The countries that shop online the most include...
Asian consumers are outflanking those in North America and Europe when it comes to their love of e-commerce, according to new data.
China topped the list of a recent study by online fashion brand Public Desire that ranked the most “online shopping addicted” countries. Chinese consumers dedicate over eight hours per week to browsing online stores, which is the highest browsing time globally. Though nearly two-thirds of the population makes monthly online purchases, their spending accounts for just 3.8% of household income.
The Public Desire study was based on three metrics: time spent online weekly, percentage of people shopping online monthly, and average percentage of income spent online. A final score was calculated for each country by combining the normalized values, and countries were ranked in descending order based on their total score.
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South Korea takes second place with a score of 46. Although consumers spend less time online at more than four and a half hours, Public Desire found that South Koreans allocate 8.5% of their income to online shopping, which is the second-highest among the countries analyzed.
Taiwan ranks third with a score of 39, as consumers there spend four and a half hours weekly shopping online, and 60% shop monthly. They spend 6.1% of their income online, more than China but less than South Korea.
The United Kingdom and Mexico took the fourth and fifth spots, with scores of 36 and 35, respectively. The United States ranks sixth with a score of 32. It has the highest percentage of people shopping online monthly, at 67.5%, but consumers spend only two hours and five minutes weekly on e-commerce.
The Netherlands (29), Poland (25), Sweden (19) and France (19) rounded out Public Desire’s top-10 list.
“The future of e-commerce is being shaped by the integration of social media and mobile payments,” said a spokesperson from Public Desire. “What's fascinating is that a country's digital payment infrastructure now predicts online shopping engagement better than its economic status. We're seeing this especially in social commerce, where consumers spend considerable time browsing and engaging with shopping content as part of their daily social media routine. Success in this new landscape isn't just about transactions, but about creating digital spaces where shopping naturally blends with social interaction and entertainment.”
