When you’re working in ecommerce no day is the same. It’s one of the fastest-growing and constantly-changing industries out there.
That means keeping on top of the trends is tricky. To make things easier for you, we’ve scoured the web to bring you the key ecommerce statistics and trends for 2025.
Keep reading for the most important ecommerce statistics on online shopping habits, ecommerce marketing performance, and more for 2025. Let’s get started.
Ecommerce statistics: key takeaways
This is a big ol’ article. Here’s a TLDR of all the ecommerce statistics covered if you just want a quick snapshot of the state of the industry in 2025.
- The global ecommerce market is worth $6.9 trillion globally
- Worldwide ecommerce sales will grow 8.6% by the end of 2025
- Loyalty increases a customers’ worth by 22 times
- Free delivery remains the most convincing purchase driver for online shoppers
- 75% of ecommerce shoppers say product photos influence their buying decisions
- 70% of online shopping carts get abandoned
General ecommerce industry statistics
Let's start with the industry as a whole with a closer look at ecommerce statistics on global sales and markets.
Global ecommerce market statistics
The ecommerce market is expected to be worth $6.9 trillion by the end of 2025
Hold on to your hats, I'm about to hit you with a staggering ecommerce statistic. By the end of 2025, global ecommerce sales is set to generate a whopping $6.9 trillion. To put that in perspective, if online purchases were a country it'd have the third-highest GDP of anywhere in the world, second only to China and the USA.
Source: Statista, 2025
2025 will see ecommerce sales grow by 8.6%
The growth rate of the industry is stabilising after the global lockdown boom. But it’s still a growing industry, with global ecommerce sales currently projected to grow by 8.6% by the end of 2025. That’s only slightly down from last year’s growth of 9%.
Source: Statista, 2025
2024 retail sales were dominated by China and the United States
China’s online retail industry is a global power-house and home to online retailer behemoth Alibaba. So it’s no surprise the country took top spot in 2024, with annual retail sales reaching $3.19 trillion.
The second biggest market for online sales is the United States, which saw $1.22 billion of online sales last year. It’s the home of many best-in-field DTC brands, as well as Alibaba rivals Amazon and eBay.
Here’s the 10 world’s biggest retail markets in 2024:
- China - $3.19 trillion
- United States - $1.22 trillion
- UK - $195.7 billion
- Japan - $169.4 billion
- South Korea - $147 billion
- Germany - $141.2 billion
- India - $116 billion
- Indonesia - $62 billion
- France - $51 billion
- Canada - $40.3 billion
Source: SellersCommerce, 2025
Argentina was the fastest-growing ecommerce market in 2024
Argentina was the fastest-growing ecommerce market in 2024, overtaking the Philippines who came out on top in 2023. Argentina’s forecasted growth was a whopping 29% year-on-year. According to Whistl, this growth has been partly driven by the increased availability of mobile connectivity and 4G across South America making it easier to shop online than ever before.
These are the top 5 ecommerce markets by how much they grew in 2024:
- Argentina - 29%
- Philippines - 24%
- India - 20%
- Indonesia - 20%
- Malaysia - 18%
Source: Straits Research, 2025
Ecommerce sector statistics
Fashion was the highest-grossing ecommerce sector
Out of all ecommerce sectors, fashion had the biggest market share at the end of 2024 with a staggering $771 billion estimated online spend.
Here’s a breakdown of all ecommerce sectors by their estimated revenue.
- Fashion - $771 billion
- Food - $680 billion
- DIY & hardware - $494 billion
- Consumer electronics - $465 billion
- Physical media (books, CDs etc.) - $439 billion
- Furniture - $283 billion
- Beverages - $236 billion
- Beauty & personal care - $227 billion
- Tobacco - $171 billion
- Household essentials - $123 billion
Source: Data Report, 2025
Food was the fastest-growing ecommerce sector
But that’s not the whole story. Although still the largest sector, fashion dropped by $100 billion in terms of revenue on where it was last year.
