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E-commerce has traditionally been an industry relatively immune to inflationary pressures, since online retail generally involves fewer operating expenses than a brick-and-mortar store. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic revealed, external shocks can have unpredictable effects on industries and markets. As the global economy was still reeling from pandemic-induced market disruptions, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was yet another external shock that wreaked havoc on markets. This time, it had a deleterious impact across industries, particularly those that grew tremendously during the pandemic. In 2022, retail e-commerce sales growth reached 6.5 percent, down from a peak of 25.7 percent in 2020. What ensued was a cost-of-living crisis that shrunk people’s disposable incomes as prices of essential commodities like food and fuel soared. The European Union’s food inflation rate stubbornly remained in the double-digit domain, increasing from 10 percent in May 2022 to approximately 16.4 percent in April 2023. Inflation-proof no more. The recession that followed increased the cost of raw materials and goods sold on the market, but it particularly exerted pressure on energy and transportation costs. For an industry that heavily relies on last-mile delivery for order fulfillment, e-commerce was hit hard. In 2023, the increase of transportation and delivery costs was the leading concern for more than three-quarters of e-commerce merchants in France. In response, online retailers took measures to combat the impact of inflation, with more than 80 percent of them increasing their prices, and some 53 percent reducing their profit margins. In neighboring Italy, e-commerce companies reported decreasing profit margins to maintain similar prices in 2023. In the United States, online grocery prices witnessed unprecedented increases, with the highest online grocery inflation rate recorded in September 2022 at 14.3 percent. In Europe, the increase in online prices for alcoholic beverages was estimated at 11.4 percent in 2022. How are online shoppers responding? As of February 2023, rising prices for household goods were the leading concern for online shoppers worldwide. As inflation bit into their wallets, consumers adjusted their purchasing behavior accordingly. When asked about the top actions they took to face inflation, more than a third of global shoppers reported comparing product prices either online or in-store before making a purchase. Others reported waiting for products to be on sale, or postponed their purchase until sales events like Black Friday or Amazon Prime Day. In the United States, shoppers across generations reported making changes to their online shopping behavior in response to inflation. In February 2023, some 73 percent of Baby Boomers in the U.S. said they were buying discounted products online due to rising prices, and around 21 percent of their Gen Z counterparts reported engaging in secondhand e-commerce more due to inflation. Is it too soon to talk of e-commerce disinflation? With consumers tightening their purse, online retailers were faced not only with unsold inventory stock, but also lower profit margins. Many of them resorted to discounts and promotional offers in an effort to revitalize online spending. According to estimates, e-commerce discounts during the holiday season in 2022 averaged approximately 32 percent for computers, 27 percent for electronics, and 18 percent for apparel. It comes as no surprise that these promotional offers and price markdowns were higher in discretionary product categories, as rising prices for essential goods motivate consumers to postpone or do without purchases of non-essential items like apparel and consumer electronics. Recent data on online inflation in the United States seems to confirm this claim. As of June 2023, many discretionary product categories experienced year-on-year price decreases, most notably computers and electronics, which recorded online price decreases of approximately 17 percent and 13 percent, respectively. Other e-commerce categories like pet products, grocery, and apparel experienced disinflation: compared to double-digit price increases in November 2022, online grocery prices only increased by 7.5 percent in June 2023, indicating that e-commerce inflation is beginning to slow down.

As e-commerce flourished across sectors, shopping for fresh food and groceries remained obstinately brick-and-mortar over the years. Due to factors like food perishability and risk of damage or spoilage, the share of online fresh food sales remained below one percent in the United States pre-pandemic. However, the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown restrictions that ensued have galvanized and propelled fresh food e-commerce to significance. A quick glance at the evolution of fresh food e-commerce gross merchandise volume (GMV) in China is testimony to the segment’s impressive growth. Challenges and setbacks. In a survey conducted in 2023, consumers in Italy voiced concerns over food quality or the fear of receiving products damaged or perished when shopping for groceries online. More than half of sampled participants said they preferred to see food products before buying them, while another 37 percent are simply used to buying food products in the supermarket rather than online. Similar concerns were echoed in Australia, where a 2022 survey revealed that only ten percent of respondents found the quality of food to be better when shopping online. Online channels also scored lower on consumers’ perception of food selection, food availability, and value for money. Despite this, fresh food online thrives…. While consumers are still reluctant to fully embrace online shopping for fresh food and groceries, the industry has made great strides in addressing these challenges and barriers. In fact, a recent survey revealed that fresh food e-commerce penetration is in the double-digit territory in various European countries, with around 35 percent of online buyers in Portugal and Romania purchasing fresh food and beverages online. In the UK and the Netherlands, this figure stood at 52 percent and 45 percent, respectively. Prominent players in the fresh food e-commerce market include UK-based online supermarket Ocado, and its Dutch-based counterpart Picnic.

From the rise of artificial intelligence integration and personalized buying experiences to heightened engagement with social commerce, New Zealand’s e-commerce market is rapidly evolving. Alongside this, the country’s online shoppers are increasingly drawn toward value-driven shopping due to cautious household spending, consequently searching for more deals, discounts, loyalty schemes, and tailored offers. While domestic retailers dominate online transactions, international online marketplaces like Temu are reshaping the e-commerce landscape, drawing in more New Zealand consumers due to their low-cost, broad product ranges. Is online spending on the way up? While total retail expenditure in New Zealand fell in 2024, online spending on goods rose by around five percent compared to the year prior. Department, variety, and miscellaneous retailing remained the most popular online spending sector in the country, followed by clothing and footwear e-commerce. Online shoppers in the Auckland region accounted for the largest share of online expenditure across New Zealand’s regions that year, likely due to its high population density. Those aged 30 to 44 years old were the biggest online spenders across age groups nationwide, with shoppers in the 75 and over cohort accounting for the lowest online expenditure share. Online marketplaces’ strengthening presence. From long-standing online retailers and marketplaces like Chemist Warehouse, Kmart, The Warehouse, and Trade Me to new entrants including Temu, New Zealand’s e-commerce landscape is diverse and highly populated. In particular, online marketplaces have become the go-to one-stop hubs among New Zealand’s digital shoppers due to their extensive product ranges with affordable price tags. Local platform Trade Me and China-based Temu recorded the highest gross merchandise values across leading online marketplaces operating in the country in 2024. trademe.co.nz recorded the highest website traffic across popular online marketplaces countrywide in February 2025, at over 22.6 million site visits, followed by aliexpress.com. What drives customers to complete online transactions? Discounts, special offers, and order tracking visibility, were the leading factors considered important among New Zealand consumers when making online purchases, followed by the seller’s location, with a preference for local retailers. While the country’s consumers tend to shop more online with trusted New Zealand-based brands, low-cost international players are starting to attract more customers due to their competitive pricing strategies. Conversely, the key frustrations encountered by the country’s online shoppers were poor product availability and delivery delays. Thus, optimizing pricing strategies, harnessing sales periods like Black Friday, and boosting operational efficiency regarding inventory and order management through artificial intelligence could be key to keeping customers engaged. With New Zealand’s e-commerce market poised to continue its upward trajectory, building a stronger online presence and investing in digital payment solutions, mobile shopping apps, and online brand visibility has become vital for retailers to connect with more potential customers. As omnichannel shopping activities become more prevalent nationwide, investment in e-commerce is crucial not only as a direct shopping channel but also as a source of inspiration, as customers increasingly compare items across multiple sales channels, as well as check stock availability and product information before purchasing in-store.

