In the UK, sales will reach $137.08 billion—up nearly 11% over 2018. Retail ecommerce sales growth in Japan and South Korea will rise 4.0% and 11.1%, respectively.
Each of these countries' current share of global retail ecommerce is influenced by growth in exports, as well as heavily entrenched methods for online payments—Alibaba with Alipay in China, Amazon with high credit card use in the US, and Rakuten with Rakuten Pay in Japan. Additionally, the continued expansion of luxury goods being sold online has played a supporting role.
But what’s driving the individual growth of each country?
China has the highest ecommerce share of total retail sales worldwide, at 55.8%. This is partly due to its large population of 1.4 billion and the explosive growth of its middle class. China’s recent growth is driven predominantly by rural shoppers coming online as their incomes rise.
“China’s ecommerce landscape is dotted with powerful pure-play etailers like Alibaba and JD.com, as well as traditionally offline players such as Suning and Gome,” eMarketer senior forecasting director Monica Peart said. “Across the country, each ecommerce platform attracts different customers looking for specialization in certain product categories, or consumers from the more or less urbanized regions, making for a very diverse field.”
Growth in the US will be driven by high-performing retail ecommerce categories like computer and consumer electronics as well as apparel and accessories. This year, computer and consumer electronics will reach $130.29 billion in retail ecommerce sales and account for 21.7% of total retail ecommerce sales. Figures for the apparel and accessories category will be $122.76 billion and 20.4%. By the end of our forecast period, computer/consumer electronics and apparel/accessories will reach $190.31 billion and $181.20 billion in sales, respectively.