Food is the fastest-growing of all the sectors listed above in terms of retail ecommerce sales, rocketing from its position in 6th place just a few years ago to closing out 2024 in second place.
Source: Data Report, 2025
The luxury sector had the highest average order value
It’s no surprise that the luxury and jewellery industry was the ecommerce sector with the highest average order value (AOV) in 2024, coming in at $436.
Here’s how all the sectors ranked for AOV:
- Luxury and jewellery - $436
- Home and furniture - $253
- Consumer goods - $211
- Fashion, accessories and apparel - $196
- Food and beverage - $114
- Pet care - $83
- Beauty and personal care - $71
Source: Oberlo, 2025
Statistics on ecommerce businesses
But what about the businesses who make up the ecommerce industry?
There are 30.7 million ecommerce websites in existence
At the end of 2024, there were 30.7 million online stores live around the globe. This grew by 14% from 2023 and it doesn’t look like the growth rate will be slowing down anytime soon.
30.7 million is a huge number. To put it in perspective, if every ecommerce site was a person together they’d outnumber the total population of Australia.
Source: Statista, 2025
WooCommerce is the most popular ecommerce platform
According to Builtwith, WooCommerce is the most popular ecommerce platform, with 6.2 million live online stores built using the tool. While Shopify is catching up to this figure, it still comfortably beats Shopify’s 4.8 million live ecommerce sites.
This is how some of the most popular ecommerce tools rank in terms of the number of websites using them:
- WooCommerce - 6.1 million live websites
- Shopify - 5.5 million live ecommerce sites using Shopify. Of those, 45,000 are using Shopify Plus.
- OpenCart - an open-source, PHP-built ecommerce platform, is used by 242,000 live websites
- PrestaShop - 218,000 active stores
- Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) - 114,000 live websites
- BigCommerce - 41,000 live websites
Source: Builtwith, 2025
Want more tools? Check out our free marketing apps database for the best tools to help grow your brand.
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Which ecommerce stores are growing the fastest?
The fastest-growing DTC businesses in 2024 were across a variety of sectors
A definitive list of the fastest-growing DTC companies is hard to come by, but here’s some notable ecommerce brands that showed impressive signs of growth in 2024.
- Lovevery: Making educational toys for infants and toddlers, Lovevery's subscription-based Play Kits have over 320,000 active subscribers, contributing to the shipment of more than 5 million kits since its inception.
- Athletic Brewing: Athletic are a pioneer in the non-alcoholic beer sector. They had a stellar 2024, having secured $286 million in funding and with projected revenue of $150 million by year-end.
- Oura: With their health-tracking ring, Oura monitors your heart rate and sleep quality. In 2024, the brand made big inroads in the American market, expanding its physical retail presence to 850 Best Buy locations. This has set them up in a prime position to take advantage of 2025.
- The Farmer’s Dog: In over 4 years, Farmer’s Dog has grown retail sales and revenue by a staggering 1322%. They deliver freshly-made ‘human grade’ dog food to customers around the USA, and have sent out over 100 million meals to date!
- Trinny London: Now an established name in the beauty industry, Trinny London (founded by iconic UK fashion columnist and stylist Trinny Woodall) are experiencing record revenue growth. In 2024 they opened their first retail store in Chelsea, London and have plans to set up pop-up shops in 2025 to crack the American market. Watch this space!
- Arc’teryx: Ever heard of gorpcore? It’s a fashion trend where you wear active outdoor clothing as part of your everyday wardrobe - it’s why you almost definitely have a North Face puffer jacket hanging in your cupboard. Outdoor clothing brand Arc’teryx capitalised on this trend in 2024, growing their DTC revenue by an impressive 40%!
Source: Various (Vogue Business, Divisia, Exploding Topics)
Ecommerce businesses increased investment in AI in 2024
Businesses across all industries are starting to adopt AI, and ecommerce is no exception. In 2024, 41% of online retailers said they aimed to increase efficiencies and improve their management of the workforce with AI.