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. is known as the Korean Amazon and was founded in 2010. Coupang has quickly developed to become the largest open market and one of the leading online shopping platforms in South Korea. Customers can order a variety of products from Coupang, from daily necessities to groceries, fashion, and even electronics. These items are either Coupang's private brand items or those of a seller using Coupang as a sales platform. One of Coupang’s special features is their membership program WOW and a large number of next-day delivery items, which customers can receive in the early morning of the next day. To secure fast deliveries for this Rocket delivery service, Coupang operates around 200 distribution centers and hires drivers both directly and via subcontractors. Coupang’s service expansion. Following the example of Amazon, Coupang started extending its services into other sectors as well. Besides open market-related services such as Coupang fresh or the membership program Coupang WOW, which grants costless deliveries among other features, it launched the food delivery service Coupang Eats in 2019, enjoying rising user numbers. Coupang Play is the company’s over-the-top (OTT) video service that launched in December 2020. Although it was a rather new service at the time, it managed to secure the rights to stream some live sports events exclusively, even the Tokyo Olympic games. With exclusive content, as well as the fact that the service is included in the Coupang membership fee, Coupang Play managed to secure a spot in the online video market with a solid user base. According to founder Kim Beom-seok, the company previously had no plans to extend its services internationally. However, it has started expanding into the various markets after its initial public offering in March 2021, shipping wares globally.  Coupang's position in South Korea. As the internet penetration rate in South Korea is very high, most consumers have shopped online and purchased products via mobile shopping rather often. This includes all types of non-perishable consumer goods, like consumer electronics or fashion items, as well as online grocery shopping, and even luxury items after the acquisition of Farfetch. Coupang is constantly expanding its business, the adoption of technology in warehouses and processing is also at its height. As the e-commerce giant unites multiple internet services, it is now a fixed presence in the digital South Korean landscape.

Online purchases in Ghana have experienced continuous growth over the last few years. This development has been facilitated by several factors, such as the nationwide provision and accessibility of internet and payment services. As of 2024, the penetration rate of the e-commerce market in Ghana was estimated at around 15.2 percent. Although this share decreased from about 17.9 percent in 2019, it is expected to reach nearly 22 percent by 2029. Likewise, the number of internet users has gradually expanded. Moreover, as of 2024, an estimated 12 million consumers made digital payments in Ghana, thereby contributing to the monetary value of digital transactions registered that year. Consequently, e-commerce market revenue has significantly risen in the country. From 2023 to 2024, revenue registered an estimated 15 percent increase. Specifically, e-commerce revenue was highest in the fashion and electronics segments. Development of online marketplaces. The use of online marketplaces in Ghana was apparent in the 2010s. In 2013, Tonaton.com was established in the country, while Jumia Ghana was launched about a year later. Together with Jiji Ghana, these are the leading online shopping platforms in the country today. Specifically, according to the most recent data, while around 15 million annual online visitors were on Jumia Ghana, the number for Jiji and Tonaton reached approximately 12 million and eight million, respectively. In 2020, nearly 50 million people accessed online marketplaces in Ghana. Although the number decreased compared to the previous year, it represented growth in e-commerce over time. In terms of devices used to access online marketplaces, smartphones and tablets were predominant compared to desktops. Mobiles accounted for over 75 percent of the devices used by visitors. Furthermore, more men than women used online marketplaces. How are consumers searching and buying online? As of February 2025, Google was the most common online search engine in Ghana. Moreover, online consumers often used social networks and brand and product blogs to research brands. The electronics and general retail categories were the most browsed e-commerce websites in the country. For instance, as of 2022, the average monthly traffic for the electronics e-commerce category amounted to over nine million visits, while the count for the fashion category reached only 141,000. Every week, online shoppers either buy a new or second-hand product, compare prices, order groceries, or use a buy now pay later service. Among these users, the share of people who purchased a product or service online reached around 12 percent in the third quarter of 2024. Overall, the online population primarily protected their digital privacy either by declining cookies or using a VPN.

In the United Kingdom, e-commerce sales reached 586.3 billion British pounds in 2017. This is reflected in the retail sector as well. As of February 2019, internet sales accounted for 18.4 percent of all retail sales in the UK, while the mobile share of retail transactions amounted to 55 percent in the second quarter of 2018. Perhaps it is not surprising that unlike the reassuring online sales growth of high street retailers, visitor numbers to retail and shopping centers in the UK are going down. Both in 2017 and 2018, footfall was characterized by a downward trend, with even the holiday season experiencing a 4.5 percent fall compared to the prior year. Yet in the United Kingdom brands are adapting to the changing fabric of retail and offering consumers the best of both worlds. Multichannel is one answer when it comes to combining physical retail with online competence across web and mobile. In 2018, based on the digital and physical customer experience they offer, New Look, Argos and Schuh were ranked as leading multichannel retailers. High street retailers’ multichannel strategies also translated well to their online sales figures. In the fiscal year 2017/2018, like-for-like online sales growth among high street fashion retailers was significant. Merging online and in-store shopping, click and collect orders accounted for over 70 percent of all online sales for retailers like Argos, Boots, and Marks and Spencer. As of October 2018, the rate of click and collect adoption was 64 percent among UK retailers. Some 74 percent of multichannel retailers were also able to deliver orders to store locations. Similarly, 58 percent of retailers offered their customers the buy-online-return-in-store option, keeping physical stores still relevant in online retail. Consumer shopping behavior also confirms that online and physical retail are complementary rather than competing. Shoppers’ retail channel use between 2016 and 2018 shows that 63 percent of consumers prefer brands that operate both online and in-store channels.

