With over 33% of the world’s population shopping online, eCommerce is now a $6.8 trillion industry and will reach the $8 trillion mark by 2027.
2.77 billion people around the globe are making online purchases from dedicated eCommerce platforms or Social media stores.
If you are a marketer looking to harness the power of eCommerce and don’t know where to start, this eCommerce industry statistics guide is the right fit for you. Explore eCommerce through data-backed insights and make informed strategies for your business.
Ecommerce Statistics In 2025 (Top Picks)
- 2.77 billion people shop online worldwide.
- 21% of retail purchases are expected to take place online in 2025. This share will further rise to 22.6% by 2027.
- Ecommerce sales will surpass $6.8 trillion in 2025.
- There are over 28 million eCommerce stores globally.
- 52% of online shoppers look for products internationally.
- 34% of shoppers shop online at least once a week.
- 99% of customers look for reviews when they shop online.
General Ecommerce Statistics
This section sheds light on the growth of the eCommerce sector over the years and what are its future projections. We’ll also discuss the number of online shoppers and stores along with the most shopped categories.
2.77 billion people shop online globally as of 2025
There are 2.77 billion online shoppers globally as of 2025. That means 33% of the world’s population is shopping online. This marks a 2.2% increase from the previous year.
The number of online shoppers will increase to 2.86 billion in 2026, reflecting the boom in eCommerce due to the increased internet penetration and convenience.
China leads the online shopping trend with 904.6 million online shoppers, while the US has 288.45 million online buyers.
Source: eMarketer, Statista 1, Statista 2.
21% of retail purchases will take place online in 2025
21% of retail purchases will take place online in 2025, which is the highest to date. It is further expected that 22.6% of all retail purchases will be made online by 2027. The share of online retail purchases is rising at an average of 0.32% every year since 2021.
This is a sign to invest more in the online presence of your business and stay relevant in the current retail scene.
Here is a table showing the share of online retail transactions over the years:
| Year | Share of online retail transactions |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 18.8% |
| 2022 | 18.70% |
| 2023 | 19.40% |
| 2024 | 20.10% |
| 2025 | 21% |
| 2026* | 21.80% |
| 2027* | 22.60% |
Source: Statista.
The global eCommerce market will surpass $6.86 trillion in 2025
Global eCommerce sales will account for $6.86 trillion in 2025, which is an 8.37% increase from 2024.
The sales will continue growing at a CAGR of 7.8% between 2025 to 2027 and reach $8 trillion by 2027. Growing at more than 2x rate compared to physical stores. This shows that eCommerce is becoming a more profitable choice for companies worldwide.
Here is a table showing the growth in retail eCommerce sales globally over the years:
| Year | E-commerce sales |
|---|---|
| 2021 | $4.98 trillion |
| 2022 | $5.29 trillion |
| 2023 | $5.82 trillion |
| 2024 | $6.33 trillion |
| 2025 | $6.86 trillion |
| 2026* | $7.41 trillion |
| 2027* | $7.96 trillion |
Source: eMarketer.
Related Read: Biggest eCommerce Markets In The World
The United States retail eCommerce sales stand at $879.54 billion as of the first three quarters of 2024.
US eCommerce sales accounted for $300.05 billion in the third quarter of 2024, This is an increase of 2.8% from the previous quarter and a 7.2% increase compared to the same quarter last year.
This puts the total ecommerce sales in the country to $879.54 billion as of the first three quarters of 2024. Experts predict the sales to reach $1.26 trillion by the end of the year and $1.72 trillion by 2027. By then, online sales will make up about 22.6% of total US retail sales.
Ecommerce sales in the United States have been steadily increasing for over a decade, hitting a record high of $1.12 trillion in 2023. That is a 330% increase from $260.4 billion in 2013.
The pandemic in 2020 significantly boosted online sales in the country. Sales worth $159.8 billion were recorded in the first quarter of 2020, and jumped to $213.3 billion in the second quarter — a 33.5% increase. This surge accelerated the shift to online shopping by about five years.
Source: United States Census Bureau.
There are over 28 million eCommerce sites globally
As of 2025, There are 28 million eCommerce sites worldwide marking a 2.9% increase from the previous year. This means roughly 2,162 eCommerce websites started each day between 2024 and 2025.
The United States is home to 50% of all the eCommerce sites worldwide.
The majority of online stores are powered by Shopify and Wix with each powering 29% and 20% of stores respectively.
Source: Built with
Most shopping journeys start online
44% of shoppers start their shopping journey on the search engine and 41% do so directly on online stores like Amazon or a business’s website.
