When was the last time you shopped online?
I’m going to make an educated guess without consulting my Tarot cards. It’s been between a day and two months.
Did you buy clothes? Or electronics? Maybe luxury goods, makeup, or any treats for yourself?
Most people nowadays prefer a lazy approach to shopping. What a glorious age we live in. You can even buy bread online and have it delivered to your house. Ain’t that what dreams are made of?
Before we jump straight into the details of ecommerce statistics, there’s one important question to answer.
What exactly is ecommerce?
Well, according to Shopify, ecommerce–that is, electronic commerce or internet commerce–is the process of buying and selling goods online. It also includes the transfer of money and data needed to complete the operation.
You shouldn’t confuse it with e-business, though. When I talk about e-business, it’s about the whole deal of owning and navigating an online business. eCommerce is focused on the transaction of goods and services.
Now that we’ve established this, let’s talk ecommerce stats.
The Most Revealing eCommerce Statistics:
- US retail ecommerce sales reached $340.2 billion in Q2 2026, up 12.2% year over year and 17.1% of all retail sales.
- Global ecommerce spending passed $6.8 trillion in 2024.
- 85% of shoppers rely on reviews and research when deciding what to buy.
- The average documented cart abandonment rate is 70.22%.
- Smartphones generated 57% of global ecommerce spending in 2024, up from 19% in 2014.
- Online stores active on social media have 32% more sales.
According to theworldcounts.com, at the time of writing, there are currently over 7 billion people in the world. In 2017, 1.66 billion of them were shopping online.
Do you realize what that means?
eCommerce Demographics and Market Share Statistics
Who buys what and when—let’s find out!
1. US ecommerce sales hit $340.2 billion in a single quarter.
(Source: US Census Bureau)
Seasonally adjusted US retail ecommerce sales were $340.2 billion in Q2 2026, 12.2% higher than a year earlier and 17.1% of all retail sales. These are preliminary employer-firm estimates, seasonally adjusted but not adjusted for price changes.
In Europe, Eurostat reports that 78% of EU internet users bought goods or services online in 2025, against 62% in 2015. That is a share of internet users in the EU, not of the world's population, so it is not comparable with the older global figure below.
An older estimate put 21.8% of the world's population as online buyers.
Those ecommerce growth trends almost convinced us to open up an online store.
With such a huge number of buyers, more and more businesses turn to online selling. But with big markets comes big competition. It can be hard to stand out. So you should choose your target audience carefully. Focus all your efforts on a small group, don’t try to please everyone.
But here’s an encouraging fact:
2. Global ecommerce spending passed $6.8 trillion in 2024.
(Source: Worldpay)
That is Worldpay's own definition of global ecommerce spending, not audited revenue and not the retail-only series this page used to quote, so it is not a like-for-like successor to the old $4.8 trillion forecast.
Yay for growth. And hello to all those new potential buyers.
And speaking of potential buyers, you know how people always associate shopping with women?
Prepare to be amazed:
3. Average transaction values differed by $69 in an older study.
(Source: Sleeknote)
One legacy dataset put the average transaction at $220 for men and $151 for women. Those are transaction values from a single older study, not current national averages, and they say nothing about how long anyone spends shopping.
Turns out, men spend more money than women. On average, the male part spends $220 per transaction. On the other hand, females tend to spend around $151 per transaction.
But why is that?
Men spend more money on technology and luxury items. Retail shopping statistics also show they are more likely to go on a shopping spree, even shopping for some items in bulk. Go big or go home, people.
What do women buy, then? Makeup products, clothes, and food. The female part of the population tends to shop for cheaper items in general. But they do shop more often than men.
Now you know how to market your goods. Prompting your clients to buy more with some “Recommended for you” or “You might also like” emails will do wonders for your online business.
And given that we’re in the myth-busting business now, here’s more:
You’ve probably wondered what age group shops the most. You’re also most certainly currently side-eyeing the nearest millennial.
But wait:
4. 85% of shoppers check the reviews and research before choosing a product to buy
(Source: Oberlo)
Most shoppers say that a detailed description influences their decision. They also compare prices from different online stores. High-quality photos also play an important role. And last but not least, reviews.
More than half of online customers admit they look at reviews before purchasing basically anything. But beware – don’t delete the bad reviews. eCommerce stats show having only good reviews are seen as suspicious, and people would hesitate to buy the product.