The beauty and personal care e-commerce industry in Germany has seen rapid growth in recent years, almost doubling its revenue since 2017. This has been aided by technological developments which have made it easier for consumers to order items online. Furthermore, social media has allowed products from all over the world to be easily discovered by those passionate about beauty, and some influencers have dedicated their career to finding and promoting products that they believe bring something new to the market. What is dominating the market? Personal care, which includes items like hair care, shower, and bath products, was the segment under beauty and personal care that generated the highest revenue. In 2023, it amounted to almost 2.6 billion euros, an increase compared to the 2.45 billion euros in the previous year. Another noteworthy category to mention, however, is skincare. Skincare is something used by almost everyone, even those who are not fond of cosmetics. The total value of the German skincare market, including online and offline retail, is around 5.8 billion euros. Of this figure, around 1.7 billion euros came from online sales. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most profitable subsection of the online skincare market was facial products. The sharing of daily skincare routines has become a popular trend on TikTok, with some people using various cleansers, scrubs, and serums in order to achieve young-looking and ‘glowy’ skin. However, not everyone has a process involving so many products, and some people are content with simply washing their face and using a good moisturizer. Brands and new trends. One of the most popular beauty stores in Europe, Douglas, was founded in Germany. The company has thousands of stores spread over different European countries, but has also expanded its online platform. In 2023, their website was the most visited, with almost eight million visits in December alone. Other popular brands included Flaconi, Parfumo, and Rituals. A new trend that more and more consumers are opting for when purchasing cosmetics online is a subscription model, almost 40 percent of consumers in Germany stated that they had some type of beauty subscription. There are several variations as to how this works exactly. One way is that the consumer picks an item that they use frequently and has the desired item delivered at a frequency of their choosing. Another way is that a monthly fee is paid, and a selection of products is delivered. The most established company with this model is Glossybox. With a subscription, customers receive a mystery box with five beauty and wellness products each month. In Germany, Glossybox has also seen a lot of success, with their revenue almost doubling since 2015. This is, however, just one trend, and the personal care and particularly beauty e-commerce market will continue to develop over the coming years. One area of the industry that will probably see a big change and become more popular is beauty tech.

Fast, convenient, transparent, sustainable, and free. That is how consumers worldwide expect their online shopping delivery experience to be. Unfortunately, this combination of elements of e-commerce delivery is hard to unite for even the most evolved e-tailers. For merchants, organizing online order delivery in a way that is quick and sustainable often comes with high costs, and not every consumer is willing to foot the bill. This means that difficult choices must be made. The rise in sustainable delivery practices. Sustainability is an omnipresent and crucial concept in today’s society. As a result, environmental friendliness has become a key pillar in shopping behavior, as well as in brand profiles and marketing. Even when the cost and the speed of delivery are the most important delivery features for online shoppers, the role of sustainability is increasingly relevant. In 2025, almost half of online shoppers were willing to purchase exclusively from retailers using sustainable delivery and return providers, and over 20 percent were disposed to switch to more sustainable delivery methods like collection or drop-off. While there is still room for more sustainable deliveries, environmental concerns are having an impact on the behavior of online shoppers. What can be improved on online deliveries? Even when e-commerce is a popular channel to acquire products, many are the frustrations that online shoppers face while purchasing online. In 2025, nothing annoyed online buyers more than high delivery costs, with almost 60 percent reporting this. This frustration aligns with the main improvement online shoppers want while buying online: free deliveries. Even when the price of delivery is the top priority for digital buyers, fast deliveries were also among the most-requested upgrades to the delivery experience. Almost a quarter of online shoppers indicated that their online purchases were delivered much later than expected, and 17 percent were unhappy with the delivery time offered by the online retailer. Speed and cost still tower as the most important delivery features while shopping online. Nonetheless, many shoppers are also setting their sights on green delivery practices, and some are even starting to prioritize the environment over speed. The retailers' understanding of and adaptability to the dynamic behavior of online shoppers will be key to satisfying the consumers' delivery preferences.uu

In recent decades, globalization has made luxury goods and household items much more accessible. Goods that used to be more exclusive and harder to find, such as brand clothing and luxury cars, have been successfully increasing their market reach and sales. For instance, global sports clothing sales have been (and are expected to continue) increasing year on year, while the value of the personal luxury goods market has more than quadrupled in the last 25 years. Whereas the increase in consumerism arguably benefits the global economy, there is a downside to ‘fast fashion’ and conspicuous consumption. They result in large amounts of waste, produce dangerous levels of carbon dioxide, and often involve cheap labor. One way to tackle these issues is to resell and recycle consumer goods, in order to create a more circular economy. In the Netherlands, the second-hand market is already well-developed, and is expected to absorb even more of the 'traditional' retail market in the future. What do Dutch consumers buy second-hand? The second-hand market in the Netherlands is not equally developed across all product segments. About a fifth of respondents to a widespread 2022 survey indicated that Dutch consumers had bought second-hand clothing in the past 12 months. In other words, this is the largest second-hand product segment, but it also indicates that the vintage clothing market has room to expand in the Netherlands, given its popularity in other markets like the United States. In the Netherlands, other popular second-hand products included books, movies, and games, as well as shoes, bags, and consumer electronics. Online and offline channels. Much like in regular non-food retail, second-hand product trade often takes place online. In the Netherlands, consumers enjoy buying and selling used items online, and in the past decade and a half, the number of Dutch people selling items or services online has grown significantly. Some of the country's favorite online marketplaces are Marktplaats (a subsidiary of eBay) and Bol.com, the latter of which is the largest online retailer in the Netherlands. Leading global marketplaces, such as Amazon, eBay, and Etsy, play a more marginal role in the Netherlands.

