Last year, the pandemic fueled rapid acceleration of online buying in several countries that were somewhat lagging—and some of those will continue to see major expansion in 2021.
Many of the national and regional rankings for retail ecommerce sales and growth have changed little since 2020. For example, the size and buying power of consumers in China remain key factors.
- Asia-Pacific is by far the largest market for retail ecommerce with digital sales amounting to nearly $2.992 trillion in 2021. This year, digital retail sales there will be more than three times greater than in North America and nearly five times greater than in Western Europe.
- China is the world’s No. 1 ecommerce market by a large margin. The sheer number of digital buyers, and their growing collective buying power, will keep China in the lead for the foreseeable future.
- India will be the fastest growing market this year, despite the continuing influence of the pandemic. India’s potential for ecommerce is still largely untapped, hence our prediction of rapid growth between 2021 and 2025.
Asia-Pacific rules the regional rankings for ecommerce sales
North America will rank a distant second, though digital retail sales there will approach $1 trillion this year. Latin America, which lagged behind Central and Eastern Europe in 2020, will leapfrog it this year with estimated sales of $131.4 billion.
China will remain the largest single ecommerce market In 2021
It will account for a remarkable 52.1% of all retail ecommerce sales worldwide this year, far outpacing the US’s 19.0%.