To sum it up – you need good photos, good descriptions, and good reviews. After all, you don’t want your customers abandoning their carts without purchasing.
Which they do.
A lot.
In fact:
5. The average documented cart abandonment rate is 70.22%.
(Source: Baymard Institute)
That is an average across 50 separate studies run in different years, and it describes carts, not the share of shoppers who abandon.
But whyyy?
Most shoppers will use the excuse of “just browsing”. And while there’s nothing you can do about this particular reason, here are a few you can control:
Among US shoppers who were doing more than browsing, 40% blamed extra costs such as shipping, taxes and fees, 20% slow delivery, 19% concerns about payment security and 17% a long or complicated checkout. Those percentages exclude people who said they were only browsing or not ready to buy.
Warning for extra taxes in advance could save you a lot of trouble. And everyone loves an easy checkout. Work on those with the help of adequate shopping cart software to streamline the customer journey.
No need to worry, there is some good news too. Most customers are willing to spend more money if offered free shipping above a specific value. You can always encourage them with recommendations. Abandoned cart emails also seem to work. According to Sleeknote, the open rate for those emails is 45%. That’s a lot of people and a lot of money to be won over.
That’s not all.
6. 24% of users will spend more money to get free shipping.
(Source: Sleeknote)
Delivery expectations have moved on since that finding. In DHL's 2026 survey of shoppers and businesses across 29 countries, 20% of shoppers said faster delivery would make them buy more often, and three in ten had used out-of-home delivery such as a locker or pickup point. Those are different behaviours from a free-shipping threshold, not an update to it.
This gives you a brilliant way to increase your income and attract more buyers. You can always do a “free-shipping campaign”. As mentioned before, you can add product recommendations and tie them with free shipping for a higher-value order. This alone will boost your revenue.
Also, social media marketing is your friend. We all know social media is the big thing for this century. So it should come as no surprise that according to social media ecommerce statistics…
7. 95% of adults, who are active online, will follow a brand on social media.
(Source: SocialMediaToday)
Yeah, social media might just be the answer to all your prayers.
It’s a well-known fact that millennials buy things to fit their image. So you need to sell them a story. And what better way to tell one than social media?
But it’s not only millennials that browse social media before buying. Global ecommerce statistics in 2018 show that 75% of customers admitted they use social media as part of the buying process. They’d rather watch a live video than read a blog post. Most of them scroll down Instagram for inspiration. They also value influencers’ opinions. And nowadays, people will reach out through Facebook if they have questions.
These days even Facebook has started its own marketplace. Brands are also using Instagram to direct customers to their sites and products. Some are even creating Pinterest boards.
You get the drill.
8. Amazon accounted for 5% of all US retail sales in 2018.
(Source: TechCrunch)
It might have started as an online bookstore, but in 2018 Amazon had 5% of all retail sales in the US. You can find almost anything you’d ever need on Amazon these days. This could be the reason why people spend more money on Amazon than all other marketplaces combined.
9. China’s market size was twice the size of the US one in 2017.
(Source: Digital Commerce 360)
China’s market passed $1 trillion in value and was the first of the e-markets to do so.
10. Ecommerce grew 12.9% in 2017, against 11.6% in 2016.
(Source: Digital Commerce 360)
For comparison, 2008 registered 14.3% year-on-year growth. These are historical growth rates from that series, not a ranking of which year grew fastest.
11. 42% of buyers prefer to use their credit cards.
(Source: Sleeknote)
While there are more than 254 million active PayPal accounts, ecommerce statistics show that customers prefer to use their credit cards to pay. PayPal might be easier to use, but fewer users trust it.
Payment choice still decides sales. In DHL's 2026 survey, 62% of shoppers said they would abandon a purchase if their preferred payment method was missing, while only 45% of businesses recognised payment choice as a reason people abandon. Giving your clients as much variety in payment methods as possible is a sure way to secure their loyalty and have them come back to your store.
You know why that’s so great?
12. 30% of customers prefer to buy from places they’ve shopped before.
(Source: Sleeknote)
Habits are hard to break. The human race continues to prove this daily.
Think about your own routine. You probably take the same route from home to work every day. You buy milk in the same local shop.
The same rules apply to online shopping, according to ecommerce stats. There are ways you can use this to your advantage.