While the term "dropshipping" has been commonly used in the United States for several years now, its democratization in France and throughout Europe is taking place slowly. Defined as a technique for selling products online without having them in stock, the supplier takes care of their shipment. With dropshipping, a large investment is not necessary to start a personal e-commerce store, as the webpage merely serves as a display platform or a product catalogue. With rising numbers in e-commerce revenue, and an outsourcing of the workforce through online marketplaces, some suppliers such as Amazon Marketplace or Shopify have made it easy for businesses and private individuals to set up their own online shop. Setting up a dropshipping business. With between 100 and 500 euros invested in creation, the success of an e-commerce without stock depends primarily on the chosen sector. Jewelry and accessories, were the most sold goods for which business owners, who valued their activity as a complementary source of income, earned bewteen 100 and 500 euros a month. For many people, dropshipping is a way to make more money but also to protect themselves from the social obligations of the profession. E-commerce involves building a website, negotiating with suppliers, which are crucial tasks for dropshipping business owners, as only 28 percent of current dropshippers had their own stock to complete their catalogue. To avoid high costs, some online service providers can help facilitate the setting up as well as the management of the business. Dropshipping websites and SEO. More than half of business owners outsourcing their sales through marketplaces were satisfied with the services. Services like the AliExpress seller app were downloaded more than two thousand times in November 2020. Other suppliers such as Dropizi or Oberlo are French companies with expertise in the dropshipping business, offering courses and a platform for successful e-commerce business creation. Visibility is important to attract as many visitors as possible to a dropshipping site. Being listed on the first page of search results in a given sector is therefore essential. Nowadays, as mobile shopping activities are on the rise, an adaptation of the content size to mobile screens was rated of the utmost importance in terms of Mobile First Indexing attributes for a good SERP (Search Engine Result Page) ranking. Some common SEO mistakes most cited by experts are HTTPS errors compromising the security of a website, as well as missing hreflang links which have a negative impact on the internationalisation of a brand online.

In 2023, China remained the largest exporting country and the second-largest importing country in the world. Thanks to the development of online shopping habits and advancements in logistics innovation, cross-border e-commerce has expanded its presence in China's foreign trade landscape. To stimulate the growth of cross-border e-commerce, China has opened 178 comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce. Enterprises located in these pilot zones were supported through tax deductions on exporting. Cross-border exports. Over the past years, there has been a notable increase in the number of cross-border e-commerce companies in China, most of which were small and medium-sized enterprises. As of 2024, the total number of cross-border e-commerce companies had reached over 120,000. The gross merchandise value generated by international online trade constituted a significant part of the total international trade value in China. Driven by the development of logistics and digital payments, many Chinese e-commerce companies have set up strategies to acquire more overseas markets. Temu, AliExpress and Shein have rapidly expanded their global reach, becoming the most favorite cross-border retailers among online shoppers. Business-to-business (B2B) transactions have consistently constituted a significant proportion of the export value of cross-border e-commerce. However, business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions have been steadily gaining market share. To improve customer satisfaction, more than half of the Chinese sellers deliver goods directly from a distribution center abroad (also known as “overseas warehouse”) to shorten delivery time and reduce shipping costs. Cross-border imports. In recent years, import cross-border e-commerce has seen a gradual increase in market share within the entire cross-border e-commerce market. The rising middle-class in China demand high-quality products, yet do not want to risk buying counterfeits. Therefore, cross-border e-commerce platforms have become an ideal option for purchasing foreign goods. In 2023, Tmall Global, JD Worldwide, and Douyin EC Global were the three most prominent cross-border online shopping websites for Chinese consumers, together making up over two thirds of the market. To foster sales, more and more merchants have integrated social media into their marketing strategies. Moreover, the establishment of long-term partnerships with foreign suppliers has enabled e-retailers to consistently offer products at competitive prices while maintaining quality standards. The expanding variety of imported products has also contributed to a steady growth in consumer numbers.

With the much-studied Generation Z fully entering adulthood in 2025, the next cohort of young consumers is starting to develop behavioral patterns that could very well determine the future of e-commerce. Gen Alpha, or Generation Alpha, is the generation born between 2010 and 2025. As such, this generation includes everyone from infants to young adolescents. Whereas Gen Z’s online shopping behavior is already well-known to the FMCG, retail, and e-commerce industries, their young successors are still a largely unexplored cohort. However, the first research findings suggest that Gen Alpha is approaching e-commerce in innovative ways. Children of Millennials. Millennial parents grew up in conjunction with the rise of technology, digitalization, and online shopping. This makes them uniquely qualified to judge the benefits and risks of e-commerce behavior, which has consequences for their Gen Alpha kids. In the United States, 78 percent of parents have stated that they rarely or never allowed their Gen Alpha children to shop online independently. Only seven percent of parents gave their children full, unsupervised access to e-commerce in 2024. Nonetheless, Amazon shopping was the third-most popular app for U.S. teens in 2023, with over half of respondents to a widespread survey having used the app. Gen Alpha goes social. E-commerce is currently transitioning from the online marketplace model that is so popular with Millennials, moving into the social sphere. Social commerce is booming globally, chipping away at traditional online retailers’ market share year after year. Younger consumers are especially partial to shopping on social media, and with Gen Alpha, this trend will likely only intensify. A 2024 U.S. survey revealed that well-known social platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and YouTube are already widely used by young teens. In fact, parents reported that Gen Alpha shows signs of addiction to these platforms, with a staggering 89 percent of Gen Alpha TikTok users scrolling through short-form content on a daily basis. Video apps are especially popular, with good old YouTube being the app that was used most often by Gen Alpha. A shot at redemption for the Metaverse? Although social commerce may already seem like an innovative way of engaging in e-commerce for Gen Alpha, they are taking their online shopping behavior one step further: into the Metaverse. While the digital equivalent to our universe has not quite made the promised impact among adult consumers, the Metaverse is currently enjoying a revival among kids. Fortnite and Roblox are two video games that are part of the Metaverse, and where e-commerce and microtransactions are at the core of the business model. Even though Roblox is older than all members of Gen Alpha, this generation does comprise the core player base of the video game. Gen Alpha, the first fully digitally native consumer generation, is already showing signs of its future e-commerce consumer persona. Their preference for social shopping, as well as their increased presence in the Metaverse, may be the first tells of a shift in channel usage in global e-commerce.

