Global e-commerce growth during covid
As social distancing and stay-at-home become inevitable in the battle with Covid-19 pandemic, people are forced to avoid going out on the roads for safety reasons. When world kept itself under lockdown, most of the markets remained closed. Even when many countries unlocked themselves, markets were never seen as buzzing as they were in pre-pandemic age.
Though there was almost no business that did not suffered, there was still one sector that remained profitable and even grew exponentially in these days of crisis. As people kept fulfilling their needs through online shopping and services, e-commerce saw a never-seen-before boom. Amid extensive restrictions on movement, online economy boomed since corona beginning, while big-hitters of pre-covid age lost their fortunes in 2020, says a United Nations report.
Global e-commerce growth during Covid: “Dramatic”
There was a dramatic growth seen in the e-commerce sector in its retail sales share that increased approximately 16% to 19% last year, UNCTAD economists. “These statistics show the growing importance of online activities,” said UNCTAD Director of Technology and Logistics Shamika Sirimanne. She also suggested developing economies to look at these figures as this can be a help when their economies are into rebounding stage.
UN’s specialized agency further informed that online business-to-consumer (B2C) sales for top 13 companies of the world stood at $2.9 trillion. Also, according to UNCTAD trade experts, the countries that saw biggest high in online retail included South Korea, United Kingdom, Chine and United States. Announcing the global e-commerce boom, the UNCTAD has also released detailed figures of online retail sales of selected economies. Check the table below:
Online retail sales, selected economies, 2018-20
| Economy | Online Retail Sales ($ billions) | Retail Sales ($ billions) | Online Share (% of retail sales) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
| Australia | 13.5 | 14.4 | 22.9 | 239 | 229 | 242 | 5.6 | 6.3 | 9.4 |
| Canada | 13.9 | 16.5 | 28.1 | 467 | 462 | 452 | 3.0 | 3.6 | 6.2 |
| China | 1,060.4 | 1,233.6 | 1,414.3 | 5,755 | 5,957 | 5,681 | 18.4 | 20.7 | 24.9 |
| Korea (Rep.) | 76.8 | 84.3 | 104.4 | 423 | 406 | 403 | 18.2 | 20.8 | 25.9 |
| Singapore | 1.6 | 1.9 | 3.2 | 34 | 32 | 27 | 4.7 | 5.9 | 11.7 |
| United Kingdom | 84.0 | 89.0 | 130.6 | 565 | 564 | 560 | 14.9 | 15.8 | 23.3 |
| United States | 519.6 | 598.0 | 791.7 | 5,269 | 5,452 | 5,638 | 9.9 | 11.0 | 14.0 |
| Economies above | 1,770 | 2,038 | 2,495 | 12,752 | 13,102 | 13,003 | 14 | 16 | 19 |
The top 13 e-commerce firms, which suffered significantly during the period, were ride-hailing and travel services providing business, mostly from China and the US. While e-firms that offer a wider range of goods and services to online consumers did far better business in 2020. The top 13 gainers saw over 20% rise in their sales last year – up from 17.9% in 2019, UNCTAD reported.
A big jump in e-commerce estimated
Overall, global e-commerce sales jumped to $26.7 trillion in 2019, up 4% from previous year. This figure of global sales includes consumer online purchases as well as business-to-business (B2B) trade. Moreover, as per UNCTAD experts, collectively these two contributed to worth 30% of global gross domestic product two years ago.
Late last year, UNCTAD said that the COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed online shopping trend of the world. Now, the latest study aimed to examine the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the way people use e-commerce and other digital tools. In their survey with 3,700 respondents across nine countries, over half of them said they preferred online shopping now more than ever.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift towards a more digital world. The changes we make now will have lasting effects as the world economy begins to recover,” said UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi. Finally, the results of last year’s study are being reflected in the online retail sales figures of many countries.
