Mobile and Asia-Pacific fuel e-commerce boom, eMarketer

Retail e-commerce sales worldwide will reach $2.842 trillion this year, a 23.3% increase over 2017, according to eMarketer. Online will make up close to 12% of total retail sales worldwide, up from 10.2% in 2017, largely influenced by Asia-Pacific, where 17.6% of total retail spending will go toward e-commerce.

Mobile commerce is key here; last year, the sector increased by 40.3%. eMarketer expects spending to reach $1.804 trillion in 2018, accounting for 63.5% of all e-commerce sales. China alone made up more than two-thirds of global retail m-commerce sales in 2017, driven by mobile-first shoppers.

“A greater dependence on mobile devices, namely smartphones, is having a positive effect on retail m-commerce sales globally,” says Monica Peart, eMarketer’s Senior Forecasting Director. “This trend is evident in more frequent mobile shopping sessions and higher spends per session, both hallmarks of a growing expectation for mobile devices to satisfy a variety of consumer shopping needs.”