Possibly the most popular holiday in the country, Christmas is one of the most exciting moments of the year for Italian consumers. During this time made for special dishes, gift shopping, and decorations, shoppers in Italy were expected to generate around 37.5 billion British pounds in retail spending, slightly less than in the previous year. Despite that, the share of Italians who stated that they were going to spend a modest Christmas in 2024 was lower than in the previous four years, amounting to about 77 percent. Holiday gift shopping. As a matter of fact, Italian consumers are not giving up on Christmas celebrations and, especially, gifts. The average spending per capita on Christmas gifts in 2024 was forecast to increase from 186 euros in 2023 to about 207 euros. About 40 percent of consumers in Italy typically start their gift shopping in the month of November, and a larger share stated that they would shop for Christmas presents during Black Friday. In-store shopping was the most popular shopping channel in 2024, closely followed by online shopping with home delivery. Christmas shopping in Europe. But what about other countries in Europe? If over 50 percent of Italians planned to spend less during Christmas, a similar share of Spanish and British consumers stated the same according to a survey carried out in 2024. The United Kingdom and Germany were the leading European countries in terms of Christmas retail spending that year: German consumers were expected to spend about 73 billion British pounds both in-store and online for their Christmas shopping. However, many consumers in the Northern European countries intended to manage their holiday expenses, mostly by setting a strict budget or by buying fewer/less expensive gifts. If, on the one hand, European consumers still wish to celebrate and enjoy the holidays to the fullest, on the other hand the impact of inflation can not be ignored, leading many of them to cut back on their spending.

The lights twinkle on the tree, wrapping paper lays strewn on the floor, and Christmas music plays softly in the background. Kids proudly hold up their new toys, just as the adults raise their glasses in a toast, sat around a table laden with turkey, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, and of course Brussels sprouts. This is how many people in the United Kingdom will hope December 25th will pan out, the traditional image of an idyllic Christmas. The pressure of the perfect present. One of the most important tasks in the buildup to Christmas is to buy presents for loved ones around you, or at least the people it would be rude not to buy a present for. While there is a very small percentage of risk-takers who leave their gift shopping to the week before Christmas, most people plan ahead. Over half of adults in the UK in 2025 said they start their gift shopping before December. Gift giving can easily become overwhelming, especially when people want to make sure their children have a special day. Today, many consumers are turning to AI tools for inspiration. However, there doesn’t always need to be too much thought put behind presents, as the second and third-most desired Christmas presents in the UK in 2024 were money or gift cards. Christmas festivities. Another big part of the Christmas season is decorating the house to add to the festive feeling. This added Christmas ambience will be appreciated when people are gathered on Christmas Day, ready to tuck into a Christmas dinner with all their favorite traditional items. Generally, British men plan to spend more on Christmas decorations this year compared to women. Making the most at Christmas. While everyone will be dreaming of a perfect Christmas, it is not always that easy, especially considering the economic conditions in the UK. Most people have become more cautious about their Christmas budgets, with some considering buying fewer or less expensive gifts or using homemade decorations to keep holiday expenses under control in 2025.

Overshadowed by neighboring heavyweights Spain, France, and the UK, the e-commerce industry in Portugal is often overlooked. Besides golden beaches and extensive vineyards, the country is home to a little over three million digital buyers who are responsible for more than 5.4 billion U.S. dollars in retail e-commerce revenue, according to 2024 estimates. The advertising revenue generated by digital retail media in the country in 2023 was among the lowest in Europe, unable to rival its closest counterparts. Yet, the Portuguese e-commerce market is set to grow steadily in the next few years. More online shoppers than ever, but still some deterrents to e-commerce in Portugal. Almost four of every ten inhabitants in Portugal were estimated to make online purchases in 2025. The COVID-19 pandemic played a big role in luring Portuguese consumers to buying on the internet. In 2020, for the first time in history, the share of e-commerce users who bought something online in the previous three months exceeded 35 percent. However, these rates are usually lower than the European average. In Portugal, users still rely on the physical shopping experience to define their purchases. According to a recent survey, 30 percent of Portuguese consumers wanted to see an item before buying it, and 18 percent wanted to physically hold it on the day of its purchase. Selling online is an activity for both individuals and enterprises in Portugal. In 2024, the share of individuals who used the internet in the previous three months to sell goods or services was the highest ever, at almost 15 percent. Not only are individuals making more and more use of online sales platforms as the share of revenue generated by e-commerce in enterprises is generally increasing. The year 2020 recorded the highest figure, at almost 20 percent of the total revenue of enterprises, but, after a decrease, 2024 values were very close to emulating the peak year. Main e-commerce players in Portugal. Spanish companies such as El Corte Inglés and Zara, but also global giants Amazon and Apple, were among the leading online stores in Portugal in 2024 based on net e-commerce sales. When it came to e-retailers headquartered in the Iberian country, Worten - Equipamentos para o Lar S.A. was a clear leader in the same year, most notably in the electronics and media segment. E-commerce is slowly setting its mark in Portugal. Online purchases do not yet dominate the retail habits of the Portuguese, but e-commerce is slowly establishing itself in the country. The ease of purchase in online shopping was the main reason prompting almost 74 percent of e-commerce Portuguese buyers in 2024 to opt for this shopping method. This, allied to the habit of researching products online before their offline purchase, points to a gradual fondness of digital retail.

Sephora, the leading global beauty retailer known for its luxurious and trendy products, originated in France in 1969 and is part of the Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (LVMH) group. While its roots are European, Sephora's largest market is the United States, where sephora.com is forecast to generate approximately 3.6 billion U.S. dollars in revenue in 2025. In contrast, its French counterpart, sephora.fr, is estimated to bring in about 309 million U.S. dollars. Heavy competition and new players. The online beauty and personal care industry is highly competitive. Sephora has achieved significant success as the leading online beauty store globally in terms of revenue. However, in January 2025, sephora.com ranked as the second-most visited beauty and cosmetics website, with over 35 million visitors. It was surpassed by fragnatica.com, a site popular among perfume enthusiasts, which garnered 52 million visitors. Other competitors in the market include boots.com from the United Kingdom (UK), and U.S.-based sites ulta.com and qvc.com, each attracting around 19 million visitors. A significant trend in the online beauty industry is the rise of social media platforms as shopping channels. Consumers are increasingly discovering and purchasing beauty products directly through social apps. This shift could pose a challenge to traditional online retailers. In North America, TikTok leads the pack, capturing the largest share of the beauty e-commerce market among social media platforms. It is also the preferred social media app for Sephora consumers seeking beauty information. Globally, beauty and personal care items top the sales on TikTok Shops, reaching a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of 2.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. Despite its success, TikTok faces legal challenges in the United States, which could impact its ability to compete with established players like Sephora in the region. Sephora.com shoppers. Sephora has thrived online thanks to its early embrace of e-commerce, effective community engagement, and strong social media presence. Consequently, it is unsurprising that younger generations make up a significant portion of its customer base. Specifically, over 36 percent of visitors are aged 25 to 34, about 16 percent are between 18 and 24 years old, and nearly 20 percent fall within the 35 to 44 age bracket. Additionally, the site predominantly attracts female customers, with four-fifths of sephora.com users being women. Sephora's future looks promising, with the global growth of the beauty and personal care e-commerce sector on the rise. With a strong presence both on the high-street and online, Sephora has positioned itself as a key multichannel retailer, effectively reaching a highly consumer-driven demographic of young women.