Source: Deloitte, 2024
Online shoppers: trends and behaviours
Consumer behaviour is always shifting. Here’s some top-level online shopping and consumer trends to know in 2025.
2.54 billion people purchased goods online
About 25% of the entire global population bought consumer goods online last year. That figure represents an increase of 8.5% on 2023’s figure.
Source: Data Report, 2025
Online spending grew by 15% in 2024
Online retail sales growth has been relatively stagnant these past few years, growing just 0.8% from 2022 to 2023. Last year that changed, however, with online ecommerce spend growing 15% as more internet users went to shop online.
Source: Data Report, 2025
17.3% of consumer goods sales happened online in 2024
Of all of the consumer goods sales that took place globally in 2024, 17.3% were ecommerce. This is the highest percentage it’s been since the height of the pandemic in 2021, representing an 8.3% growth from 2023.
Source: Data Report, 2025
The average US consumer spends more online than anywhere else in the world
The USA leads the world in terms of the average revenue per online shopper, with $4,470 retail sales generated per online shopper.
Let’s take a look at the global picture. These are the countries with the highest spend per online shopper in 2024. Almost all of them are in Western Europe or North America, with South Korea being the only exception:
- USA - $4,470
- Italy - $3,290
- Netherlands - $3,190
- Canada - $2,610
- Austria - $2,600
- UK - $2,580
- South Korea - $2,510
- Switzerland - $2,510
- Germany - $2,510
- France - $2,200
Source: Data Report, 2025
The average order value globally is $140
Average order value (AOV) is a key ecommerce metric that’s just as important as your conversion rate. It calculates the average amount each individual checkout on your online store is worth. When factoring in all online checkouts in 2024, the AOV globally came to $140.
Source: Oberlo, 2024
Mobile shopping (mcommerce) statistics
Internet users are increasingly turning to their mobile to shop online. Therefore, creating an effective mobile user experience should be a priority for ecommerce brands if you're serious about driving online purchases. Here's why you should take mobile commerce seriously:
51.4% of online purchases happened on a mobile device
This stat alone should prompt you to look at your site’s mobile experience. 2024 was the first time where the majority of ecommerce retail sales took place on a mobile device, rather than a desktop. That’s a 5.1% increase from the previous year. Brands should make sure their websites are on point to take advantage of this growing trend toward mobile commerce sales.
Source: Data Report, 2025
India leads the world with mobile commerce sales
In 2024, a massive 81.4% of all ecommerce sales in India took place through a mobile device. This is the highest percentage of anywhere in the world by quite a margin.
Here's the leaderboard of countries with the highest percentage of mobile ecommerce purchases, compared to desktop:
- India - 81.2%
- Singapore - 70.1%
- South Korea - 69.9%
- UAE - 69.9%
- Thailand - 68.3%
- Indonesia - 67.5%
- UK - 65.9%
- Morocco - 64.9%
- New Zealand - 64.9%
- Kenya - 60.2%
The USA’s ecommerce mobile to desktop purchase ratio is 55.4%, just a few percentage points over the global average.
Of the countries surveyed, Argentina came up in last place with only 17.1% of goods bought through a mobile device.
Source: Data Report, 2025
Statistics on ecommerce conversions
You can't grow your DTC brand without knowing what turns a site visitor into a loyal customer.
What drives an online purchase?
Free delivery is the most convincing purchase driver
The top conversion incentive, by a considerable margin, is free shipping. 52.6% said free delivery would encourage them to complete a purchase.
These are the top 5 purchase drivers in 2025 when consumers shop online:
- Free shipping - 52.6%
- Coupons and discounts - 40.2%
- Reviews from other customers - 33.2%
- Easy returns policy - 31.9%
- Good user experience and easy checkout process - 28.7%
Source: Data Report, 2025
Consumers spend more with free shipping
And what’s more, Shopify found this year that digital buyers will spend more on your products if they don’t have to pay for shipping. Here’s what they found:
- Shoppers order 2.5 items with free shipping, compared to 2 items with paid shipping
- Free shipping encourages online consumers to spend $3 more than median average item purchase
- Median order values increase, on average, by $22 with free shipping
Source: Shopify's Commerce Trends, 2023
What results in shopping cart abandonment?
