27 Exciting Ecommerce Statistics You Need To Know [2023]: How Many Ecommerce Businesses Are There

Research Summary. Ecommerce generates billions of dollars and continues to stimulate the U.S. economy, and represents a growing market in the country’s total retail sales. After extensive research, our data analysis team concluded:

• There are approximately 2.5 million ecommerce businesses in the United States in 2022.

• There are a total of 263 million online shoppers in the United States in 2022.

• 13.3% of total retail sales in the United States are done online.

• Ecommerce sales in the U.S. totaled $265.9 billion in the third quarter of 2022.

• By 2025, ecommerce sales in the United States are expected to increase to $563.4 billion.

• About 2.57% of ecommerce site visits in the United States convert to a sale.

• Globally, 69.57% of online shopping carts are abandoned before a purchase is ever made. The COVID-19 pandemic increased the abandonment rate even more to a whopping 94.4%.

For further analysis, we broke down the data in the following ways:
Customer Opinions | Customer Habits | Demographics | Trends and Projections

Ecommerce Business Statistics

• There are an estimated 12 million to 24 million ecommerce websites in the world.

  With more and more ecommerce websites being created every day, it’s estimated that there are as many as 24 billion globally. It should be noted, however, that less than one million of all ecommerce sites sell more than $1,000 a year. Globally, Amazon and Alibaba are the leaders of the online shopping market.

• Approximately 26% of small businesses in the United States have an ecommerce website.

  Across the nation, about 26% of small businesses have an ecommerce website where customers can shop and buy a product or service online. Although the online shopping market continues to grow rapidly, yielding impressive profits, 74% of small business owners in America have not tapped into the ecommerce market.

  In the survey, 42% of businesses owners without an ecommerce website claimed that a web presence was not their top business priority. Meanwhile, another 28% of survey respondents said they didn’t have any website or online presence for their small business.

• In 2021, global ecommerce sales surpassed $4.2 trillion.

  Across the world, online shopping generated $4.28 trillion. Of that revenue, $431.6 billion was generated in the United States. That same year, an estimated two billion people across the world purchased a product or service online.

• Industry giants average millions of monthly visitors, while small businesses often receive less than 500 visits per month.

  On average, small business ecommerce websites receive 414 monthly visitors, with most shoppers stumbling upon the local website via organic search.

  Broadly speaking, 13% of small businesses in the United States receive less than 100 monthly visitors, while 55% receive less than 500 monthly visitors and 20% receive more than 1,500 monthly visitors.

  On the contrary, online shopping giants receive millions to billions of unique visitors every month. For example, as of June, Amazon ranked as the most visited ecommerce website, averaging 2.45 billion monthly visitors.

  Behind Amazon, eBay received 885 million average monthly visitors, while Walmart received 410 million average monthly visitors.

Customer Opinions on Ecommerce

• Nearly 60% of American consumers prefer to shop online.

  Data shows that 59% of U.S. shoppers prefer to shop online. On the contrary, only 41% of surveyed American customers said they prefer to shop in a physical store.

• The majority of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site they’ve used before.

  Roughly 90% of surveyed Americans said they were more likely to shop at a retailer they’ve purchased from before if they had a positive buying experience.

• 65% of customers value experience over price when shopping online.

  Positive online and offline shopping experiences make a big difference when it comes to ecommerce, according to a study by Raydiant. Data on consumer behavior reveals that 65% of consumers are likely to spend more online if they have a positive experience, thus valuing experience over price.

• About 30% of online customers like chatbots.

  When it comes to online shopping, the overwhelming majority of shoppers prefer to interact with a customer service representative over a chatbot. While 30% of shoppers like chatbots, a whopping 86% of customers would rather interact with an actual agent.

  Furthermore, 71% of people said they would be less likely to shop at an ecommerce retailer that did not have any available customer service representatives.

• Just under half of all ecommerce sales worldwide are paid using a digital or mobile wallet.

  Mobile wallets are the most popular payment method for online purchases made across the globe, with 44.5% of all ecommerce sales paid using a digital wallet. Meanwhile, an additional 22.8% of global online sales are paid using a credit card, while 12.3% are paid using a bank or debit card.

Customer Ecommerce Habits

• U.S. consumers spend, on average, more than $400 billion online every year.

  As detailed by the latest annual data collected in 2020, American shoppers spend approximately $431.6 billion online every year. Moreover, it’s estimated that roughly $3.39 is spent for every online shopping session in the United States.

• 81% of customers do product research before buying something online.

  More than 80% of shoppers do research before making a purchase online, according to the GE Capital Retail Bank’s Second Annual Shopper Study. Most American consumers spend an average of 79 days researching and gathering product information before making any major purchase of $500 or more.

