Online Shopping Statistics and Fascinating Facts 2024

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Simply by browsing any of the latest online shopping facts you’ll quickly come to realize that online shopping is more than just a regular activity. It’s a necessity, it’s an addiction, and some may even consider it a drug.

$4 trillion is the total estimated market size for online shopping in 2021.

Looking at online shoppers statistics we can easily reach the conclusion that people are not just shopping for food and clothing. They are shopping for anything you can imagine, and for everything you didn’t even know that existed.

2.05 billion online shoppers were recorded in 2020.

This is why online shopping has become a staple of today’s modern society and almost everyone with an internet connection has done some form of buying via this method because it’s so easy to use and to understand.

256 million Americans shop online every year.

All you have to do is search for the items you are thinking of buying and Google will hit you up with hundreds if not thousands of online stores that have what you’re looking for. Let’s go over some fascinating facts and statistics about online shopping.

TOP 10 Online Shopping Fascinating Facts

  • $4,201 is the average amount spent on online shopping by each person in the United Kingdom every year.
  • 295% is the increase in online shopping for books.
  • $4 trillion is the total estimated market size for online shopping in 2021.
  • 2.05 billion online shoppers were recorded in 2020.
  • 50% will be Amazon’s total market share in the United States by the end of 2021.
  • 30% is the increase in e-commerce shopping in the United States since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • 75% of all people shop online at least 1 time per month.
  • 1994 marks the year when the first ever recorded online purchase was made.
  • 50% of all online shoppers abandon their shopping cart because of extra costs.
  • 80% of all online shoppers say that new technology and innovation make for better shopping experiences.

General Shopping Statistics

When it comes to online shopping stats, you’d be surprised about the incredible amounts of money being rolled inside this industry every second. Scroll down to read these general shopping statistics.

How many people shop online?

  • 2.05 billion online shoppers were recorded in 2020.

That’s approximately 26% (or a quarter) of the world’s total population (7.8 billion people).

How many Americans shop online?

  • 256 million Americans shop online every year.

These numbers were based on Statista’s 2020 data, which means that approximately 88% of the United States’ adult population shops online.

What are people buying online?

  • 295% is the increase in online shopping for books.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic took over the world, book sales have tripled within a year.

Who does the most online shopping?

  • $4,201 is the average amount spent on online shopping by each person in the United Kingdom every year.

Brittons are the world’s heaviest spenders when it comes to online shopping per capita.

What do women buy online?

46% of all female online shoppers purchase clothing, fashion, or sports goods.

When it comes to the same category of shopping, only 40% of male digital shoppers purchase these items.

Growth of Online Shopping

The growth of online shopping is unlike anything you’ve ever witnessed before, given the fact that this industry grew from nothing into a multi-trillion dollar sector in a little over 3 decades.

$4 trillion is the total estimated market size for online shopping in 2021.

To put things in a better perspective, the annual GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of Germany is $3.69 trillion.

30% is the increase in e-commerce shopping in the United States since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The numbers refer to the period between March and April 2020, as opposed to the same period the year before.

$6.5 trillion is the estimated market size of online shopping by 2023.

By next year, the total market size of the industry is projected to be around $5.6 trillion.

13% is the increase in market share for Amazon in the United States over the past 4 years.

From 2016 when it had 34% of the total US market share, Amazon now has close to half of the total online sales done by Americans.

There are up to 24 million online stores today.

And the numbers keep growing by the day, all over the world.

35.5% is the annual increase for online sales during the holiday season.

For each big holiday, the online shopping sector will stand to grow with more than a third of its current value each year.

NameRegion/CountryProduct CategoryVisits/month
AmazonGlobalGeneral5.2 billion
eBayGlobalGeneral1.7 billion
Mercado LibreLatin AmericaGeneral683.9 million
RakutenJapanGeneral575.8 million
AliExpressGlobalGeneral534.4 million
ShopeeSoutheast AsiaGeneral457.9 million
Walmart.comUnited StatesGeneral410.3 million
EtsyGlobalArts, Crafts & Gifts391.8 million
TaobaoChinaGeneral329.4 million
PinduoduoChinaGeneral241.5 million

Demographics of Online Shopping

While at the beginning of the 1990s, online shopping was merely at its beginnings, the demographic data we have today about online shopping habits is incredibly impressive.

75% of all people shop online at least 1 time per month.

Another 31% said that they shop online once a month, 24% shop online every 2 weeks, while 20% shop online weekly.

Only 10% of shoppers buy something online once every other 3 months.

That means that 90% of online shoppers purchase something via digital stores more than once every three months.

90.4 million people shop online through social media in the United States.

That’s a huge increase since 2020, when there were only 80.1 million online shoppers via social media.

Over $21 billion were spent shopping online by inebriated Americans.

This stat applies to all people in the United States who shopped online in 2020 while under the influence of alcohol.

53% of all teenagers from the United States shop online on Amazon.

