eMarketer suggest that these markets will stay in the top five until 2025.Ĭasey Armstrong, CMO at ecommerce fulfillment brand ShipBob, adds, “While a lot of focus in ecommerce centers around the United States and Canada, there is a lot to learn from other large international players who are seeing an even more accelerated growth rate in ecommerce.” The top five ecommerce markets haven’t changed since 2018. The UK is followed by Japan (3%) and South Korea (2.5%). After China and the US, the third-largest ecommerce market is the United Kingdom, taking up 4.8% of the retail ecommerce sales share. The US ecommerce market is forecasted to reach over $875 billion in 2022, a little over a third of China’s. It also has the world’s most digital buyers, 824.5 million, representing 38.5% of the global total. Russia, the UK, and the Philippines saw more than 20% ecommerce sales growth in 2021.Ĭhina continues to lead the global ecommerce market, accounting for 52.1% of all retail ecommerce sales worldwide, with total online sales just over the $2 trillion mark in 2021.The Indian ecommerce market is expected to grow to $111.4 billion by 2025, up from $46.2 billion in 2020.Latin America saw $85 billion in ecommerce sales in 2021, up 25% from $68 billion in 2020.According to eMarketer, online retail sales will reach $6.17 trillion by 2023, with ecommerce websites taking up 22.3% of total retail sales.Īlthough retail had a tough year in 2020, every national market covered by eMarketer saw double-digit ecommerce growth. Global retail sales growth will continue to rise and take up more retail market share. For now, the big idea is simple: the shadow of global ecommerce looms too large to ignore. We’ll unpack that quote, and more, below. Traditional pillars of open markets-the United States and the UK-are wobbling, and China is positioning itself as globalization’s staunchest defender.” The myth of a borderless world has come crashing down. Quicker building of international presenceĪs Harvard Business Review wrote: “Business leaders are scrambling to adjust to a world few imagined possible just a year ago.The advantages of international ecommerce are: If your company is staring down that $4.9 trillion barrel and wondering, “Where do we begin?” rest assured, you’re not alone. They’re at once invigorating and daunting. Numbers of that scale are hard to wrap our heads around. Products or services are sold into non-native markets via online sales and marketing.Ĭumulative data anticipates a 16.8% increase in worldwide ecommerce sales over the most recently tracked period. First things first: global ecommerce is the selling of products or services across geopolitical borders from a company’s country of origin, normally defined as its founding or incorporating location.