E-commerce revenues fall for the first time ever, sink by $250 bn in 2022

After registering years of impressive growth, global e-commerce revenue sank $250 billion (year-over-year), falling from $3.84 trillion in 2021 to $3.59 trillion this year which is a first for the industry, a report showed on Monday.

Supply chain issues, inflation, rising digital advertising costs, and changed consumer behaviour have all had their share in the first-ever e-commerce revenue drop, according to data presented by AugustaFreePress.com.

The initial forecast from the 'Statista Digital Market Outlook' projected $380 billion more revenue in 2022 than a year ago.

However, as of July, the global e-commerce revenue projection slipped from $4.22 trillion to $3.74 trillion.

Although China generated nearly one-third of total e-commerce revenue in 2022, the world's largest market is ending the year with a massive $212 billion revenue drop alone. Other leading markets, Japan, the UK, and Germany, also saw their revenues plunge.

On the other hand, the US is the only one among the top five markets whose e-commerce revenue increased this year.

According to Statista, the US e-commerce industry generated nearly $905 billion in revenue this year, 5 per cent more than in 2021.

In 2023, the entire market is expected to generate $4.48 trillion in revenue and then hit a $5 trillion benchmark in 2024.

One of the significant drivers for recovery will be the swelling e-commerce user base, said the report.

Last year, the global e-commerce market had a massive 50.4 per cent penetration rate, with nearly 3.8 billion people who shopped online.

Statistics show that online shoppers are expected to grow by 315 million YoY to 4.1 billion in 2022.

"Also, the market's penetration rate is set to reach 54.1 per cent this year. Statista expects more than 4.8 billion people to shop online by 2025," said the report.