Private labels exhibit notable regional variations in Europe, with Italy on a relatively lower scale compared to other countries. However, Italy has still witnessed an overall increase in the share of private labels, accounting for nearly 31 percent of food and beverage retail. It's worth noting that the prevalence of these products in the country varies significantly depending on the channel or category. Embracing affordability without compromising quality, private labels have risen in popularity among consumers. This is particularly evident amidst the challenges of inflation, as private brands offer an alluring alternative to name brands. These products, typically manufactured or supplied by third-party companies and sold under the brand name of another company, have lower production costs. When the brand is owned by a retailer, these products are known as store brands. Food and non-food. As of 2023, private labels in Italy experienced consistent growth, reaching a share of 31.5 percent in overall grocery retail. In discount stores, store brand consumer packaged goods held a substantial portion of the market, benefitting from their lower-cost alternative nature. However, in non-food channels like pet shops and drugstores, private labels only commanded a fraction of the market share. Generally, private brands had a higher market presence in products that are frequently purchased and have a shorter shelf life. This was evident in Italy, where store brands accounted for over one-third of the share in perishable categories like fruit and vegetables, while in beauty and personal care goods, the share barely reached 15 percent. Moreover, private labels accounted for close to 18 percent of the personal care market and just over 26 percent of the home care market, both of which focus on products with longer shelf life and lower purchase frequency compared to perishables. Consumer trends. Driven by various factors, notably inflation, consumers have adapted their shopping habits and become more mindful of their purchasing decisions. Price emerges as the primary consideration when buying private labels in Italy, which is expected given their low-cost nature. However, quality closely follows, indicating that many consumers perceive private brand products to be on par with, if not better than, national brand alternatives. As prices continue to rise, store brands purchases have increased, with over a quarter of Italian consumers stating that they have bought more private label products compared to the previous year. Nearly three quarters of consumers in the country chose to buy both private labels and name brands when shopping for groceries, while an additional nine percent stated buying solely store brands. Notably, older generations showed a preference for private labels, as they tend to be more cost-conscious and exhibit stronger brand loyalty compared to their younger counterparts, who may still perceive name brands as offering superior quality and innovation over private brands.

Poles are among consumers who care for their finances and make their purchasing decisions prudently. They value promotions, as prices are one of the most important factors determining sales. Poles generally shop daily. They prefer to buy less while looking for products with lower prices. If they decide to buy, they only purchase the products they need. Consumers in Poland are still traditionalists. Despite the growing popularity of e-commerce, Poles still choose brick-and-mortar stores to buy, for example, food or shoes. Christmas shopping frenzy. Christmas is a particular time for Poles. It is a family holiday for which Poles have been preparing since November. Planning, cleaning, preparing numerous dishes, and buying gifts make it the most important shopping period of the year. The largest share of Christmas shopping consists of groceries and organizing the holiday, e.g., the Christmas tree, decorations, and gifts. Poles spent an average of over 1,400 zloty on this purpose in 2024. In comparison, they spent less than 600 zloty on Easter in the same period. An additional cost is the New Year, approaching right after Christmas, on which one in four Poles spends between 200 and 500 zloty. In recent years, spending has been heavily influenced by inflation and the political situation, discouraging consumerism. As prices stabilized in the market, spending increased. The place of shopping is also changing. More and more Poles are shopping online, but they are most likely to do their grocery shopping in brick-and-mortar stores. Black Friday is on the annual shopping calendar of Poles. Catholic holidays are not the only period when Poles enter a shopping frenzy. Poles love to gift women during their March holiday, spend money on communion gifts for their children, and spare no expense for the long May weekend, which includes two public holidays practically in a row. After the fall of communism in 1989, new shopping opportunities came to Poland from the West in the form of Valentine's Day and Halloween. On Valentine's Day, Poles buy gifts for each other and organize trips together or outings to the cinema or theater. Poles love promotions. Price is the central buying criterion, and discounts are one of the main factors in purchasing products. Hence, big sales such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday prevail. More and more stores are offering products at discounted prices, and interest from the consumer side is increasing every year, approaching the European average. Over 50 percent of Poles decided to shop on this day. The most frequently purchased products were clothing, electronics, and cosmetics. One in three Poles spent up to 500 zloty during Black Friday in 2024.

Despite the rise of e-commerce worldwide, initially, Canadian businesses were relatively slow to shift towards digital sales and invest in a steadfast online presence. This gap was utilized by major U.S. players to step in and establish their brands in the neighboring market. In 2023, the six of ten of the leading online stores in Canada were headquartered in the United States. Picking up the pace. However, by 2029 Canada’s e-commerce market is forecast to nearly double when it comes to revenue, reaching over 104 billion U.S. dollars by that year. On average, Canada’s e-commerce retail sales consistently exceed 3 billion Canadian dollars each month – significant growth since the one billion average recorded throughout 2017. This consistent growth is supported by Canada’s sizeable digital population, where among the 93 percent of internet users in 2023, over 21 million were e-commerce users. When asked about their shopping behavior in a 2023 survey, while the majority of Canadian shoppers have a preference for traditional brick-and-mortar shopping, those that preferred online to in-person purchases enjoyed what ease and convenience online shopping tends to offer. Up to six in ten of these shoppers also liked buying online from domestic businesses, putting in grassroot efforts to continue growing Canada’s economy. What do Canadians buy online? Of the leading e-commerce categories in Canada, two stand out above the rest: electronics and fashion. These two segments generate the most e-commerce retail sales, with electronics accounting for 18 percent and fashion, 21 percent. As of 2024, clothing and shoes were the most purchased category online among Canadian digital buyers. While progress in Canada’s e-commerce industry initially had a slow start, new innovations and trends continue to make e-commerce more accessible. Market forecasts suggest that the sector is set to grow significantly in coming years, and as more Canadian retailers and consumers explore and utilize the benefits of e-commerce, these forecasts are likely to come to fruition.

