Study: Digital commerce spending will pass $11 trillion in 2021

Global digital commerce spending is set to rise 11.5% year-over-year.

According to a new study from Juniper Research, digital commerce spending around the world will reach more than $11.6 trillion by the end of 2021, from $10.5 trillion during 2020. This spend encompasses money transfer, digital goods purchases, physical goods purchases, digital ticketing purchases, banking bill payments, near field communications (NFC) mobile retail payments and QR code retail payments. 

The study, “Digital Commerce: Key Trends, Sectors and Market Forecasts 2021-2025,” found that the success of digital solutions during the pandemic means that consumer behavior will become increasingly digital, rather than revert to pre-pandemic norms. Study data indicates that mobile commerce will account for 73% of all digital commerce transactions by value in 2021; rising to 79% by 2025.

The research also found that remote physical goods purchases will account for the single largest transaction value of any segment in 2021 at 22% of the total, followed by money transfer and QR code payments. However, contactless mobile payments will have the highest rate of growth, increasing over 242% in value between 2021 and 2025.

“Mobile apps are the dominant force in digital commerce, with user experiences becoming critical, as products become heavily commoditized,” said Nick Maynard, lead analyst, Juniper Research. “Merchants must leverage AI-based analytics to ensure a truly personalized mobile commerce experience, or they will lose out to more digitally adept merchants.”