• Global ecommerce conversion rates are highest on tablet devices.

  In 2020, roughly 3.41% of worldwide ecommerce website visits made on tablets were converted to online sales. Meanwhile, approximately 2.59% of online shopping sessions made on desktop computers were converted to ecommerce sales, and just 1.86% of ecommerce website visits made on mobile phones were converted into a purchase.

• The majority of customers compare prices, visiting multiple ecommerce sites when shopping online.

  While price comparison is an especially popular trend among Millennials, with 72% of them doing extensive research before making a purchase, it’s becoming an even more widely used tactic among the general public.

  Studies show that 80% of customers compare prices online, and 57% of online shoppers abandon their cart to research prices at other retailers.

• The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted more Americans to use ecommerce websites to make purchases overseas.

  In 2020, roughly 32% of international consumers reported buying more things online from overseas due to the pandemic. Another 51% of global surveyed shoppers said they plan to use the internet to buy products from overseas in the future.

Ecommerce Customer Demographics

• Millennials make up the largest age bracket of online shoppers, followed closely by individuals between ages 35 and 44.

  Millennials, or those between ages 25 and 34, make up 20.2% of online shoppers in the United States as of February 2020.

  Following Millennials, individuals between ages 35 and 44 compose 17.2% of the nation’s online buyers, and people aged 45 to 54 make up 15.5%. Americans between ages 14 and 17 represent the smallest group of digital buyers at just 5.2%.

  

Ecommerce Trends and Projections

• The amount of ecommerce sales as a total of all retail sales has increased by approximately 8.3% since 2012.

  Over the past nine years, online shopping has grown in popularity, with ecommerce sales increasing by roughly 8.3% compared to total retail sales made across the nation.

  Approximately 5% of all U.S. retail sales made in the first quarter of 2012 were categorized as ecommerce sales. Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce reports that about 13.3% of total retail sales are done online, representing an 8.3% increase.

• Since 2017, digital sales have grown by 14%.

  In 2020, a record 263 million Americans made purchases online, resulting in a significant boost in ecommerce. In 2017, that number stood at just 230.6 million. As such, over the past five years, 32.4 more million Americans have started shopping online.

• In the United States, ecommerce grew by roughly 3.7% in 2020.

  Across the nation, there were approximately 256 million online shoppers in 2020 compared to 246.9 million in 2019, a roughly 3.7% increase according to data published by Statista.

  

• Online shopping is expected to grow by 13.7% over the next four years.

  Estimates suggest that an additional 35.2 million Americans will start shopping online by 2025. In 2022, the number of digital shoppers stands at 263 million. That number is expected to increase to 291.2 million by 2025.

• Ecommerce sales in the United States are expected to total $563.4 billion by 2025.

  Data suggests that, by 2025, annual online sales made in the United States will amount to $563.4 billion. In 2020, total annual revenue generated from ecommerce in the U.S. stood at $431.6 billion. As it stands now, online sales are expected to increase by roughly $131.8 over the next four years.

• The global ecommerce market is expected to grow at a CAGR of nearly 29% between 2021 and 2025.

  Across the globe, experts predict the ecommerce market to grow by roughly $10.87 trillion, or a compound annual growth rate of almost 29%, between now and 2025.

  In the United States, specifically, ecommerce growth is slated to continue at a total compound annual growth rate of approximately 7.51%.

  However, some specific shopping categories in the U.S. have a significantly higher projected growth rate. For instance, online sales of furniture and appliances are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 36.17%.

Ecommerce Statistics FAQ

1. How many ecommerce businesses are there?

   There are between 12 and 24 million ecommerce businesses globally. And North America is one of the largest markets, with 4.2 million businesses across the continent and 2.5 million in the US alone.

2. What percentage of commerce is done online?

   Today, roughly 13.3% of commerce is done online. In recent years, the percentage of total retail sales completed online in the United States has been growing. In the first quarter of 2021, just 5% of commerce was done online compared to today’s 13.3% — an increase of approximately 8.3%.

3. What percentage of ecommerce is successful?

   Only 2.57% of US ecommerce site visits successfully convert to a sale. While online shopping is rapidly growing in popularity and profitability, only a small percentage of ecommerce is actually successful.

   Interestingly, ecommerce success rates vary based on the specific device a customer uses when shopping online. For instance, in 2020, roughly 3.41% of worldwide ecommerce website visits made on tablets were converted to online sales.

   Meanwhile, approximately 2.59% of online shopping sessions made on desktop computers were converted to ecommerce sales, and just 1.86% of ecommerce website visits made on mobile phones were converted into a purchase.

