Research highlights: In 2025,19.1% of global retail sales are from online channels. The e-commerce market share is expected to double between 2019 and 2029, with an increase of 9.4 percentage points over 10 years.
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Percentage of sales from online channels
In 2025, 19.1% of global retail sales are online, showing an online shopping growth of 7.1 percentage points since 2019
The share of e-commerce sales is expected to double between 2019 and 2029, with an increase of 9.4 percentage points over 10 years
The largest single-year gain in e-commerce market share occurred from 2023 to 2024, rising by 1.3 percentage points from 16% to 17.3%
Offline sales still dominate, but their share is projected to decrease from 88% in 2019 to 78.6% in 2029
From 2024 onward, the online share increased every year without interruption, reflecting a consistent digital commerce trend in the latter half of the decade
However, physical retail spaces will continue to be important despite significant online shopping growth, as offline sales in 2029 are still projected to account for nearly four-fifths (78.6%) of all purchases
Year | Online | Offline |
2029 | 21.40% | 78.60% |
2028 | 21.30% | 78.70% |
2027 | 21.10% | 78.90% |
2026 | 20.20% | 79.80% |
2025 | 19.10% | 80.90% |
2024 | 17.30% | 82.70% |
2023 | 16% | 84% |
2022 | 17.10% | 82.90% |
2021 | 17.80% | 82.20% |
2020 | 15.50% | 84.50% |
2019 | 12% | 88% |
How many products do online shoppers buy for every purchase?
The average online shopper buys an average of 4.44 products per order
From May 2024 to April 2025, the monthly variation in the number of products per order was relatively small, typically fluctuating between 3.6 and 4.5 items
The number of items per order generally increased from late 2024 into early 2025, rising from 3.27 in December to a short-term peak of 4.52 in March
August, October, and February also saw slightly higher averages (around 4 or above), indicating that modest increases in basket size happen throughout the year
December 2024 had the lowest average at 3.27 products per order
Month and Year | Average number of products bought per order |
April 2025 | 4.44 |
Mar 2025 | 4.52 |
Feb 2025 | 4.34 |
Jan 2025 | 3.98 |
Dec 2024 | 3.27 |
Nov 2024 | 3.86 |
Oct 2024 | 4.05 |
Sep 2024 | 3.96 |
Aug 2024 | 4.16 |
Jul 2024 | 3.78 |
June 2024 | 3.62 |
May 2024 | 3.77 |
Most popular e-commerce websites
Amazon.com leads e-commerce websites by a wide margin with a 12.92% share of visits globally, making it the most visited e-commerce site in 2024
eBay.com ranks a distant second with 3.19% of visits, less than a quarter of Amazon.com's traffic share
Amazon has a strong presence in the Japanese market, with Amazon.co.jp accounting for 2.96% of visits worldwide, placing it just behind eBay
AliExpress.com holds a 2.70% visit share, and Temu.com, a newer entrant, accounts for 2.10% of visit share
Website | Visit share in 2024 |
amazon.com | 12.92% |
ebay.com | 3.19% |
amazon.co.jp | 2.96% |
aliexpress.com | 2.70% |
temu.com | 2.10% |
Leading sources of online shopping inspiration
Marketplaces are the top source of online shopping inspiration, cited by 48% of shoppers
In-store browsing still plays a major role in digital shopping behavior, with 31% of online shoppers saying physical retail visits influence their online purchases
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) or branded websites inspire 21% of online shoppers, slightly ahead of retailer websites, which account for 18%
Search engines drive 12% of shopping inspiration
Together, DTC and retailer sites influence nearly 4 in 10 online shoppers (39%), indicating that brand-owned and multi-brand channels still have a strong role despite marketplace dominance
Source of online shopping inspiration | Percentage |
Marketplaces (regional and global) | 48% |
Browsing in-store | 31% |
Direct-to-consumer/branded sites | 21% |
Search engines | 12% |
Retailer sites | 18% |
Top online shopping payment methods
Digital wallets account for the majority (53%) of online shopping payment methods in 2024, with an estimated transaction value of 3.6 trillion US dollars
20% of e-commerce sales are purchased using a credit card
Debit and prepaid cards account for 12% of total e-commerce spend in 2024 although they are forecasted to decline both in value and share, dropping from $816 billion in 2024 to $756 billion in 2023
Cash on delivery is also expected to decline both in value and relevance, shrinking from $136 billion (2%) in 2024 to $108 billion (1%) in 2030, reflecting a -5.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) as digital payments take over
Account-to-account (A2A) payments are expected to grow significantly, nearly doubling from $476 billion in 2024 to $972 billion in 2030, with a CAGR of 19.5%, the highest among all tracked online shopping payment methods
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) continues to grow but remains a small portion of the total market at 5%
Payment method | Estimated transaction value in US dollars (2024) | Estimated share of transaction value in e-commerce (2024) | Estimated transaction value in US dollars (2030) | Estimated share of transaction value in e-commerce (2030) | % Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) (2024-2030) |
Digital wallet, including mobile money | $3,604.00b | 53% | $7,020.00b | 65% | 18.1% |
Credit card | $1,360.00b | 20% | $1,404.00b | 13% | 0.8% |
Debit card and prepaid cards | $816.00b | 12% | $756.00b | 7% | -1.9% |
Account-to-account (A2A) | $476.00b | 7% | $972.00b | 9% | 19.5% |
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) | $340.00b | 5% | $540.00b | 5% | 12.3% |
Cash on delivery | $136.00b | 2% | $108.00b | 1% | -5.6% |
Post-pay | $20.40b | 0.3% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Cryptocurrency | $13.60b | 0.2% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Pre-pay | $6.80b | 0.1% | n/a | n/a | n/a |