Create a loyalty program. Make a newsletter. Anything to turn a new customer into a repeat buyer. Once the customer trusts you, they’ll recommend you to friends and family as well. Statistics show, quite predictably, that people trust advice from their close ones more than one from online reviews. And I already mentioned how important those are.
So what’s the final takeaway here?
Bigger and bigger parts of our lives are now moving online. It makes sense, considering online stores have a lot of benefits.
They’re open 24/7. There are no crowds or queues. Comparing prices is as easy as breathing. You can enjoy a huge variety of options. You don’t need to move from your couch. No wonder those statistics show such big ecommerce growth.
There are, of course, downsides. You can’t really be sure you’ll get what you paid for. Things get lost. Things get broken. Shoes don’t always fit. Clothes aren’t always as nice in real life.
But to paraphrase Madonna, it’s a digital world, and some of us are even digital girls. And we all undeniably use the internet.
So what does that mean?
Well, to put it simply, ecommerce can expect even bigger growth next year, according to statistics.
Relying on social media is the way to go. With so many people having accounts on big social platforms, brands will inevitably follow. With online businesses having no borders, online stores will soon see more and more buyers heading their way.
I hope you found this as interesting as I did! Till next time!
Until then, have some fun facts to make your day.
13. Smartphones drive 57% of global ecommerce spending.
(Source: Worldpay)
Phones accounted for 57% of global ecommerce spending in 2024, up from 19% in 2014. That is the same report framework measured ten years apart, so the comparison holds.
14. Online sales were 28.8% of retail spending in Great Britain.
(Source: Office for National Statistics)
In August 2026, online sales made up 28.8% of retail spending in Great Britain. Online sales values were 8.9% higher than a year earlier and 2.5% higher than in July. This is one country's measure of sales value, not a global benchmark, and value is not the same as volume.
15. 52% of shoppers have sold something through a marketplace.
(Source: DHL)
Resale has become part of ordinary shopping behaviour: 52% of shoppers in DHL's 29-country survey said they had sold an item through an online marketplace. That is self-reported participation, not a measure of how much money changes hands.
16. 29% of shoppers would let AI buy for them within five years.
(Source: DHL)
That share rises to 33% among Gen Z and 36% among millennials. This is stated openness to a future behaviour rather than current adoption. On the other side of the counter, 59% of businesses expect people to browse and buy through virtual assistants and 73% plan to increase their use of generative AI, while 48% of shoppers report privacy or trust concerns.
Curios eCommerce Facts
It is mostly about sales and profit, but the occasional funny situation creeps into every marketplace.
17. Amazon launched in 1995 and first turned a quarterly profit in Q4 2001.
(Sources: Amazon, 2003 annual report)
Its first full year of profit came in 2003. The two milestones are different measures and are often confused with each other.
That’s true. Partially. Amazon is notorious for its expansive policies, which allow it to grow extremely fast while declaring losses at the end of the fiscal year. In turn, fiscal loss means smaller taxation.
Wily.
18. Amazon wasn’t the first online marketplace. Pizza Hut tested online ordering through PizzaNet in 1994.
(Souce: IceCube Digital)
Pizza? Ordered online and delivered while still smoking hot? The bliss has been real since 1994.
19. A Sting CD sold in 1994 is recognised as the first secure online retail transaction.
(Source: WIRED)
On August 11, 1994, Dan Kohn sold that CD to a friend in Philadelphia through a site called NetMarket. Earlier electronic transactions did exist, so this is the first secure retail sale rather than the first thing ever bought online.
For those of you who don’t know, CD stands for “compact disk”. People used to listen to music on plastic before. Weird, right?
20. Clothing leads online shopping in the EU.
(Source: Eurostat)
Among EU residents who had shopped online in the previous three months, 70% bought clothes, shoes or accessories in 2024. That is a category measure for one region in one year, not a global ranking by sales value, and it replaces this page's older claim that books were the best sellers online.
Maybe I should start reading. Things written by human. On paper, not in server logs.
Just maybe.
Key Takeaways
Global ecommerce statistics describe the massive growth of online shopping. It has a handful of intrinsic advantages over traditional shopping, not the least among them convenience and better prices (if you know how to research well).
The trend is likely to continue growing, so check out our website hosting reviews to find the best ecommerce host out there and, you know, do some online shopping.
Or don’t. I am not the boss of you.
