10 Online Shopping Statistics that you should know - Appy Pie

10 Fascinating Online Shopping Stats To Quote in Your E-commerce Proposals


Abhinav Girdhar
By Abhinav Girdhar | Last Updated on July 30th, 2021 5:25 am | 4-min read


Pitching your business to a venture capitalist can be a daunting task and at times even awful. Of course, all investors are very cautious about investing their money. They consider a lot of factors, like the potentiality of the industry, business reputation, your teams’ strength, and many others. It’s really hard to pitch an e-commerce investor effectively. However, there is a way that your e-commerce business proposals can instantly get investors’ attention. While writing an e-commerce business proposal, you need to include e-commerce industry stats 10 Online Shopping Statistics that you should know - Appy PieHighlight a few of the astounding online shopping statistics that never fail to impress an investor. One cannot accuse e-commerce statistics of being anything less than fascinating. To help you create an effective proposal, we have curated some eyeball grabbing shopping stats from 2020.

Top 10 Most Incredible Online Shopping Statistics

  1. Billions of online buyers
  2. According to Statista, 1.92 billion people used the web for shopping in 2019. That is poised to grow smartly to 2.05 billion in 2020 and 2.14 billion in 2021. The global value of e-commerce is slated to reach $3.5 trillion by the end of 2019. The US is the worldwide leader, and online sales of physical goods topped $365 billion in 2019. The trend is going to rise by at least 10-15% annually. This impressive growth is not going to let up anytime soon as more and more buyers discover the convenience of online Shopping.

  3. Mobile is the way forward
  4. There has been a shift from desktop to mobile in online shopping trends. Statistics show that most online sales happen through mobile. At least 55% of online sales originate from a mobile phone. And no less than 79% used their mobile phone to make a purchase. Small retailers see up to 30% higher mobile conversion rates compared to large retailers. The average consumer spends several hours glued to YouTube and Instagram. Smartphones have dropped in price, and high-performance models that can host dozens of apps are the norm rather than the exception. With deep linking, a customer can shop directly from your app after viewing your advertisement on Snapchat or Facebook.

  5. Shopping starts online
  6. According to research by Google, 63% of shopping begins online. This does not mean that the journey always ends at a checkout page. Customers might buy from a physical store but prefer to research using the net before they venture into the mall. The growth of digital technology has seen the customer enjoying greater freedom in their purchase decisions. They are exposed to a vast number of products and shopping choices and are willing to explore and give new businesses and brands a chance. This trend can be seen in nearly any type of purchase. Could anyone have predicted a decade ago that an unknown brand Tesla selling an experimental design would be the second most valuable auto manufacturing company in the world? And buying a Tesla indeed commences online by watching YouTube reviews by car aficionados worldwide.

  7. Largest marketplaces are online
  8. Tmall, Taobao, Amazon, JD.com and eBay are the five monster sites that account for almost $1.7 trillion worth of Gross Merchandising Value. Each of these sold over $300 billion globally and account for more than half of global sales. What one has to remember is that this huge sale is not by Amazon or Taobao but from hundreds of thousands of small businesses that use these platforms. Never before have small businesses have had the global reach that going online gives them. It began with eBay, and newer companies like JD.com are coming up that allows anyone to become successful.

  9. Consumers love 24x7 shopping
  10. KPMG surveyed 18,000 consumers and nearly 60% said that they like the convenience of shopping 24x7. Among all the online shopping stats this is the least surprising. It is not hard to understand why the flexibility of online shopping is a major driver. There is no need to squeeze it between a weekend movie and daughter's ballet class on a Saturday. Browse online and order at any hour of day or night. After all, an e-commerce platform never sleeps. Online shopping also makes it easy to avoid crowds, overcome the frustration of unstocked shelves, and long queues for billing. The convenience of ordering anytime and home delivery is an unbeatable combination.

  11. eWallets are the preferred mode of payment
  12. According to a study, more than 2 billion customers have moved to eWallets. That is a 30% rise over 2017 and quite impressive. The nature of eWallets differs with some requiring an upfront deposit and others interfacing with a bank or card, but the medium used is a mobile app. The trend started with payment wallets by Tencent and Alibaba and has grown due to the wide adoption of Apple Pay, Google Pay, Square, and similar apps. The advantage of these apps is the convenience of not having to carry a card. All of them can scan the QR code and pay.

  13. Pandemic has been a major boost for online shopping
  14. With public life shut down in every country, online shopping has shot through the roof. A survey of 1500 respondents has shown that 55% had purchased grocery online in March 2020. Based on this it is projected that Amazon could be delivering groceries worth $70 billion by 2023, 300% of the volume it delivered in 2019. Though the pandemic will ease the trend will without a doubt continue and cause a change in the buying mindset. To cash in on this Amazon had already eased grocery delivery charges last October for Prime members and no doubt more such incentives would follow.

  15. Shoppers expect new products
  16. Online shopping is driven by a product catalog that a buyer scrolls through. Since there is no actual product that they can pick up and inspect at a shelf, they tend to look for new products. Almost 70% of customers want to see something new every time they visit a retail site. E-commerce business has to evolve at a rapid pace to keep abreast of this continual change. Though it might be hard to implement, it is sure to win customer loyalty since they are assured that their need for new and innovative products has an easy solution.

  17. Increasing frequency
  18. Study after study has shown that the frequency of online shopping is increasing. Nearly 75% of respondents have said that they shop online at least once a month and 20% or 1 out of 5 shopping online once a week. Surprisingly enough men are by far ahead when it comes to online shopping with 62% shopping at least once a month versus 58% for females. 30% of men described themselves as very frequent shoppers as compared to 18% among women.

  19. Abandoned cart
  20. Studies show 21% of shoppers in the US have abandoned carts at least once in the past quarter because the checkout process was too lengthy. 50% listed that the reason was excess fees (tax and delivery) were too high. Research has also revealed that the average checkout should have no more than 12-14 elements, including fields, but in practice, it is closer to 24. Guest checkouts without logging in can increase conversion by 45%. With this in mind designing a hassle-free purchase path is of utmost importance.

Closing Thoughts

It is not an easy job to prepare an e-commerce marketing plan that is convincing. However, these stats are sure to make any marketing plan sizzle with authenticity. But before you go ahead and start creating a proposal for your e-commerce business. I have a question for you. Have you ever created an e-commerce business proposal? If the answer is no, you need to learn how to do it. To get more on this topic, I recommend checking out Appy Pie Academy. We’ve many courses that will help you create a fascinating e-commerce business proposal that will instantly get investors’ attention.

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Abhinav Girdhar

Founder and CEO of Appy Pie