A recent report by Hamburg-based secondary market research company yStats.com, "Global B2C E-Commerce Sales and Shares Report 2013", provides detailed information on the continued development of electronic B2C commerce worldwide.
Aside from trends, it covers revenues and the share of B2C E- Commerce on total retail sales by region and by country. Among the interesting findings in the report is that total E-commerce worldwide will be near one trillion Euros in 2013, after having increased by over 20% in 2012 over the previous year. The report also notes that E-Commerce has reached slightly above 5% of total retail sales worldwide.
The Asia-Pacific Region will outpace North America in B2C E-Commerce
North America as a region has led the world in E-Commerce since the beginning of online sales, but this year the Asia-Pacific region is expected to overtake the historic leader. Western Europe will continue in third place globally. The share of Eastern Europe of global E-Commerce has been increasing up to 2012, but will likely decrease steadily through 2016 as other emerging regions increase their share. Likewise, the share of global sales of the three largest B2C E-Commerce market countries, the USA, Japan, and UK, is expected decrease steadily from this year on, as other nations adopt the online shopping practice.
USA maintains its lead as the nation with the highest B2C E-Commerce sales
Even though its share of the world total is decreasing, B2C E-Commerce sales in the USA continue to increase, showing steady year-on-year growth in each quarter of 2012. Roughly one dollar of every twenty dollars of retail sales in the USA is spent by online shoppers. The USA accounted for about one third of all worldwide B2C E-commerce in 2012, but this share is expected to decrease by several percentage points over the next few years. B2C E-Commerce sales are likewise growing in Canada, though that country's share of global sales also is decreasing.
B2C E-Commerce grows throughout the world
In Latin America, the percentage of B2C E-Commerce compared to total retail sales is in the low one-digit range. Online sales are highest in Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The region's share of global E-Commerce in Latin America is expect to increase, especially in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina. B2C E-Commerce continues to increase in Western Europe. In Germany, online sales reached several tens of billions of Euros in 2012, with the share on total retail sales increasing from 2011 to 2012, but still less than 10%. In the UK, growing B2C E-Commerce, including travel, reached a double digit share of total retail sales and continued share growth is expected. France saw a significant increase in B2C E-Commerce sales in 2012. While the share on total retail sales also grew, it has not yet reached the UK level, which is the highest in Europe. The Netherlands are approaching UK in terms of share of B2C E-Commerce on retail sales.
In Eastern Europe as a region, B2C E-Commerce accounts for a low one digit share of retail sales, though the exact figures vary from country to country. Russia has the highest B2C E-Commerce sales in the region and sales increasing every year, though the share of total retail sales is low as of 2012, but on an upward trend. In Poland the share of total retail sales is higher, though online sales are lower, at a one digit figure in billions of Euros.
In Asia, the country with the largest share of B2C E-Commerce compared to total retail sales is South Korea. In Japan, where B2C E-Commerce revenues are significantly larger, in fact, among the highest in the world, the share on total retail sales is lower. Contrary to the slowing growth trend in these two countries, Chinese B2C E-Commerce is expanding rapidly, with revenues showing rapid increase, and the share on total retail sales expected to rise by several percentage points above 5% by 2015. In the Middle East, countries such as Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, show a significant double digit percentage growth in B2C E-Commerce sales, while the share on total retail sales varies widely from slightly more than one percent in Saudi Arabia to a high one-digit figure in the UAE. In South Africa B2C E-Commerce sales also are increasing by around one third yearly in recent years, while the share on retail sales remains low, at below one percent.
Source: ystats.com
