25+ eCommerce Statistics & Trends of 2023

Starting an online business is easier than ever with all the open-source tools and resources at our disposal. However, newcomers can’t help but feel late to the party with so many established businesses already off the ground and eating up a huge market share.

Before getting knees deep into a business plan and committing your assets to a particular marketing strategy, you need a good understanding of the ins and outs of the market you’re conquering. Following global retail eCommerce sales can be a tedious process and will require you to juggle between different resources to start understanding the whole picture. 

Luckily, we’re here to save you tons of time and bring you 25+ ultimate eCommerce stats & trends to help you compete in a market saturated by many online stores! Data like eCommerce sales worldwide, digital buyers’ preferences, and search engine optimization for your targeted ads can help shape the way you build up your business strategy.

Follow along as we explore the ultimate eCommerce statistics you need to keep in mind to make 2023 the year when your eCommerce sales skyrocket!

• Online shoppers spent $870 billion in 2021 in the US
• 63% of purchases in the US start on an online channel
• The Average Cart Abandonment Rate Sits at 69.89%
• 93.5% of Internet Users Tried Shopping Online
• eCommerce Sales Grow By Around 23% Each Year
• 95% of Your Purchases Will Take Place Online By 2040
• Amazon Tops eCommerce Sales in the US at 38% of the total share
• Credit Cards Make Up 53% of Online Transactions

Global eCommerce Trends in 2023

Business growth is no longer limited by geographic borders, as eCommerce channels have proven that a visionary business model is scalable and can be applied to different markets. Still, businesses need to adapt to local trends and embrace universal messaging that resonates with the global eCommerce market. 

To get a better idea about the reach of online commerce and the challenges that face online marketplaces, let’s check some interesting global eCommerce statistics! 

The Number of Online Shoppers Is Going Up

(Source: Digital Commerce 360)

With the internet becoming an integral part of our everyday lives, it only makes sense that more people are exposed to online retailers that intentionally make online purchases as frictionless as possible. Your order is only a couple of clicks away!

According to the US Department of Commerce, online shoppers spent $870 billion in 2021 and $791.7 billion in 2020. To put things in perspective, such figures represent a whooping 14% in 2021 and 15% jump in 2020 from the previous year. 

You can attribute such a jump to the lockdown restrictions imposed by the COVID pandemic, and you won’t be totally wrong. Such an argument will only make sense if the online sales went back to pre-pandemic figures as the health restrictions were lifted. 

However, online spending has been growing up since then, and we’ve seen American shoppers spend $257 billion online in the second quarter of 2022. The third quarter pushes eCommerce sales up a notch and achieves a 10.8% growth over its predecessor. 

The consistent rise in the eCommerce market share proves that online shopping is here to stay. Internet users who were first exposed to eCommerce sites during the pandemic became returning customers and helped push eCommerce revenue to new heights!

Future Projections for the eCommerce Market

(Source: Insider Intelligence)

The fact that 63% of purchases in the US start on an online channel shows the reach of a captivating eCommerce website. Online retail is built around fostering excellent customer experience. This comes in the form of offering free shipping and flexible payment options to rival the shopping experience of a physical store!

It’s also worth noting that more resources are being dedicated to making online storefronts more optimized for search engines. This ensures customers get a personalized shopping experience, with preferences being served front and center while offering enough room for product discoverability.

With all such working in place, experts from Insider Intelligence project that global eCommerce sales can top the $7 billion mark by the year 2025.

If you were still on the fence about hopping on the eCommerce hype train, now is the best time to give your customers the option to shop online. The sooner you develop your eCommerce platforms, the better your chances are to compete with eCommerce brands and expand your business reach.

Online Shoppers Prefer Retailers Offering BOPIS

(Source: Business Insider)

Customers are always looking for more options when it comes to online shopping, so it comes as no surprise that the Buy Online Pickup In-Store (BOPIS) model became an instant hit. According to research conducted by Business Insider, 50% of online shoppers might choose where to shop online based on whether the retailer offers BOPIS or not.

In addition to offering customers a quick and free way to pick up their orders, BOPIS is a winning model from the retail sales point as well. When customers get to the physical store to get the product they paid for online, something might catch their attention and warrant an extra in-store shopping spree. 

That’s exactly what 85% of the shoppers reported, cementing why BOPIS is a win-win for both business owners and consumers. It’s worth noting that around 68% of US customers have tried BOPIS at least once and believe the model offers the best of both worlds. 

