The e-commerce market today has evolved rapidly compared to where it was a year ago. With 2018 more than halfway completed, there is plenty of new information that can help e-retailers develop their e-store parallel to the ever-changing market.

E-commerce stores are changing faster than ever before because of growing customer demand. Everything from marketing, purchasing and shipping continues to evolve thanks to new technologies, higher sales volumes and an increased desire to get products into customers’ hands as quickly as possible.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the key 2018 e-commerce statistics.

E-commerce Market Stats

The e-commerce market continues to grow at a rapid rate with no signs of slowing down.

  • Global retail e-commerce sales are predicted hit $2.48 trillion in 2018 and forecasted to reach $4.88 trillion by year in 2021. In 2014, the global market made up just $1.3 trillion. In 2014, the global market made up just $1.3 trillion.
  • Annual global retail e-commerce sales growth is expected to grow over 23% in 2018.
  • About 35% of consumers begin with marketplaces like Amazon or eBay. Only 31 percent head straight to an individual retailer’s website while 15 percent start by using search engines to look for products.
  • 71% of shoppers believe they’ll get better deals from online stores than brick and mortars. This is likely due to the accessibility of reviews and other resources that can validate their purchase decisions, including recommendations from their social media connections.

E-commerce Mobile Stats

E-commerce customers are starting to transition from buying on their computers to buying on their smartphones. More and more customers are making purchases on their smartphones, which highlights the need for e-retailers to make sure that their e-store is mobile friendly. The growth of cloud e-commerce platforms gives e-retailers a streamlined way to create a multi-channel store that’s scalable and accessible to consumers any screen.

  • In 2017, almost 59% of e-commerce sales occurred via a mobile device.
  • 62% of smartphone users have made a purchase online using their mobile device in the last six months.
  • Mobile devices account for 19% of all e-commerce sales, and that number is expected to reach 27% by the end of 2018.
  • 85% of customers start a purchase on one device and finish it on another.

E-commerce Buying Stats

E-retailers are focused on a variety of issues when it comes to boosting their sales but two of the more important matters are customer loyalty and cart abandonment. Loyal customers spend more money than one-time shoppers and any improvement in cart abandonment means more sales and profits.

  • Cart abandonment rates have been steadily increasing year-over-year, with the average in 2018 roughly 69 percent, up 10 percent since 2006.
  • 56 percent of online shoppers abandon their online basket because they were presented with unexpected costs at the checkout.
  • Customer loyalty is paramount to higher profits because it's seven times more expensive to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one.
  • Repeat buyers spend 33 percent more than new ones and lowering your customer churn rate by five percent can increase your profitability by 25-125 percent.

E-commerce Shipping Stats

Customers are ordering from e-commerce platforms more frequently, and most focus on the delivery window. The demand for newer, faster shipping options is growing. Things like automated trucks and drones could be the future of e-commerce shipping.

  • Consumers expect to wait an average of 4.8 days for delivery, down from 5.5 days in 2012. And the share of those who are willing to wait more than five days has declined to 60 percent from 74 percent in four years.
  • 47 percent of customers are interested in drone deliveries
  • 72 percent of customers believe that the most significant issue with drone deliveries is damage to packaging.
  • The U.S. Postal Service plans to deploy autonomous mail carrier trucks in the next seven years. With more than 225,000 vehicles in the fleet, the agency is working with the University of Michigan to develop an “Autonomous Rural Delivery Vehicle,” and plans to launch it across rural routes nationally as soon as 2025.

As we move toward 2019, there will be new trends and technology that e-retailers can use to better their online business. But these key 2018 e-commerce statistics serve as support that the way customers buy, what they use to buy and their expectations around shipping will all factor into the way the e-commerce market continues to evolve.

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