4. How much has ecommerce grown in the past decade?

   Ecommerce has grown significantly over the past decade. Since 2017 alone, digital sales have grown by roughly 14%. Last year, a record 263 million Americans made purchases online, resulting in a significant boost in ecommerce.

   Meanwhile, in 2017, that number stood at just 230.6 million. As such, over the past five years, 32.4 more million Americans have started shopping online.

   And the growth doesn’t just stop there. Across the nation, there were approximately 256 million online shoppers in 2020 compared to 246.9 in 2019, a roughly 3.7% increase according to data published by Statista. Estimates suggest that an additional 35.2 million Americans will start shopping online by 2025, representing an increase of 13.7%.

5. What percentage of ecommerce is Amazon?

   Roughly 37% of the United States’ ecommerce market is controlled by Amazon. This year, that percentage is expected to increase significantly, with some projections revealing that the online shopping giant will account for as much as 50% of the ecommerce market.

   Online marketplaces, like Amazon and its international competitor Alibaba, are the global leaders of ecommerce. In terms of traffic, Amazon is the top ecommerce site, averaging 2.45 billion monthly visitors and recording as many as 5.2 billion unique visitors in June 2020.

6. How much is the ecommerce industry worth?

   The ecommerce industry is worth about $431.6 billion in revenue. This is the amount of revenue that the U.S. ecommerce industry earned in 2020, and it’s only expected to increase.

   Experts estimate that by 2025, the American ecommerce industry will make $563.4 billion in sales, which would require sales to increase by about $131.8 billion from 2020 to 2025.

   As far as the number of ecommerce businesses goes, it’s estimated that globally there are 12 to 24 million ecommerce websites, with more being launched every day. 265 million American shoppers frequented those stores in 2020, and ecommerce sales in the U.S. account for 13.3% of all retail sales.

7. What is the future of ecommerce?

   The future of ecommerce is continued growth. Globally, the ecommerce market is expected to grow at a CAGR of nearly 29% between 2021 and 2025. This means it would grow by almost $11 trillion in this short period.

   The U.S.’s ecommerce industry is also expected to grow, seeing an overall CAGR of 7.51% and an increase in sales that will bring its total ecommerce sales to $563.4 billion by 2025.

   However, some online shopping categories, such as online furniture and appliances, are expected to grow faster than others in the U.S. These categories are expected to have a CAGR of 36.17%, compared to the overall American ecommerce industry’s CAGR of 7.51%.

   The number of online shoppers in America is expected to increase as well, reaching 291.2 million shoppers by 2025. This is an increase of 35.2 million from the approximately 260 million online shoppers that 2020 saw and an even bigger jump from the 230.6 million shoppers in 2017.

8. How competitive is the ecommerce industry?

   The ecommerce industry is very competitive. It’s estimated that there are between 12 million and 24 million ecommerce websites in the world, with more being added every day.

   Amazon, eBay, and Walmart are giants of the ecommerce industry, as they have the highest average number of monthly visitors of any website. Because of this, they do pull the majority of ecommerce web traffic, which means there is less traffic to go around for smaller ecommerce sites.

   Small businesses’ ecommerce sites usually receive an average of 414 monthly visitors.

   If this didn’t make the competition for customers stiff enough, 80% of online shoppers visit more than one ecommerce site so they can compare prices before making a purchase, and 57% abandon their carts on one site to make a purchase on another.

   The result of all this is that there are a significant number of ecommerce websites, all vying for a relatively small number of customers who aren’t just going directly to the bigger sites for their shopping needs.

   The competition is intensified by the fact that being able to woo a customer often results in more than one sale, as 90% of American online shoppers are more likely to visit an online retailer again if they had a positive first experience, making shoppers even more valuable to small businesses.

Conclusion

Both globally and domestically, the ecommerce market continues to be one of the most profitable and fastest-growing segments of retail shopping. Today, more and more people — 263 million in the U.S., are powering up their tablets, computers, and mobile devices to browse and purchase products digitally.

Although in the United States, a mere 13.3% of all retail sales are done online, that number is quickly increasing. Across the world, ecommerce is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 29% between now and 2025. That growth has already been seen across the nation, where ecommerce sales totaled $265.9 billion in the third quarter of 2022 alone.

With development on the horizon, profits from ecommerce are expected to explode in the coming years. As U.S. profits are expected to reach $562.4 billion by 2025, the future of online shopping is certainly bright.

References

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Author

Elsie Boskamp

Elsie is an experienced writer, reporter, and content creator. As a leader in her field, Elsie is best known for her work as a Reporter for The Southampton Press, but she can also be credited with contributions to Long Island Pulse Magazine and Hamptons Online. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Stony Brook University and currently resides in Franklin, Tennessee.