You get the convenience of ordering an item while sitting on your cozy couch without the wait times or extra fees for shipping. On top of that, you get to inspect the product first-hand when you get to the store and ensure you’ve made the right purchase decision.

Mobile eCommerce Statistics

The future is contactless! That’s where the mobile commerce industry is headed, and we’re starting to see a good glimpse of such a vision with more people switching to mobile wallets. Online retailers can make use of the time we spend on our mobile devices to market their products and services on their different social media channels. 

Follow along as we explore some eCommerce statistics that highlight how far-reached mobile shopping has become!

Amazon Tops eCommerce Sales in the US at 38% of the total share

(Source: SimilarWeb)

It comes as no surprise that the online shopping giant takes the bigger bite of the eCommerce cake, representing 37.8% of the US eCommerce industry. In addition to offering its in-house products, Amazon gives small business owners the means to launch their online marketplace with no hassle.

The company also invested heavily in speech recognition, breeding life in its Alexa voice assistant. An estimated 10.8% of online customers have used Alexa at least once to make online purchases. 

That’s not all; Alexa promises to be the centerpiece of your smart home. We can confidently say that Amazon’s virtual assistant vision has come to fruition, with over 9,500 different brands offering native Alexa integration.

Mobile eCommerce Marked a 15.2% Growth in 2021

(Source: Insider Intelligence)

Social media has played a major role in reshaping the purchase behaviors of mobile shoppers. Your personalized feed serves you the most relevant ads boosting the average conversion rate of a click into a complete purchase. With the average American spending around a third of their day on their mobile devices, we’re exposed to ads more than ever!

According to the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), 58% of online internet traffic comes from mobile devices. This explains why eCommerce businesses are pouring in more resources to make their websites optimized for online browsers. Such efforts came to fruition as online mobile sales snatched $359.32 billion back in 2021.

Experts in the eCommerce world estimate mobile shopping to represent 67.2% of total eCommerce sales. Such figures speak for the unrealized potential of your business if you haven’t invested in developing your eCommerce platforms.

Shoppers in Physical Stores Still Use their Mobile Devices

(Source: ChainStorage)

Traditional retail is no longer the same, as shoppers are more self-aware than ever. Around 28% of US shoppers access their smartphones during their trips to their physical stores to compare prices, look for better deals, and read online customer reviews.

We’re not talking here about rushed customers who are looking to make a purchase decision on the spot. However, 81% of US shoppers come more prepared and take their time conducting thorough online research before settling on the product or service that fulfills their particular needs.

A few key areas that could transform an eCommerce website lie in providing detailed product pages with specification tables to give online shoppers all the data they need in one place. 

You can also shoot for a more interactive browsing experience and build a community that offers shopping inspiration. The added social element ensures customers can get all their pre-sale questions answered and end up more satisfied with their purchase decisions. 

General eCommerce Statistics in 2023

Now that you have a solid idea about the size of the global eCommerce market and how mobile eCommerce sales make the bulk of online purchases, let’s review more interesting eCommerce stats that add a whole new dimension to how we shop online!

The Average Cart Abandonment Rate Sits at 69.89%

(Source: Baymard Institute)

Unlike retail sales, online shoppers don’t have the immediate incentive to see their in-cart items through and proceed to checkout. You might add a sleek shirt or a cute top to your online cart and forget all about it. Such cumulative behavior contributes to an average cart abandonment rate of around 70% across different industries.

Clunky Websites Have High Abandonment Rates

(Source: Baymard Institute)

Online shoppers always choose eCommerce stores with a user-friendly interface and easy navigation. Customers aren’t like to complete their purchases online if the website is slow and suffers multiple crashes. This is much evident as the average cart abandonment rate can go up to 75% for websites with poor infrastructure.

Cart Abandonment Rate Translates into Sizable Business Losses

(Source: Disruptive Advertising)

You’ll notice online shopping apps pushing occasional notifications reminding you of the products waiting in your cart. This is a calculated move, as the ecommerce industry loses around $3 billion every year as a result of cart abandonment.

Social Media Influence Shoppers’ Behavior

(Source: Kinsta)

Social commerce sales are seeing a steady rise as social media giants offer online businesses an easy way to reach their target audience. That’s not all, as around 74% of shoppers reach out to social media groups before making a purchase decision.

