Latest figures from the United Nations’ Conference on Trade and Development show more people are resorting to shopping online around the world. Below is a quick summary of the facts and figures.
.Sales conducted on the internet increased by 13 per cent in 2017, reaching $29 trillion.
This number was made possible because, according to UNCTAD, more people resorted to shopping on the Internet. Hence, the number of online shoppers, moved up by 12 per cent so that a total of 1.3 billion, or one quarter of the world’s population now make sales through the Internet. However, though most Internet buyers bought goods and services from their domestic online shops, the number of people buying from abroad rose from 15 per cent in 2015 to 21 per cent in 2017. A significant percentage of this number came from buyers from the United States.
. More Businessmen are Buying from More Businessmen as against more Consumers buying from More Businessmen
The number showed that when the transactions involved two countries, business-to-consumer (B2C) sales reached an estimated $412 billion, making up for almost 11 per cent of total B2C e-commerce. Other B2C sales happened inside the countries. This represented about 4 percent increase from 2016.
The figures also showed that while transactions conducted between businessmen in these countries–that is business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce– has more than 88 percent of all online sales, B2C grew the more in the year under review. To be sure, B2C sales increased by 22 per cent to reach $3.9 trillion in 2017.
.More Online Sales Are Conducted in China Than Anywhere else in the world, while more Consumers in the UK are More Willing to Shop Online Instead of Visiting A Physical Shop.
The facts showed that more consumers in China bought directly from businessmen using the Internet by the accumulation of numbers over the years, obviously because of China’s largest population. However, UK consumers were the most likely to shop on the Internet because a staggering 82 per cent of people aged 15 and older made purchases online in 2017.
Overall, however, about 440 million consumers bought from businessmen on the Internet in China, making China the country with the largest number of Internet buyers followed by the United States, while the United Kingdom held on to third place.
.In Terms Of Who Made The Most Money From These Online Sales, US Did.
In fact, with almost $9 trillion, online sales made in the United States were three times higher than that made in Japan and more than four times higher than that made in China. Germany also overtook the Republic of Korea as the fourth largest online market.
.Findings From The Report Showed That There Is Still A Huge Gap In The Ecommerce Market.
The UNCTAD report showed that there is still a huge gap in delivering digital services such as insurance, financial services or business processes, especially in developing countries such as Nigeria, as the sector grew yearly by 7-8% over the decade, and they were worth $2.7 trillion in 2017.
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While developed countries still retain the market share, that is 77 percent, developing economies in Asia are seeing the biggest increase in exports over the past decade. Sierra Leone, a small-sized West African country emerged Third in digitally deliverable services, as a share of all service exports.
.What These Figures Mean
“The new figures show that e-commerce is indeed creating export opportunities. But the question from a development standpoint is whether businesses in developing countries are prepared to seize the opportunities,” UNCTAD Secretary-General, Mukhisa Kituyi, said.
“From an economic development perspective, this is important, because it shows the potential of digitalisation for businesses in developing countries that are producing such services,” said Shamika N. Sirimanne, who directs trade and logistics division at UNCTAD.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organisations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.