Cart abandonment rate stands at 70% in 2024
The reality of the average cart abandonment rate is a depressing statistic for ecommerce brands. It’s a bitter pill to swallow that more than 70% of carts get abandoned before a customer pays for their purchase.
But if you know what’s driving shoppers to give up mid-checkout, you can fix it. Keep reading.
Source: Baymard Institute, 2024
Extra costs are the main reason for abandoned carts
Just as free shipping can encourage a purchase, extra shipping costs can discourage it. Baymard surveyed more than 1,000 US adult online shoppers on their buying experience. They found that extra costs caused 48% of abandoned carts, by far the leading blocker to an online shopper completing their checkout.
Here are the top 5 reasons online shoppers gave for abandoning their carts:
- Extra costs, like shipping, were too high - 48%
- They needed to create an account site - 26%
- They didn’t trust the site with their credit card information - 25%
- Slow delivery - 23%
- The checkout process was too long and/or complicated - 22%
Source: Baymard Institute, 2024
Recoverable abandoned carts are valued at an $260 billion a year
Of all the potential ecommerce revenue abandoned carts represent, a whopping $260 billion a year could be recovered by companies if they focused on better checkouts. If there was ever a reason to optimise your site for customer experience and add a free shipping option, this is it!
Source: Baymard Institute, 2025
Ecommerce marketing statistics
What marketing methods should you invest in this year to grow your online business? Use the following statistics to inform your ecommerce marketing strategy for 2025.
The importance of visual content for ecommerce brands
We’ll start here. Visual content is everything for a successful ecommerce brand. We’re talking video content, product photography, user-generated content (UGC), social ads. It can't be stressed enough how important high-quality imagery is.
High-quality product photography is a major purchase driver
When you're online shopping, you want to know what you're buying. How do you convince a would-be online shopper to part with hard-earned cash for a product that's not right in front of them?
Having great product photography is key. Product photos are very influential in the buying decisions of 90% of online shopping journeys.
Looking for inspiration? Here’s how to take great product photographs yourself.
Source: GrabOn, 2025
Product photography can boost ecommerce conversion rates
In a case study with Shopify, eyewear brand Peepers found that reshooting their product photography to be more vibrant and eye-catching contributed to an online purchase conversion rate uptick of 30%!
Source: Shopify, 2025
It’s worthwhile investing in 3D 360 product creative
Online shoppers can’t physically pick up and examine a product they want to buy. Help them take that leap of faith by investing in 3D, 360-degree product creative. Especially when you’re selling more expensive items like furniture, this is a great way to bring your product to life and have consumers get a feel for what they’re buying.
When online golfing store Golfsmith rolled out 3D creative to some of their products, they found they converted at a 30% higher rate than product pages without them!
Source: Snap36, 2025
📢 Don't settle for content chaos 📢
Creating more visual content doesn't have to equal chaos. If you're fed up with losing your files (and time) in a maze of Drive or Dropbox folders, there's a better way. Dash can be the new home for your visual content. It's used by ambitious ecommerce brands like COAT Paints and RJ Living to search for their content, share it with whoever they like, and get it ready for campaigns - fast. Setting up a free trial takes a few seconds, so what're you waiting for?
Okay, that’s the end of my sales pitch. Let’s get back to those stats.
Statistics on ecommerce websites
Search engines are the top brand discovery channel
33% of shoppers ranked search engines as the top way they discovered new brands in 2024. Here’s the highest-performing channels, ranked by the percentage of internet users who said they used the channel for brand discovery:
- Search engines (32.8%)
- Ads on TV (32.3%)
- Word-of-mouth recommendations (29.9%)
- Ads on social media (29.7%)
- Brand and product websites (25.8%)
The bottom line? Invest in your SEO strategy, folks.
