PaySpace Magazine (a company specialising in e-commerce, payments and financial services) recently published data on the volume of purchases made in online stores in 2014. It amounted to only 5.9% of total retail turnover, or $1.3 trillion. As early as 2015, the volume of online trade will grow by 21% and reach 6.7% of all retail sales worldwide, or $1.59 trillion. By 2018, this figure will rise to $2.4 trillion.
China and the US will be the main drivers of e-commerce growth, accounting for 55% of global sales. By 2018, online retail in China will exceed $1 trillion, or 40% of global sales.
The US will rank second in e-commerce sales, with the market reaching $500 billion by 2018. In the UK, sales will amount to about a quarter of that figure.
Almost 63% of the US population already shop online, yet 10 out of every 11 dollars spent still remain in traditional stores.
The two other largest e-commerce markets, China and the UK, have a much higher ratio of online sales to traditional purchases.
As for global retail sales (both online and offline), in 2014 they will reach $22 trillion, and by 2018 they will grow to $28.3 trillion.