China will remain the world’s largest retail e-commerce market, with sales expected to top US$899.09 billion this year, representing almost half (47.0%) of digital retail sales worldwide.
According to the latest worldwide retail forecast by U.S.-based eMarketer, the country this year will surpass the U.S. to become the world’s largest retail market with total sales of US$4.886
trillion, compared with US$4.823 trillion in the U.S.
With China having one of the most developed e-commerce markets in the world, eMarketer expects purchases made digitally will represent a globe-topping 18.4% of the country’s total retail sales
this year.
China will continue to see massive gains in retail e-commerce over the next few years, with sales topping US$2.416 trillion in 2020. Spending via mobile is also booming and this year will account
for 55.5% of all e-commerce sales and reach 68% by 2020.
The Asian e-commerce spiral moves on
China’s burgeoning e-commerce market can be attributed in part to the proliferation of the dominant domestic marketplaces such as Alibaba, Tmall and JD.com, which took advantage of the country’s
undeveloped traditional retail infrastructure, eMarketer's forecast said.
Asia-Pacific as a whole remains the world’s largest retail e-commerce market, with sales expected to top US$1 trillion in 2016 and more than double to US$2.725 trillion by 2020. According to
eMarketer’s forecast, the region will also see the fastest rise in retail e-commerce sales, climbing 31.5% this year.
Expanding middle classes, greater mobile and internet penetration, growing competition of e-commerce players and improving logistics and infrastructure will all help to fuel e-commerce growth in
the region.
Nol van Fenema
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