The report by Klarna also reveals that 83% of people do their research online before visiting in-store.
Social media is also preferred by 14% of people to start their online shopping journey.
Source: Klarna Insights
Most popular online shopping categories
| Ecommerce Category | Estimated Spending in 2025 |
|---|---|
| Consumer electronics | $922.5 billion |
| Fashion | $760 billion |
| Food and Beverages | $708.8 billion |
| DIY and Hardware items | $220.2 billion |
| Furniture | $220.1 billion |
| Media | $193.9 billion |
| Beauty and personal care | $169.6 billion |
Amazon holds 37.6% of the eCommerce market share in the United States
This makes Amazon the biggest market share holder in the United States with Walmart in the second place with a 6.4% market share.
Here is a table showing the market share of leading retail eCommerce companies in the United States in 2025:
| Online Retailer | Market Share |
|---|---|
| Amazon | 37.6% |
| Walmart | 6.4% |
| Apple | 3.6% |
| eBay | 3% |
| Target | 1.9% |
Ad Spending for Top U.S. Ecommerce Players
eCommerce Industry leaders collectively spent $3.5 billion on advertising last year, with individual spending ranging widely from $41.3 million to $1.7 billion.
Amazon dominated with a huge $1.7 billion spent, which is more than four times the spend of Walmart.
At the other end, Aliexpress spent the least at just $322,000, which is 5,000 times less than Amazon, this is largely due to Aliexpress being more actively used in other parts of the world than the United States. Despite this minimal spending, Aliexpress.com has seen remarkable growth in website traffic in the states.
Ebay, which ranks third in terms of website traffic, spent less on advertising compared to Homedepot.com ($166 million) and Target.com ($604 million). This highlights that advertising spending alone doesn’t guarantee high traffic; brand recognition plays a significant role.
Here is a table showing the ad spending by United State’s top eCommerce players:
| eCommerce Platform | Estimated Ad Spending |
| Amazon | $1700 Million |
| Target | $603.9 Million |
| Walmart | $414.6 Million |
| Home Depot | $166.3 Million |
| eBay | $112.5 Million |
| Etsy | $88.5 Million |
| CVS | $41.3 Million |
| Bestbuy | $33.3 Million |
| Lowes | $17.2 Million |
| Aliexpress | $0.32 Million |
Most visited eCommerce websites globally
Amazon remains the most visited eCommerce website with 2.84 billion average monthly visits. Two of the top three websites with the most visitors were American companies – Amazon and Walmart. However, the biggest increase in popularity from one year to the next came from China-based AliExpress, which saw a massive 44% growth.
When it comes to gaining more visitors, the winners were companies based in Asia. Flipkart, an online store from India, saw a substantial 90% increase in its website traffic. The standout performer, though, was Lazada, which experienced nearly a 200% surge in visitors, largely driven by its presence in the Philippine eCommerce market.
Source: Semrush
Shopping Behaviour of Online Shoppers
Let us look at the number of online shoppers and how they behave while shopping. These insights will help businesses curate well-informed strategies to better target the shoppers.
34% of shoppers make online purchases at least once a week
This rate jumps to 82% if we talk about shoppers shopping every month. The frequency has gone up since the COVID-19 pandemic forced people to be at their homes.
Although the pandemic is long gone, the habit has stayed with the people. Most people prefer Fridays to shop online.
52% of online shoppers look for products internationally
Over half of online shoppers claim to have shopped internationally. This is mainly due to the ease of international shipping paired with the convenience of ordering online.
People in Mexico were the most notable to make international purchases with 72% claiming to make purchases from both international and local websites.
Shoppers in the United States and the United Kingdom were inclined towards local shopping with 63% of respondents reporting they shopped from local websites.
Source: Statista.
99% of customers look for reviews when they shop online
99% of online shoppers check reviews when making a purchase, 96% of customers look specifically for negative reviews.
Online reviews can make or break a product as 49% of shoppers trust customer reviews as much as personal recommendations from family and friends.
Source: Search Engine Journal.
50.6% of people shop online because of free shipping.
Coupons and discounts (39.3%) are the second most encouraging factor for people to shop online. Additionally, 33.2% of shoppers said the convenience of returning items is also a factor that makes them want to make an online purchase.
Here is a table showing the top factors that motivate people to shop online:
| Free delivery | 50.6% |
| Coupons and discounts | 39.3% |
| Easy return policy | 33.2% |
| Simple online checkout | 30.6% |
| Customer reviews | 30.5% |
| Next day delivery | 30.4% |
| Loyalty points | 27.2% |
| Cash on delivery | 19.8% |
| Social likes and comments | 19.4% |
| Eco-friendly credentials | 18.9% |
Source: Oberlo.
