Physical stores may have bounced back post-pandemic while e-tail has struggled, but the underlying rise of e-commerce continues and will see it accounting for 41 per cent of global retail sales by 2027.
That’s in line with recent study from Boston Consulting Group, which found that just 18 per cent of sales were made online in 2017. The global study that served as the basis for BCG’s Winning Formulas for E-Commerce Growth research looked at e-commerce trends from the start of the epidemic to the present. Respondents from 410 retail and 415 consumer packaged goods (CPG) enterprises worldwide with revenues ranging from US $ 50 million to more than US $ 10 billion participated in the Q2 survey.
The report projects that in 2022, e-commerce sales would rise by 3 per cent in Europe and 7 per cent in the US and Asia. Through 2027, global growth is predicted to reach a 9 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR); this will still more than double the predicted growth rate of 4 per cent for physical stores, but it will not fully return to the pre-Covid trend of 12 per cent–14 per cent.
“While e-commerce is gradually reverting to its pre-Covid trajectory, the landscape has undergone a notable and lasting transformation,” said Martin Barthel, a partner and managing director at BCG and a co-author of the study.
