In 2022, more people are heading online to purchase goods, fewer people are shopping in person at retail stores and more money is being passed through online than ever before.

So it’s crucial to have all the right elements in your eCommerce store to encourage a healthy conversion rate - including an eCommerce strategy that’s set up for success. If you don’t, you run the risk of losing serious business.

We’ve gathered 95+ eCommerce stats and trends from leading sources to help feed your strategy for 2022 and give you some valuable insights.

eCommerce Market Size Stats

Want to know how large your market is? Here are a few interesting stats for you to sink your teeth into!

Knowing the market is crucial when it comes to designing an eCommerce strategy for the years ahead, these helpful statistics should give you a good view of how the eCommerce market is performing in 2022 as well as how the industry is expecting to grow in the next couple of years.

The global eCommerce market is expected to total $5.5 trillion in 2022, and that is expected to grow over the next few years! (eMarketer).
In 2020, only 17.8% of sales were made from online purchases. That number is expected to reach 21% in 2022, showing a 17.9% increase (eMarketer).
Continued growth like this is expected, reaching 24.5% by 2025 (eMarketer).

Global eCommerce Sale Growth Stats

eCommerce growth at the moment is phenomenal, and it shows almost no signs of slowing down.

Here are some brilliant facts and statistics that you really should know in 2022 about eCommerce growth.

Online sales will reach $6.17 trillion by 2023 (eMarketer).
Global eCommerce website traffic grew by 32% in 2020 (Statista, SimilarWeb).
Sales via eCommerce websites will reach a share of 22.3% of all total retail sales (eMarketer).
Latin America saw $85 billion in eCommerce sales in 2021 (eMarketer).
Markets in the UK, Russia and the Philippines saw more than 20% eCommerce sales growth in 2021 (eMarketer).
The UK is the third largest purchaser of eCommerce goods in the world (Shopify).

A Quote from the Expert

Elliott Davidson, Founder of leading UK eCommerce marketing agency Contrast, had this to say… “If you weren’t already convinced that an eCom first business model wasn’t the way forward, hopefully the last two years have changed your mind. The longer you wait the more money your business is leaving on the table.”

Buy Now Pay Later Facts & Figures

Want to succeed with your eCommerce store in 2022? You need Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) functionality.

The number of companies offering BNPL schemes is increasing quarter on quarter it seems. More and more people are looking for ways to spread the cost of purchases, both large and small.

If you want to succeed with an eCommerce store in 2022, you need to ensure you have a way of converting customers using BNPL ways to pay… Otherwise, you’re leaving out a lot of your target market.

Here are some interesting BNPL stats for your perusal.

Klarna’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) nearly doubled to $18.9 billion in the first quarter of 2021 (Klarna).
The number of US shoppers using Klarna doubled to 17 million in April 2021, experiencing a 125% increase in downloads (Klarna).
In Australia, 30% of all adults own a BNPL account from providers (Shopify).
38% of all users will say that BNPL will eventually replace their credit cards (Ascent).

Omni-Channel & Mobile eCommerce Stats

Here’s a few juicy stats to get started with around mobile and omni-channel eCommerce.

It’s long been a fact that mobile trends are on the up. According to the book Hooked, by Nir Eyal, research is suggesting that people are checking their mobiles in excess of an astounding 25 times a day.

Successful eCommerce marketing must include a solid plan for mobiles & devices.

Omni channel is also the best way to interact with your customers from multiple touch points. Sending out your message in multiple forms, from multiple sites is a must.

Here’s the stats we found:

Mobile eCommerce purchases made up 72.9% of total eCommerce sales in 2021 (Statista, BuildFire).
Users who have a negative experience on a mobile website are 62% less likely to purchase from that business in the future (Oberlo).
Longer mobile page load times drastically increase bounces (Oberlo).
In 2021 almost 73% of eCommerce sales occurred via mobile (Statista).
71% of mobile purchases are influenced by emails from the retailer (Adobe).
52% of people say they’re less likely to re-engage with a brand following a bad mobile experience (Google).
In Q3 2018, smartphones accounted for 61% of retail site visits worldwide (Statista).
Nearly 40% of all online purchases made during the 2018 holiday season were done on smartphones (OuterBox).
80% of Americans are online shoppers. More than half of them have made purchases on mobile devices (Pew Research Centre).
People who have a bad mobile experience with your business are 62% less likely to become your customer in the future (Google).
69% of smartphone users say they’re more likely to buy from businesses with mobile sites or apps that answer their questions (Google).
59% of smartphone users favour businesses with mobile sites or apps that enable them to make purchases easily and quickly (Google).
On average, 52% of online stores have omni-channel capabilities (Oberlo).
Four in ten purchases are made using only an online channel for searching and buying (UPS).

UK-Specific eCommerce Stats

UK shoppers are some of the most tech-savvy in the world, using eCommerce as their means of purchase in more than almost all other countries outside of the US and China.
Here are some incredible statistics for the eCommerce market in 2022.