70% of shopping carts are abandoned without making a purchase
Nearly half of American shoppers ditch their online purchases at the checkout stage because they’re hit with extra costs like shipping fees or taxes. Plus, many of them opt out if the website mandates them to sign up for an account (25%) or if the estimated delivery is slow (24%).
16% of shoppers also abandon their carts due to an unsatisfactory return policy
Source: Statista.
The average checkout process on eCommerce sites spans 5.08 steps
contributing to a high 22% cart abandonment rate. Ideally, streamline your checkout to just 3 steps to ensure customers feel like they’re shopping, not filling out forms.
Guest checkouts significantly reduce cart abandonments. When gathering customer data, request only essential information and avoid asking for the same details more than once.
Source: Inhouse Data
81% of online shoppers conduct research before buying
60% of these consumers start their research on a search engine before visiting the product specific website.
66% of shoppers conduct their research on a PC or laptop at home while 15% do it on a mobile device. This makes it ever more crucial for marketers to optimize their assets for all screen sizes.
US buyers are actively using the buy now pay later (BNPL) payment option
Buy Now Pay Later transactions in the United States were estimated at $133 billion in 2024, up by 14% from the previous year when transactions worth $116 billion were recorded. The usage will keep on increasing till 2029 to reach $206 billion.
BNPL is seeing a positive growth trajectory but America is a country where most people use their cards to make payments, there are 3.26 credit cards per capita, compared with just 0.99 debit cards.
Source: Statista
40% of US shoppers have shopped via live commerce
40% of online shoppers in the United States have shopped at least once using live commerce. This number is quite high in Asian and Latin American countries but low in European nations.
Source: Statista.
Over 60% of online shoppers prefer mobile-friendly sites
84% of shoppers also said that they would be willing to install and shop through a mobile app if it gave them access to better sales or pricing. Mobile commerce is also attributed to 60% of global eCommerce sales in 2023 and experts predict it to rise this year as well.
More about it in the next section.
Source: CMSWire.
Mobile Ecommerce Statistics
Billions of smartphone users paired with ease of use are driving the growth of mobile commerce. Stats reveal that smartphones are the most used device for shopping around the world. Let us explore more insights on mobile commerce in this section.
Smartphone is the most used device for shopping
Smartphones have emerged as the go-to device for online shopping globally, with 73% of respondents in the U.S. utilizing their smartphones for shopping. In China, a staggering 92% of respondents use their phones for online shopping, while in India, the figure stands at 88%.
Mobile eCommerce sales are expected to amount to $2.51 trillion in 2025.
mCommerce sales will account for $2.51 trillion in 2025, that would be a 21.25% increase from the previous year when the recorded sales were $2.07 trillion.
The growth of mobile commerce is expected to be larger than the average annual growth rate of 15.3% forecast from 2018 to 2027.
The mobile commerce market sales will be worth $3.44 trillion by 2027.
Source: Oberlo.
Mobile devices have a better conversion rate than desktops
Tablets have the highest conversion rate on eCommerce platforms at 3.1%, followed by desktops at 2.8%.
Smartphones take the third place with a conversion rate of 2.3% which is very close to the overall eCommerce conversion rate of 2.5%.
Ecommerce is majorly exploding due to convenience, and mobile devices offer it better than desktops. If you are a business, ensure you are well-optimized for tablets and mobile devices!
Source: Statista.
Social Commerce Statistics
With 5 billion social media users across the globe, social media platforms are great for eCommerce. The Facebook marketplace has been there for a while now and manages to make a significant amount of sales. But new entries like TikTok shop too are making a notable number of transactions.
This shows how people are shifting towards social media to shop! Let’s shed light on social commerce in this section.
Social commerce will be worth $2.9 trillion by 2026
That is a massive 30.81% increase since the previous year.
As per Statista’s reports, the social commerce sector will grow at a CAGR of 29% from 2022 to 2030 reaching the $8.5 trillion mark by the end of the forecast period.
Source: Statista.
Facebook and Instagram are the most preferred platforms for social commerce
69.4 million people from the United States are expected to shop on Facebook in 2025 making it the most popular social media for social commerce. That’s 20% of the country’s population shopping on the social platforms!
Instagram is also favored by 47.5 million shoppers while TikTok is not far behind with 37.8 million expected shoppers.
