How has the eCommerce business evolved from 2018 to 2019? For our latest Digital Commerce Benchmark, we analyzed millions of transactions worldwide that were carried out through 2Checkout’s platform over the last year.
This data should provide a helpful picture of modern commerce trends and market characteristics, which will assist in guiding your online sales strategy.
Here’s what we found:
Countries with top online sales
The U.S. continues to generate almost half (49%) of all global eCommerce transactions, spurred mostly by software and SaaS sales. The U.S. is followed by the UK, by a wide distance (6% of overall sales) as well as France (at 5%).
Together, there are 10 countries that corner almost 78% of all global digital commerce sales. The top 10 non-English-speaking markets, led by France, Germany, and Italy, respectively, account for 20% of digital commerce sales worldwide.
Top payment methods worldwide
At the global level, Visa and MasterCard continue to retain the lion’s share of online payments (70%), followed by PayPal with 20%, and American Express at 6%. However, those statistics don’t provide the whole picture. There are significant country variations in preferred payment methods, which should be taken into account by any merchant who wants to sell in those markets.
For example, in Germany, PayPal was the most used payment method (56%), while Visa and MasterCard were used in only 33% of online payments. In the Netherlands, iDeal was the preferred method (44% of all transactions), while Direct Debit also accounted for 8% of payments.
In China, AliPay (43%) and WeChat Pay (8.5%) were used for more than half of online sales, while in France, Carte Bancaire accounted for 14% of transactions.
Another payment method to consider in certain markets is local credit cards with an installment payment option, which over the past year were used for 30% of online payments in Brazil and 16% in Turkey.
Subscriptions on the rise
The upward trend of subscription sales continues, with 77% of online sales in the last year comprised of subscription products – up from 76% the year before. More merchants than ever are transitioning to a subscription-based business model.
Average Order Value Increased
The Average Order Value over the last year has grown to $56, from $50 in the previous year – a clear indicator of the growth of eCommerce and shoppers’ inclination to buy online.
Channel Sales and Marketing Tactics Boost Revenue
Sales through affiliates and partners, respectively, continue to bring almost a quarter of revenues (each) for those merchants that use those channels. Concurrently, marketing tactics like promotions, up-sells and cross-sells are important contributors to revenue growth that shouldn’t be neglected.
For the full details of our findings, check out the infographic and the associated press release.