93.5% of Internet Users Tried Shopping Online

(Source: OptinMonster)

Back in the day, when companies were still selling the concept of online shopping, they were met with some skepticism from customers and the retail industry. This isn’t the case anymore as eCommerce has become an established model, with around 93.5% of internet users being exposed to such an experience at least once.

Smart Home Devices Contribute to eCommerce Sales

(Source: UPS)

Your mobile device has remained the most convenient entry point to shopping online, but this could be about to change in the future. With great advances in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and speech recognition, virtual assistants are more reliable than ever for making online orders. 

About 32% of online shoppers have a connected smart home device, which could influence future shopping trends. Voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant are all dropping the sealed garden walls and offering better integration with third-party smart home devices to remove many of the adoption barriers that keep people from ordering with just their voice.

eCommerce Sales Grow By Around 23% Each Year

(Source: BigCommerce)

Market saturation is an inevitable reality for most new business models. Nevertheless, this isn’t the case yet in the eCommerce world, as the market share sees a growth rate of around 23% year after year. With that being said, 46% of the small businesses in the US have some catching up to do as they have yet to conquer the online business space!

95% of Your Purchases Will Take Place Online By 2040

(Source: NASDAQ)

According to the eCommerce experts at NASDAQ, 95% of all purchases will take place online by 2040. We’ve seen a boom in mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay, and such a foundation should pave the way to digitizing most of our daily transactions.

76% of Shoppers Will Blacklist an Online Store After Two Bad Customer Experiences

(Source: VentureBeat)

With online shoppers having more options than ever, 76% of shoppers will ditch an eCommerce brand entirely if they encounter a poor customer experience. Market competition is always good for consumers, especially when online sellers are after establishing an ongoing relationship with their customers to secure a steady stream of income.

Credit Cards Make Up 53% of Online Transactions

(Source: Kinsta)

Shoppers appreciate having different payment options, so they can walk the route that works best with their current financial situation. 

Credit cards are, by far, the preferred payment method for most customers, followed by debit cards which take up 38% of the transactions. Digital wallets are finding a sweet spot between credit and debit cards, with an adoption rate of 43%. 

Interesting Social Media Statistics for eCommerce Sales

We’ve already established how social media are evolving into their own marketplaces, in addition to giving online shoppers platforms to share their experiences and get product reviews.

Here are more eCommerce statistics that highlight the influence of social media:

• As of October 2022, the number of social media users has reached 4.74 billion users worldwide.
• 90% of Instagram users follow at least one eCommerce brand.
• Social commerce sales are on track to reach $1.2 trillion by the year 2025.
• 83% of digital shoppers take brand recommendations from their social circles.
• 86% of social media users will go for a brand they follow over the competition.
• 44% of Instagram’s user base shops online right from the platform.
• Transparency comes first when deciding which brands to stand behind, as reported by 88% of online shoppers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who Are the Most People Shopping Online?

(Source: Shopify)

Millennials make up the biggest eCommerce market demographic, with 20.2% of US online shoppers falling in the age group between 25 to 34 years. On the other hand, only 14.4% of digital buyers are above 65 years old. Such eCommerce statistics aren’t a new revelation, as the younger generation is more willing to hob on the technology hype train.

Which Social Media Platform Contributes the Most to Online Shopping?

(Source: Insider Intelligence)

As of June 2020, 18.3% of poll respondents reported that they made online purchases through Facebook. Instagram and Pinterest come next with 11.1% and 2.9%, respectively. Such metrics explain why 52% of eCommerce brands have multiple channels for marketing, including their own websites, social media accounts, and email lists.

What Is the Fastest Growing eCommerce Sector?

(Source: Shopify)

The fashion industry has seen ridiculous growth rates by breaking into the eCommerce space. The apparel growth rate of the fashion industry in the US has seen an 8.1% growth between 2017 and 2021, making it the swansong of the eCommerce world!

Bottom Line

Now that we’ve walked you through the key eCommerce statistics, we’re positive you’ll show up to your business planning meetings with a fresh perspective! Retail eCommerce sales are more essential than ever for business growth. 

Nevertheless, brick-and-mortar stores aren’t going anywhere, at least for the time being. So, your safest bet is always adopting the best of both worlds and creating a scalable business model that can adapt to the latest market trends.

The interesting thing about eCommerce is that it keeps evolving! So keeping an eye on new market trends is key to ensuring your business remains relevant for years to come. We can’t wait to hear which eCommerce statistic you found to be the most mind-blowing!