Black Friday, which started as an American tradition, has become one of the biggest dates in the retail calendar, with retailers hoping to benefit from increased traffic and consumers hunting for a bargain. Black Friday takes place in the fourth week of November, the day after Thanksgiving, which means it falls on November 29th in 2024, although special deals are spread across the entire weekend (also known as Black or Cyber Weekend) and Monday (Cyber Monday). Enthusiasm for Black Friday. Black Friday is a tradition that consumers have warmly embraced in the United Kingdom, with almost all consumers knowing at least a little about the event. This knowledge translates into action. In a 2025 survey, only about one quarter of respondents said that they won’t buy anything during the Black Friday to Cyber Monday period. In the UK, the timing of Black Friday has most relevance for its proximity to Christmas, offering consumers the chance to save money on their Christmas gifts.  Online sales hold onto the lead. Overall, Black Friday weekend sales in the UK were forecast to maintain their momentum, setting a new record for the November sales events in 2025. Online sales were still expected to account for the majority of total sales. The leading categories consumers planned to buy over Black Friday weekend 2025 were clothing and footwear, toys, and electronics. In addition, consumer electronics were the product category expected to offer the best deals for most shoppers.  Beyond retailer websites and promotional emails, consumers are exploring new and innovative ways to find the best deals. One such method is AI chatbots, which are most attractive to consumers aged 25 to 34.  

Global consumer spending has been increasing in the past years. By 2025, total consumer spending is expected to reach around 62 trillion dollars. Spanning across two continents and with a young, ever-growing population, consumer behavior in the Middle East and North Africa region has been continuously evolving. The digital adoption, innovative business models, and nimble market entrants are revolutionizing the way consumers shop. The COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted established ways of living which significantly shifted shopping habits. Right after the outbreak in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the vast majority of consumers prioritized their needs over wants in their shopping.    The MENA consumer.   Consumer markets in the MENA region are surely progressing and have bold growth ambitions, with further opportunities for growth. Even before the pandemic outbreak, consumer behavior had been evolving. Brand loyalty plays a less significant role in buying preferences, while consumer expectations for their shopping experiences are higher than ever. In a survey conducted in the UAE, around half the respondents reported that they were not willing to pay for shipping for online purchases. New trends are also emerging in the food sector. Consumers are expecting more convenience, more health-oriented options, and locally sourced products. In Egypt, consumer spending on restaurants exceeded one billion U.S. dollars, the highest in the region.   Consumer preferences. It is expected that many consumers will stick to their new shopping habits that the pandemic has shifted. Around three-quarters of female consumers surveyed in Saudi Arabia reported that they will keep their online shopping habits after the pandemic. This has driven many companies to switch their focus from maintaining the status quo to identifying evolving customer needs and addressing them. While this presents a challenge for businesses in the current environment of uncertainty, it has also created an opportunity for them to grow new customer relationships and add value to existing ones.

The glory days of online food delivery are over. Only a few years ago, the internet was the main channel used by consumers in the Netherlands to order food, but the post-pandemic return to normalcy has led to a decrease in the number of online food orders. As a result, the online food delivery market is not growing as quickly as it was before. In 2024, the market revenue of online food delivery in the Netherlands is estimated at just over seven billion euros, with grocery delivery outperforming meal delivery. Just Eat Takeaway: delivery giant with Dutch roots. The Dutch company Thuisbezorgd was founded by Jitse Groen in 2000. Approximately a decade later, the delivery company changed its name to Takeaway. In 2020, the British food ordering company Just Eat merged with Takeaway.com into the delivery giant Just Eat Takeaway, which is now a leading online food delivery platform connecting customers with local restaurants in over 20 countries around the world. The marketplace allows users to search for local restaurants, browse menus, and place orders for delivery or pickup. Globally, the Amsterdam-based company generated revenue of 5.2 billion euros in 2023. As of July 2024, the company had become the second most-funded food delivery company in the European Union (EU), having raised a total of 2.8 billion euros in funding. Just Eat Takeaway is today the parent company of Thuisbezorgd.nl, which has continued to be a household name in the country. In 2024, around 75 percent of Dutch consumers reported booking through the delivery service. Thuisbezorgd.nl also had a successful year with its mobile app, as over 500,000 users downloaded it. Competition tightens. The Dutch market has a wide variety of food delivery services competing with Just Eat Takeaway. In 2022, the home-grown supermarket chain Albert Heijn was by far the largest online food delivery player in terms of revenue. Additionally, in recent years, quick commerce trended heavily in the Netherlands and beyond. Prominent companies such as the German Flink, Gorillas, and the Turkish Getir joined and already left the Dutch market. Similarly, UK-based Zapp ended its operations in the Netherlands in 2021 and Deliveroo, another international player, followed in 2022, citing lackluster growth and failure to penetrate the Dutch market. Following the pandemic, consumers are returning to in-person dining and grocery shopping, making competition tougher for the industry’s newcomers.

Omnichannel commerce has become an important retail channel in South Korea. As the retail landscape further migrates from brick-and-mortar stores to online retail, retailers are no longer limited to exclusive forms of retailing. Omnichannel retailing offers multiple potential touchpoints to consumers, allowing for a smoother consumer experience. South Korean consumers usually value convenience, and offering various shopping methods can meet this demand. At the same time, by selling via multiple channels, companies can broaden their potential advertising audience and customer base. What is modern retail like in South Korea? The power of online shopping is not unique to South Korea. Using multichannel retail services before developing into an omnichannel business is a common strategy in e-commerce. However, South Korean retailers of various fields utilized omnichannel services early, making it a new standard. For example, click-and-collect sales have recorded major growth since 2017. Similar to other countries, large furniture, food, or cosmetic retailers offer omnichannel options. What is more, many everyday stores, such as convenience stores and cafés, established such services years ago. In fact, businesses in hospitality made up most of the online-to-offline services in physical stores in 2023. This is in accordance with the popularity of take-out and delivery food and caters to consumers’ want for comfort and accessibility. Adaptation to omnichannel retail in South Korea. Most larger retailers have already adopted online websites or applications for their businesses. Additional contact channels often include a social media presence, telephone services, and chatting options via instant messaging apps. While traditional retail stores have implemented e-commerce options, online-based businesses have also started offering more offline contacts, with an increasing number of businesses offering online-to-offline services State of embracing omnichannel retail in South Korea. South Korean consumers have also embraced omnichannel commerce, using it to take advantage of both online and offline services simultaneously. South Korean consumers are very well-connected to the internet and like to shop online. According to a recent survey, internet shoppers used retailer or brand websites and apps well, but online marketplaces were even more popular. Further, many people liked to check out products in physical stores before making an online purchase. A reason for this behavior might be the possibility of online price comparison and shopping for multiple items at the same time. This utilization of online and offline channels reflects that the South Korean consumer base has become well-adapted to omnichannel retailing.

