UNCTAD: 2018 Global E-commerce Assessment Report

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released the "UNCTAD Global E-commerce Assessment Report 2018" on April 27, stating that the scale of global e-commerce has reached 25.6 trillion US dollars, and e-commerce sales and cross-border purchases for consumers have grown rapidly. In 2018, more than 1.4 billion people shopped online; the United States, China and the United Kingdom dominated global e-commerce sales.

According to the latest estimates, global e-commerce sales reached $25.6 trillion in 2018, up 8% from 2017. This sales includes business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sales, equivalent to 30% of global GDP that year. In 2018, global B2B e-commerce sales were $21 trillion, accounting for 83% of all e-commerce, including sales on online marketplaces and electronic data interchange transactions; B2C e-commerce sales were $4.4 trillion, up 16% from 2017; B2C cross-border e-commerce sales reached $404 billion, up 7% from 2017.

In terms of specific situations, the United States continues to dominate the global e-commerce market. In terms of B2C e-commerce sales, the United States, China and the United Kingdom rank in the top three. Most of the world's leading B2C e-commerce companies are located in China and the United States. In 2018, the world's top ten B2C companies generated nearly $2 trillion in total merchandise volume. Alibaba (China) led the way with $866 billion in total merchandise volume in 2018, followed by Amazon (US) with $277 billion. However, in terms of revenue, JD.com (China) and Amazon are ahead of Alibaba. Developing and transition countries account for about half of the top 20 economies in B2C e-commerce sales.

Among the top 20 economies, the extent to which internet users engage in online shopping varies widely. For example, 87% of internet users in the UK shopped online in 2018. This compares to just 14% in Thailand and 11% in India. 1.45 billion people (a quarter of the world’s population aged 15 and over) shopped online in 2018, 9% higher than in 2017. China had the largest number of online shoppers, at 610 million. Some 330 million online shoppers shopped across borders in 2018. The share of cross-border online shoppers among all online shoppers rose from 17% in 2016 to 23% in 2018.

The report points out that currently only half of the world's 7.7 billion people are connected to the internet and can enjoy its benefits, which limits the ability of many developing countries to use digital solutions to respond to the current health and economic crises.

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