It’s no wonder Amazon is the world’s leading online store.

Millennials Online Shopping Statistics

Millennials are one of the age groups that were basically born in an era where online shopping is the norm and a world without this industry would be incomprehensible. 

28% of all millennials first discover products by noticing them through social media ads.

That’s almost 3 out of every 10 millennials who shop online.

This proves to show you how far along influencer marketing has come, being perceived at the same level with friend recommendations. 

48% of millennials have bought products from social media.

Close to half of all millennials have made at least 1 purchase online after social media advertising. 

12% of all millennials frequently shop online from the social networks they use.

Another 5% of millennial online shoppers plan to use social media for shopping even more.

35% of millennials prefer shopping for electronics online, as opposed to in-store shopping.

We’re talking about a generation that grew along with the digital world. 

Online Sales Statistics

Year after year, online sales have been going through the roof, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic took over the world in late 2019 and went all through the first part of 2021.

1994 marks the year when the first ever recorded online purchase was made.

We’ve come a long way since then, online shopping becoming a $4 trillion industry.

$8 trillion per year is the amount that will be reached by online sales by 2025.

This number is extremely impressive if you think that this amount is 4 times the total annual GDP of Brazil (currently $2,05 trillion per year).

63% of all shopping journeys begin online.

More than half of all shopping done worldwide starts in the digital world.

43% is the increase in sales if brands retarget a customer.

This means that you should always focus your advertising and marketing efforts into retargeting online shoppers that have already visited your store before (or have already purchased something from you). 

47% of all online shopping in the United States is done on Amazon.

Amazon is the world’s largest online store and it comes as no surprise that it has almost half of the market share in the United States.

50% will be Amazon’s total market share in the United States by the end of 2021.

The online shopping titan Amazon will finally have control over half of the total US market share.

50% of all online shoppers abandon their shopping cart because of extra costs.

Just because more than half of all people are shopping online, that does not mean that money is no issue.

28% of online shoppers abandon their shopping cart due to being forced to create an account.

Online stores need to learn that the more obstacles they put between them and their customer, the less chances they’ll have of making a sale.

48% of Christmas online shopping is done before December.

Only 3% of online shoppers go online to purchase Christmas gifts last minute.

Mobile Shopping Statistics

With more and more internet users having smartphones and tablets, mobile shopping is getting bigger and bigger by the day. A huge percentage of people who shop online do so via their mobile devices.

49.2% of all online shopping comes from mobile devices.

In 2020, Statista reported that almost half of all the online shopping conducted worldwide has been done using smartphones or tablets.

72.9% is the total market share of mobile shopping projected for the end of 2021.

These numbers represent significant growths in daily online store visits and purchases made via mobile devices. 

15% is the increase in mobile online shopping within the last 3 years.

Since 2017, when mobile online sales were only 34.5% of the total online shopping market share, in 2020, shopping through smartphones and tablets made up half of the total recorded online sales.

228% is the increase in spending done by the average mobile user. 

It seems that the future of online shopping is mobile.

53.9% will be the total percentage of mobile online shopping by the end of 2021.

This year, mobile online shopping will pass the 50% mark, becoming the preferred shopping method for the majority of worldwide shoppers.

With 80.9% of the of the total online shoppers, Amazon is the leading mobile online shopping app.

Walmart.com’s app comes in second with only 46.08%.

$432.4 billion is the projected amount for the worldwide mobile sales by 2022.

The industry shows huge potential to reach astronomic amounts of money in less than a year.  

61% of global online store visits come from smartphones.

Mobile visitors represent the large majority of online store visitors, given that only around 30% of shoppers visit a store’s website from a desktop PC. 

Online Shopping Statistics by Industry

When you start digging into online shopping data, you’ll see that some industries perform better than others, based on the products and services they offer and the financial capabilities of their consumers.

$79.01 was the average shopping value of the average shopping cart.

That was almost 2 years ago, which means that the numbers have highly increased since then.

$394 billion is the total estimated revenue by 2022 for the furniture and appliance sector at a worldwide level.

It’s one of the fastest growing industries in terms of online shopping.

$400 million is the total worth of the global retail industry, as of 2021.

$476 million is the projected amount for the same industry by 2024.

$99.1 billion was the total estimated value of online apparel stores in the United States.

These numbers apply for the current year, and they will definitely rise in the years to come.

$150 million is the total estimated value of the footwear industry worldwide.

That’s extremely impressive considering how many online stores focus on other products.

$741.2 billion is the total retail sales value in the United States for 2020.

It’s a 1.5% increase from a year earlier, meaning that even during the COVID-19 pandemic, online retail kept growing.

50% of all holiday purchases made in 2020 were done online.

This means that the recreational and holiday industries are gaining more and more training in digital shopping.

$5.9 billion is the total value of online retail shopping for Thanksgiving in the United States.

The bigger the holiday, the bigger the retail value. 

