The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on digital transformation and how e-commerce and related digital technologies can facilitate recovery will be the focus of the UNCTAD E-Commerce Week 2022, held in Geneva from April 25 to 29. The latest figures show that despite the easing of restrictions in many countries, fast-growing consumer e-commerce activity continues to grow significantly in 2021, with a surge in online sales.

In 66 countries and regions for which statistics are available, the proportion of Internet users who implement online shopping has increased from 53% before the outbreak (2019) to 60% after the outbreak (2020-2021). However, the extent to which the epidemic has led to the rapid development of online shopping varies from country to country. Before the epidemic, the level of online shopping in many developed countries was already relatively high (over 50% of Internet users), while the consumer e-commerce penetration rate in most developing countries was relatively high. is lower.

E-commerce in developing countries is accelerating. In the UAE, the proportion of internet users shopping online more than doubled, from 27% in 2019 to 63% in 2020; in Bahrain, the proportion tripled to 45% in 2020; in Uzbekistan, The proportion rose from 4% in 2018 to 11% in 2020; Thailand, which had a high penetration rate of consumer e-commerce before the Covid-19 pandemic, increased by 16%, which means that by 2020 the country More than half of internet users (56%) are shopping online for the first time.

Among European countries, Greece (up 18 percent), Ireland, Hungary and Romania (up 15 percent each) saw the biggest increases, the data showed. One reason for this disparity is that countries vary widely in their level of digitization, as well as their ability to rapidly switch to digital technologies to alleviate economic disruption. LDCs in particular need support in developing e-commerce.

Official statistics from seven countries, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Korea, Australia and Singapore, which together account for about half of the world’s GDP, show that online retail sales in these countries have surged from about $2 trillion before the pandemic (2019). Increase to $2.5 trillion in 2020 and $2.9 trillion in 2021. Across these countries, online retail sales grew strongly as people increased their online shopping, and their share of total retail sales increased significantly, from 2019 16% increased to 19% in 2020, and although offline sales began to pick up later, online retail sales growth continued into 2021. The share of online sales in total retail sales in China (about a quarter in 2021) is much higher than in the United States (about an eighth).

According to data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 13 top consumer-centric e-commerce companies, including Alibaba, Amazon, JD.com, and Pinduoduo, saw their revenue surge during the pandemic. In 2019, these companies had combined sales of $2.4 trillion. After the pandemic hit in 2020, that figure rose to $2.9 trillion, before growing by a further third in 2021, bringing total sales to $3.9 trillion (at current prices).

The increase in online shopping has further consolidated the market concentration of already strong players in the online retail and marketplace business. Alibaba, Amazon, JD.com and Pinduoduo saw their revenue grow 70% between 2019 and 2021, and their share of total sales across these 13 platforms rose from around 75% in 2018-2019 to 2020 more than 80% by 2021.

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