Pinterest is also emerging as a dark horse in this race of social commerce with 18.1 million people expected to shop on the platform this year.
Consumers aged 18 to 34 are the most frequent social media shoppers
People aged 18 to 34 were the most into buying through social media, with about 73% of them saying they’ve bought something via social media channels. On the other hand, people who are 65 and up were the least likely to buy things through social media, with only about a quarter of them doing it.
19% of shoppers frequently purchase health and wellness products via social media
While people prefer to purchase more Consumer electronics on eCommerce websites, the trend shifts to self-care when it comes to social commerce. 20% of people revealed that they had purchased personal care products eight or more times during the past year.
This number jumps to 22% if we talk about groceries and supplies.
Here is a table showing the purchase frequency of different categories on social media:
| Categories | Occasionally purchased | Frequently purchased |
|---|---|---|
| Frequency | (3 to 7 times in the past year) | (8 times or more times in the past year) |
| Apparel and accessories | 44% | 18% |
| Health and wellness products | 42% | 19% |
| Personal care products | 38% | 20% |
| Groceries and food supplies | 36% | 22% |
Source: Statista.
Social proofs help increase sales by multiple folds
sharing reviews on social media platforms, particularly Twitter, significantly boosts social commerce by more than 6%. This finding underscores the importance of leveraging social media not only for brand awareness but also for driving sales.
Here is a table showing the impact of sharing reviews on social platforms:
| Social Media Platform | Rise in conversion rate |
|---|---|
| 5.3x | |
| X (Twitter) | 8.4x |
| 40x |
Source: Yotpo.
Ecommerce Fraud Statistics
The eCommerce market may have suffered losses worth $48 billion in 2023
online payment fraud cost $41 billion U.S. globally in 2022. The figure was expected to grow further to $48 billion by 2023.
It is predicted that the total losses to online payment frauds globally between 2023 and 2027 will exceed $343 billion.
Source: Mastercard, Juniper Research.
North America loses 2.4% of its eCommerce revenue to payment fraud
Latin America has suffered the most among all world regions due to payment fraud with the region losing 4.2% of its revenue to fraudsters.
The figures are 3.1% and 2.9% for Europe and Asia Pacific regions respectively.
Source: Statista.
33% of customers believe brands use their data responsibly
42% of people think brands are exploiting their data and 25% of people have no views on the topic.
Ecommerce Automation Statistics
Here are a few statistics associated with eCommerce automation that will help you understand the benefkits of it.
- 72% of successful eCommerce companies are already using automation in some parts of their workflows. (Social Media Today)
- Ecommerce business saw a 80% boost in lead generation and increased ROI by 45% by implementing ecommerce automation. (BigCommerce)
- Almost 75% of customers like interacting with a chatbot when they need answers. (Chatbots Life)
Ecommerce Trends Statistics for 2025
Let us look at the latest trends in eCommerce and insights related to them:
Increased usage of augmented reality while Shopping
- 32% of people use AR while shopping.
- 40% consumers are likely to pay more for a product that is initially available to test with AR
- Around 9 in 10 GenZ have an interest in AR shopping
- More than 90% of Americans currently use or would consider using AR for shopping.
Customers desire to buy from more sustainable brands
- Brands that get more than half of their sales from products making ESG-related (environmental, social, and governance) claims enjoy 32 to 34% repeat purchases.
Brands that get less than half of their sales through ESG claims also enjoy a healthy repeat purchase rate of just under 30%.
- A PRN survey revealed that 80% of consumers surveyed said they are more likely to trust companies that back up their sustainability claims with publicly shared data.
The same survey also revealed that 40% are not comfortable purchasing products from companies that are not actively tracking toward sustainability goals.
Subscriptions are on the rise. But they should come with perks!
- The subscription eCommerce sector is anticipated to surpass $450 billion by 2025, a significant leap from its $15 billion valuation in 2019. Subscriptions are like a win-win situation for both shoppers and businesses: they let customers pick what they want while giving companies a steady flow of money.
Focus on enhanced customer loyalty programs
- 33% of businesses without a loyalty program today will establish one by 2027.
- 78% of marketers report that their customer engagement relies on data-driven approaches.
Final Word
Ecommerce is here to stay and will only get bigger as the years pass by. Smartphone and internet penetration along with a growing supply chain has made online shopping possible for people in all corners of the world.
This trillion-dollar industry is not a bubble that can burst but an ocean of endless possibilities. Take the help of these insights to frame your strategies and stay ahead of the competition. We will keep updating this space as we get hands-on more insights that could benefit our readers!