Study: E-commerce market will continue strong growth in 2021

The number of global e-commerce users is expected to increase by 400 million in the coming year.

According to data from Finaria, the COVID-19 outbreak of 2020 helped increase the number of e-commerce users across the globe by 9.5% year-over-year to exceed 3.4 billion. The increasing trend is set to continue during 2021, with the figure growing another 10% year-over-year to 3.8 billion. By 2025, Finaria forecasts the number of worldwide e-commerce users to reach 4.9 billion.

The growing number of e-commerce users amid the coronavirus outbreak also caused a surge in the market’s revenues, with the figure jumping by 25% year-over-year to $2.43 trillion in 2020. With $469.3 billion in e-commerce sales revenue, or 2.5 times less than leading China, the U.S. market ranked as the second-largest globally in 2020. U.S. shopping app downloads rose 8% to reach 2.76 million new installs.

Finaria expects global e-commerce revenues to reach over $2.7 trillion in 2021 (roughly 11% growth year-over-year) and continue rising to $3.4 trillion by 2025.

Fashion represents the largest segment of the e-commerce market as analyzed by Finaria, expected to generate $759.5 billion in revenue in 2021, a 15% increase year-over-year. In the next four years, online sales of clothes, apparel, and accessories are expected to hit a $1 trillion benchmark.

With $590.7 billion in anticipated sales revenue in 2021, or 12% more than in 2020, toys and hobby rank as the second-largest segment of the e-commerce market. Online sales in this segment are expected to hit $766.8 billion by 2025. 

As the third-largest e-commerce segment globally, electronics and media is forecast to hit a $542.3 billion value in the coming year, a 28% year-over-year increase. Furniture and appliances and food and personal care segments follow, with $362.9 billion and $468.5 billion in expected revenue, respectively.