When accounting for the total value of merchandise sold on their websites, the largest online merchants own nearly half of the global online retail market.
The good news for online retailers around the world and the technology companies that support them is that the global e-commerce market is big, and it’s growing fast.
Online retail spending reached $1.74 trillion globally last year, and it’s been growing at roughly 20% per year over the past three years, according to Internet Retailer’s just-released report Global 1000: The global reinvention of e-retail.
The bad news for most e-retailers looking to build major online retail operations is that the global e-commerce market is dominated by a small group of very big players, and their command online retail spending continues to grow.
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When looking at gross merchandise value (GMV), which is the total value of products sold on websites around the world, the top 10 largest companies—with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Amazon.com Inc. at the top—control nearly half of the global e-commerce market.
Globally, Alibaba holds roughly 27% market share by Internet Retailer’s analysis. Amazon takes 13%. Both companies dominate in their home countries (and to a lesser extent abroad) using a multipronged onslaught of strategies that give consumers a giant selection of products with low prices and fast delivery.
They attract other merchants to sell on their marketplaces by providing them access to a boatload of loyal shoppers and convenient options to help them fulfill orders and sell to consumers around the world.
(Source: Internet Retailer)