Source: Data Report, 2025
Gen Z are more likely to find your brand via social media ads
But the above statistics change when you break it down by age group. So if your brand’s target demographic is aged 16-34, here’s the top 3 brand discovery channels:
- Social media ads (31.5%)
- Search engines (29%)
- TV ads (28.2%)
Source: Data Report, 2025
Of all potential online interactions, shoppers are most likely to visit your site
A website is the backbone of most ecommerce businesses. Of all the potential ways internet users interact with brands online, they're most likely to visit your website. 45% of internet users visited a brand website each month in 2024.
So don’t neglect your site. It’s a key part in creating online shopping experiences which convert. Make sure it runs smoothly on mobile devices, you’re using compelling product imagery and the site has been optimised for conversions.
Check out our tips for how to get more sales through your Shopify, if you want some inspiration!
Source: Data Report, 2025
Social commerce statistics
Social media platforms and ecommerce are becoming increasingly integrated - think TikTok Shop and Facebook Marketplace. 2024 will see that trend rise exponentially. If you’re not using your social media platform to drive sales yet, this year’s the time to do so.
30% of people first hear of a new brand through social media ads
Social ads aren’t just about driving sales. Ecommerce businesses should use social media ads to first drive awareness, too. 30% stated social media ads were how they heard about a new brand. Bear this in mind when creating your cold advertising campaigns for potential customers.
If you want to improve your social ads, take a peek at our articles on Instagram Ads and Facebook Ads for ecommerce brands. Both are packed full of ad inspiration from best-in-class DTC brands.
Source: Data Report, 2025
49% of TikTok users say its influential when considering a purchase
This should make those still on the fence about TikTok for ecommerce think twice. Almost half of apps of the popular short-form video platform cite it as an important factor in deciding to make a purchase.
Source: Ecommerce Platforms, 2023
Gen Z are most likely to turn to social media sites for brand research
16-24 year-olds are the only generation more likely to turn to a social platform than a search engine to research your brand. If you’re going after Gen Z, you better make sure it’s easy for them to find product information through your social feed.
Source: Data Report, 2025
Ecommerce statistics on retention and customer loyalty
Brands should have a strategy in place for creating personalised experiences and brand loyalty. Here’s why:
You’re more likely to sell to an existing customer than acquiring a new one
The probability of an ecommerce brand selling to an existing customer is 60-70%. Now compare that to the probability of selling to a new customer, which hovers around 5-20%. Setting up a retention email campaign is a great way to start taking advantage of this.
Loyalty increases a customers worth by 22 times
According to Shopify’s latest 2023 trends report, loyal online customers are worth 22 times more to your business than new or fair-weather customers.
40% of shoppers will pay more for products from a trusted brand
Customers who are loyal to your brand put their money where their mouth is. Almost half of them will still spend money with you, even if there are cheaper alternatives offered by brands they don’t trust yet.
Source: All statistics in this loyalty and retention section taken from Shopify's Commerce Trends, 2023
How to get ahead of the ecommerce game in 2024
Now you've got the latest ecommerce statistics, check out our Ecommerce Marketing 101 podcast - we interview marketers from industry-leading DTC brands like Lick Paints and MOJU on how they’ve boosted conversion rates and grown their business.
So what should you be getting going with in 2025? A word to the wise: start with your visual content. Think about it. All of these 2025 strategies we’ve covered are nothing without a lot of high-performing images and videos which perfectly tap into your audience.
If you’re one of the many ecommerce brands still using Google Drive, SharePoint or Dropbox to manage your visuals, you’re going to run into difficulties quickly.
You need a tool to organise, share and send your visuals - like Dash. Here’s how leading DTC brands are using Dash to meet their business goals:
💇♀️ Haircare brand RevAir saves 20 hours a month with Dash
🍻 Beavertown use Dash to transform their creative process
🎨 COAT Paints launch their new product campaigns faster with Dash
Ready to see what all the fuss is about? Set up your no-strings free trial in seconds.
Barney is the Marketing Lead for Dash. He writes about small business marketing strategies and how DTC brands can boost sales.