30% of all American online shoppers planned to make a purchase during Cyber Monday in 2020.

Only 24% of them planned on buying something during Black Friday, mostly laptops and Nintendo Switches. 

31% of Americans started ordering groceries online for the first time in 2020.

This is largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic protocols coming into play.

TOP 5 Online Shopping Industries

1. Fashion

Global Revenues (2019): $525.1 billion

Global Compound Annual Growth Rate (2019–2025): 11.4%

Projected US Revenue in 2025: $181.4 billion

2. Electronics & Media

Global Revenues (2019): $419 billion

Global Compound Annual Growth Rate (2019–2025): 7%

Projected US Revenue in 2025: $117 billion

3. Toys, Hobby and DIY (Do It Yourself)

Global Revenues (2019): $413.5 billion

Global Compound Annual Growth Rate (2019–2025): 10.6%

Projected US Revenue in 2025: $106.8 billion

4. Furniture and Appliances

Global Revenues (2019): $270.8 billion

Global Compound Annual Growth Rate (2019–2025): 8.8%

Projected US Revenue in 2025: $87.4 billion

5. Food and Personal Care

Global Revenues (2019): $291.5 billion

Global Compound Annual Growth Rate (2019–2025): 13.2%

Projected US Revenue in 2025: $70.8 billion

The Future of Online Shopping Statistics (Gen Z)

If we have learned anything from analyzing shopper statistics, that’s the fact that no matter the product or service you’re selling online, you’ll definitely find at least one person who can buy it. At least once. 

Approximately 61% of people belonging to the Gen Z age group desire simple searches and navigation in online stores.

6 out of every 10 Gen Z online shoppers consider that a simple design and an easy search tool enhances their online shopping experience. 

53% of online shoppers find it very useful to have reviews and ratings for the products or services they are looking for.

That means that more than half of all Gen Z online shoppers are doing their research before deciding on which or what product/service to purchase.

93% of all parents say that their Gen Z child has a strong word when it comes to online household shopping. 

We’re talking about 9 out of every 10 parents who let their children dictate their online shopping preferences! 

40% of all online consumer shopping will be dominated by Gen Z people.

This projection is based for the next couple of years, given the already noticeable trends in the online shopping industry. 

95% of Gen Z people own a smartphone which they use for shopping.

That makes this age group twice as likely to purchase something online as opposed to millennials.

85% of people from the Gen Z age group use social media to do research on new products and services.

It’s a huge proportion of this entire age segment that uses mostly Instagram and Facebook.

Online Shopping and Technology Statistics

Online shopping is one of the industries that stands to gain from technological growth, given its huge scalability potential to reach all corners of the planet.

80% of all online shoppers say that new technology and innovation make for better shopping experiences.

This means that 8 out of every 10 online shoppers are looking for some form of AI or automation processing to enhance their online shopping experience.

63% of all mobile online shoppers look at new tech and innovation as a big plus when it comes to their overall digital shopping experience.

Innovation and new technologies are rapidly carving a way for themselves in online shopping, in their attempt to constantly improve the consumer’s experience with a brand or an online store.

47% of all online shoppers use Google or Safari.

Compared to 79% who search for products directly on Amazon.

85% of all interactions with clients will be handled by chat bots or other forms of AI and machine learning.

That means that less than 2 out of every 10 interactions will be with a human representative of the store.  

160 million active accounts could be found on eBay in 2020.

However, eBay is still the number 2 go-to online shopping spot after Amazon.

17% of all Amazon sellers are planning to start selling their merchandise on Walmart’s online marketplace. 

This will lead to a huge increase in sales for Walmart, the retail giant.

Around 26 million American consumers will shop via smart speakers in 2021.

That’s more than 1 out of every 4 online shoppers based in the United States.

$330,000 in monthly revenue during a full business year is generated an average online store.

This explains why so many entrepreneurs are focusing on opening ecommerce stores, given the industry’s huge potential and growth.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, online shopping is one of those things that slowly but steadily made its way into our day to day lives and it has made such a huge impact, we can’t even imagine a world without it right now.

We love looking at and analyzing stats, and judging by the most recent and relevant online shopping facts, it’s pretty safe to say that this industry will only grow higher and higher from here on out.

But we always say that the proof is in the pudding and if you’re not convinced about how much online shoppers statistics can influence your behaviour, just think about the last time you bought something online that was advertised on Facebook, Instagram, or on any other website you were browsing at that moment.

It hasn’t been that long now, has it?

Sources

  1. https://sleeknote.com
  2. https://Statista.com
  3. https://optinmonster.com/
  4. https://www.oberlo.com/
  5. https://www.bigcommerce.com/
  6. https://fitsmallbusiness.com/
  7. https://www.semrush.com/
  8. https://financesonline.com/
  9. https://review42.com/
  10. https://www.worldometers.info/
  11. https://www.cnbc.com/
  12. https://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/

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