E-commerce still has lots of room for growth

Article Excerpt

Commerce conducted online exploded in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic limited consumers’ access to shopping malls and other traditional shopping outlets. However, online shopping had been growing rapidly well before 2020 and the upward trend is expected to continue. Strong global e-commerce growth was fuelled by the pandemic Global e-commerce retail sales (which include all products and services ordered using the Internet, excluding travel, events, and money transfers) jumped 26% in 2020 to $4.2 trillion, according to estimates. This made up around 18% of all retail sales globally. E-commerce growth rates last year were impressive: In Canada, e-commerce sales jumped by 75%, in the U.S. by 32%, in Europe by 29%, and by 63% in Latin America. China, which was already a global leader in e-commerce experienced growth of 20%. China, where e-commerce already makes up 42% of retail sales, is the largest e-commerce market in the world. The U.S. and Western Europe are the second and third-largest markets but e-commerce…