Retail eCommerce sales will make up 36.3% of total retail sales in 2022 (ONS).
87% of all internet users in the UK have made a purchase online (Statista).
The UK’s eCommerce market has grown by 324% in the last decade (Retail Economics).
63% of mobile shoppers in the UK use apps to make purchases (Internet Retailing).
Only 3.5% of shoppers in the UK who browse products on their mobile device make a purchase (Statista).

That last stat in particular is very interesting. This really shows the value of maximising your conversion rate (CR) if you have an online store. If you want killer strategies to fuel your eCommerce marketing for 2022, get in touch here, we’d love to help you succeed.

Abandoned Cart eCommerce Stats

So many abandoned carts, all that lovely lost revenue. Why didn’t they continue to checkout? Some of the stats we found uncover some of those mysteries…

Are your shipping costs unclear? Is your returns policy hard to find? Is it difficult to find a way to get in touch? Or perhaps people just don’t have a clue how long delivery will take...

All of the elements above are crucial information points on your website. Here’s some stats we found to back this up:

The average order value (AOV) of purchases from basket abandonment emails is 14.2% higher than typical purchases (Econsultancy).
54% of shoppers will purchase products left in their basket, if those products are offered at a lower price (nchannel).
Abandoned cart emails have an average open rate of 45% (Moosend).
Abandoned cart emails sent within 20 minutes have an average conversion rate of 5.2% (SaleCycle).
Exit-intent campaigns convert between 2-4% of abandoning visitors (Sleeknote).
The average global cart abandonment rate in Q3 of 2018 was 76.9% (SaleCycle).
58.6% of US online shoppers have abandoned a cart within the last 3 months because “I was just browsing/not ready to buy” (Baymard Institute).
The top three reasons US online shoppers give for abandoning a cart during checkout are high extra costs, the need to create an account, and a complicated checkout process (Baymard Institute).

What are Trust Signals & Why do I Need them on my eCommerce Site?

Trust signals are pieces of information that are placed on a web page in order to reassure or prove to a potential customer that you are a trustworthy site.

Trust signals can be things like: Reviews, clear site policies, open disclosure of shipping costs, easy to find contact references and so on.

Trust signals reassure customers that it’s safe to make a purchase from you.

The following stats show that they are becoming more and more important as consumers become more savvy and have such a wide variety of places to shop from:

Consumers are most likely to trust a business that makes it easy to contact people at the company (Oberlo).
67% of shoppers check the returns page before making a purchase (Invespcro).
38% of people will leave a website if the layout or design is unattractive (Adobe).
Two-thirds of consumers expect a same day response to queries about a product of service (A Marketer’s Paradox of Strategy VS Practice).
57% of mobile customers will abandon your site if they have to wait 3 seconds for a page to load (Google).
56% of online shoppers abandon their online basket because they were presented with unexpected costs at the checkout (Shopify).
23% of shoppers will abandon their shopping basket if they are forced to register an account (Nchannel).
In 2020, customer experience officially overtook price and product as the key brand differentiator (The Guardian).
In 2020, personalisation technology that recognises customer intent enabled businesses to increase profits by up to 15% (Gartner).
60% of online shoppers abandon their carts because of unexpected extra costs (Baymard Institute).
30% of online consumers have posted product feedback online (KPMG).
81% of consumers trust the advice of family and friends over businesses (HubSpot).
80% of respondents said they had stopped doing business with a company because of a poor customer experience (HubSpot).
51% of consumers trust companies who make it easy for visitors to contact the people behind the company (KPMG).

How Important are Shipping Costs & Returns Policies When it Comes to eCommerce Websites?

If you really stop and think about this, it’s fairly obvious that in order to attract a new customer, or keep your current ones happy, this information should be readily available for all to see on your site.

It’s quite an eye opener that these details get left out of so many eCommerce websites, and subsequently sites can lose lots of sales as a result.

More interestingly is the increasing popularity of making multiple purchases, also known as bracket purchases.

What are bracket purchases? When a customer makes multiple variation purchases of the same product, then returns the ones that aren’t right.

For example, you see a jumper you like online, but you're in between sizes and not sure which will fit best. So instead of gambling on just one size, you buy it in two different sizes in the hope that at least one will fit and the other can be returned.

Noticing the subtle habits of consumers with trends like bracket purchasing, can help you plan your customer journey, product options and all kinds of other cool things to make people feel good about their purchases.

General

83% of US online shoppers expect regular communication about their purchases (Narvar).

Returns & Refund

42% of US online shoppers have returned an item they bought online in the last six months (Navar).
63% of US online shoppers said that they would not make a purchase if they couldn’t find the return policy (Navar).
Nearly 70% of US online shoppers said that their most recent return experience was “easy” or “very easy,” and 96% would buy from that retailer again based on that experience (Navar).
41% of US online shoppers said that they “bracket” at least some online purchases (“bracketing” refers to buying multiple versions of the same item, then returning those that didn’t work) (Navar).
59% of US online shoppers said that they want to receive notifications about the status of their refund (Navar).
28% of customers say they avoid making a purchase due to a lack of a free shipping option (Digital Commerce).

