[eMarketer] Eccomerce to account for more than half of China retail sales

In what is poised to be historic and a global first, 52.1 per cent of all retail sales in China this year will be from ecommerce according to a forecast by eMarketer.

The landmark development shows the investment China is making in positioning online shopping as the next big thing world over. While China has traditionally taken the lead in aggregate ecommerce sales figures and ecommerce’s share of total retail, the number stood at an estimated 29.2 per cent in 2018 before growing to 44.8 per cent in 2020.

To have more than half of a country’s retail sales being transacted online marks a huge phase in digital economy. South Korea which is eMarketer predicts will be second will have a share of 28.9 per cent of its sales online while the US figures will stand at 15 per cent and 12.8 per cent for Western European countries on average.

While e-commerce has been on a steep rise in recent years, its growth has been bolstered by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic at the expense of traditional platforms.  

Brick-and-mortar sales last year dipped by 18.6 per cent last year and will record a further decline by another 9.8 per cent this year. On the other hand ecommerce rose by 27.5 per cent in 2020 with that growth expected to be sustained by another 21 percent rise in 2021. The China situation is poised to be replicated in a bulk of countries globally.

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