Shipping

79% of US consumers said that free shipping would make them more likely to shop online (Walker Sands).
54% of US consumers under the age of 25 said that same-day shipping is their number one purchase driver (Walker Sands).
Only 15% of US consumers said that online retailers always offer shipping options that meet their expectations for speed of delivery, compared to 30% that report the same for Amazon (Walker Sands).
53% of US online shoppers won’t purchase a product if they don’t know when it will arrive (Narvar).

Here’s Why Instagram is the Best Social Media Platform for eCommerce

Some brands are winning big with eCommerce on Instagram. It’s no wonder it’s a big hit too, because it’s so visual and prolifically used by influencers.

Flicking through instagram is an obsession for some, so it’s the perfect place to catch people in a good mood to make a purchase.

Here’s some compelling stats to show how effective Instagram can be for eCommerce:

83% of people say Instagram helps them discover new products and services. 81% say the platform helps them research products and services, and 80% say it helps them decide whether to make a purchase (Facebook).
Compared to non-users, Instagram users are 70% more likely to make online purchases on their mobile devices (GlobalWebIndex).
44% of active Instagram users say they use social media to conduct brand research. That’s the highest percentage among the major social networks (GlobalWebIndex).
Engagement between users and brands on Instagram is 10 times greater than it is on Facebook, 54 times greater than it is on Pinterest, and 84 times greater than it is on Twitter (Forrester).

Have a Leisurely Browse at these eCommerce Marketplace Stats

eCommerce marketplaces (like Amazon, eBay, OnBuy, Etsy, and many more) are an efficient way to grow your business. Not only are they convenient for customers, but selling on an established marketplace also creates trust and builds confidence in customers, encouraging them to make a purchase.

Nearly half (48%) of online shoppers simply head straight to a large eCommerce marketplace (Oberlo).
59% of 16-36 year-olds head to Amazon before any other eCommerce website (Inviqa).
44% of all product searches begin on Amazon (Retail Dive).
On average, 41% of US-based Amazon shoppers receive 1-2 packages a week (Walker Sands).
eBay has over 1 billion active listings and over 180 million active buyers (BigCommerce).
From 2019 to 2020, Etsy’s gross sales increased by 106.84% to $10.28 billion (ThriveMyWay).
Between 2017 and 2020, OnBuy’s revenue growth increased by 479% (Business Leader).

Finally a Nice Fat Stack of Consumer Purchasing Habits & Trends to Fire You Up!

The following stats just confirm that eCommerce is a growing force to be reckoned with. The companies that take stock of how consumers are behaving are positioning themselves to win.

Here at Contrast we have our finger on the pulse… if you want killer strategies to fuel your eCommerce marketing for 2022, get in touch here, we’d love to help you succeed.

The number one reason people shop online is that they’re able to shop at all hours of the day (Oberlo).
On average, only 2.86% of eCommerce website visits convert into a purchase (Oberlo).
It is expected that 18% of all UK retail purchases will occur online this year (Nasdaq).
By 2040, it is thought that 95% of purchases will be facilitated by eCommerce (Nasdaq).
The total average eCommerce spend per customer, over the course of the year is estimated to be £1,600 in the UK (Smart Insights).
Organic search results bring in about 36% of eCommerce revenue and 53% of eCommerce traffic (Finances Online).
Millennials now make 54% of their purchases online (UPS).
85% of customers start a purchase on one device and finish it on another (Google).
Men spend 68% more online than women (KPMG).
Generation X shop more online than Baby Boomers and Millennials (KPMG).
In 2018, eCommerce sales accounted for 11.9% of all retail sales worldwide (Statista).
There are more than 254 Million active PayPal accounts in the world (Statista).
On average, conversion rates drop by 4.42% with every second (up to 5 seconds) of page loading time (HubSpot).
As of Q2 2018, 2.86% of eCommerce website visits converted into purchases (Statista).
The number one reason people shop online is because they can shop 24/7 (KPMG).
30% of consumers say they would rather buy from a website they’ve bought from previously (KPMG).
Retaining an existing customer costs 5 times less than acquiring a new customer (OutboundEngine).
A 5% increase in customer retention can create a profit increase between 25-95% (OutboundEngine).
Selling to existing customers has a 60-70% success rate. Whereas, selling to new customers has a 5-20% success rate (OutboundEngine).
24% of shoppers are ready to spend more to qualify for free shipping (HubSpot).
The average amount of time between a Google product search and a purchase is 20 days (it’s 26 days on Amazon) (Jumpshot).
35% of Google product searches turn into transactions within 5 days (Jumpshot).
Google Shopping ad spend was up 43% YoY in Q4 of 2018, making the quarter the fastest growth rate in two years (Merkle).
Cross-device targeting yields 16% more conversions for retail advertisers in the US (Google).
Google Shopping ads have a higher CTR than Amazon’s Sponsored Product and Sponsored Brand ads (Merkle).
In 2021, over 2.14 billion people officially shopped online (Oberlo).
Content marketing is 62% cheaper than traditional outbound marketing but generates 3 times as many leads (CMI).

Let us help you develop a winning eCommerce strategy - get in touch here.

95+ eCommerce Stats and Trends you Need to Know in 2023