The holiday season is considered the busiest time of year for retailers, with a surge in trade typically commencing around Black Friday, the day following Thanksgiving (in the United States), leading all the way up to Christmas. Although Thanksgiving takes place over a month earlier in Canada, the American shopping tradition that is Black Friday has become ubiquitous over the years, with consumers across the globe eager to find a bargain. Holiday shopping in Canada: online or offline? When asked which channels they would use to do most of their 2024 holiday shopping, answers truly depended on when. Before (Canadian) Thanksgiving, as well as during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, holiday shopping online was more likely for the majority of Canadians. What is interesting however, is that Canadians would flip the script after Black Friday weekend, with approximately 60 percent of respondents saying they intended to shop primarily in-store at this point in time. In other words, most consumers would start shopping online and finish by shopping offline over the course of the season. Seasonal spending in Canada. During and leading up to the holidays, consumers around the world and in Canada tend to spend a little more than usual. However, how much one spends does typically depend on a number of factors. Interestingly, there are noticeable differences in expenditure per generation: during 2024's holiday season, Canadians of Gen Z and Y were predicted to spend over 2,000 Canadian dollars on average, while Gen X and baby boomers were projected to spend far less per capita. In 2022 and 2023 especially, shoppers considered rising prices for goods and services, not just in Canada, but in many other countries around the world. These high rates of inflation have led to a higher number of hesitant and financially struggling consumers. In 2023, some three-quarters of surveyed Canadians said it would make it more difficult for them to buy gifts during the holidays. Be that as it may, things may be looking up in 2024, as consumers planned to spend more on the holidays than they had expected to spend in 2023.

Over the past years, Amazon has generated increasing revenue in the European region, challenging domestic players and quickly becoming the leading e-commerce company in several EU countries. The U.S. behemoth of e-commerce is the leading marketplace in Europe, with a gross merchandise volume dwarfing other established platforms like eBay or Zalando. A hub for small businesses. As the European business economy is largely made up of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), Amazon plays an important role in e-commerce employment in the region, serving as a contractor for more than 275,000 sellers. The e-commerce giant can count on an extensive network of both distribution facilities and sellers, which largely rely on the fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) model. The FBA service streamlining handling and shipping procedures proved to be central in fulfillment operations during the hectic holiday season. Moreover, generative AI-based tools are the new normal, with over 80 percent of European sellers using them. Amazon shoppers. In the lack of domestic competitors, Amazon has become the main shopping destination. More than that, Amazon got into the skin of online consumers. Between 2021 and 2024, the share of regular Amazon shoppers doubled in France. Since 2019, the marketplace has gained over five million unique users in Italy, whereas the number of monthly active users has increased in most of the main European markets. Lastly, Amazon managed to provide the best last-mile delivery, with UK shoppers assigning the highest satisfaction rates when receiving a parcel dispatched by Amazon. Turbulent times. 2024 marks a peak in Amazon’s lobbying expenses in Europe, signaling the company took initiative to limit EU authorities’ action on several issues—from data protection and treatment of workers to its general monopoly in the European market. As Amazon’s activities range from e-commerce, logistics, media, and video streaming to digital and cloud services, the company might influence lawmaking in multiple sectors. Lobbying activity against EU policymaking led to unsettling episodes like the banning of Amazon’s lobbyists from the European Parliament in early 2024. As of July 2025, the company refused to send their representatives to public hearings regarding controversial labor practices. Amazon Europe is attempting to recreate the dominance that it has achieved across the Atlantic. Its sheer size makes it hard for local e-commerce players to compete, and its latest political influence is an indication that further growth is on the cards.

Every year, more Mexicans are shopping online, and the world is noticing it. Mexican consumers’ growing preference for e-commerce makes it an attractive destination for foreign companies to expand their operations. Temu is the latest major marketplace to land in the Latin American country, creating an instant impact on the e-commerce landscape. The retail giant joins a market led by Amazon and Mercado Libre  that is expected to continue welcoming new consumers. However, these online marketplaces are not alone in their quest to win the hearts of Mexican shoppers. Omnichannel vs. pure players. Faced with new competitors, traditional retailers have innovated and developed an omnichannel strategy to reach their customers and cope with the threat pure players represent. Walmart, a retailer widely known by Mexicans, adapted to new shopping preferences, strengthening its online presence around the world. Its global domain, walmart.com, achieved worldwide net sales of more than 70 billion U.S. Dollars in 2024. In Mexico, its marketplace gross merchandise volume (GMV) enjoyed double-digit year-over-year growth during each of the first three quarters of 2024. For its part, El Puerto de Liverpool has established itself as a top retailer among online marketplaces, especially in the fashion sector, where its conversion rate exceeded 65 percent in 2023. These companies are among the group of traditional retailers that migrated to an omnichannel strategy to meet the needs of shoppers. On the other hand, pure e-commerce players are not willing to let omnichannel retailers take the lead in the digital world so easily. Argentine marketplace Mercado Libre continues to increase its investment in Mexico, committing almost 2.5 billion US dollars in 2024. Major pure player Amazon has built a solid delivery process that allows the company to cover every state in the country and offer more than 600 million products on its marketplace. These well-established retailers continue working to increase their share in a market that keeps evolving. The big marketplaces from the east. Asian marketplaces have gained greater relevance in Mexico over the past decade. Shein  managed to establish itself as one of the favorite options for online shoppers since its first shipments to the country in 2017. Temu, which just launched its online marketplace in the North American country in May 2023, quickly impacted the e-commerce market, reaching an estimated GMV of more than 200 million U.S. dollars  during its first year of operations. With different approaches to meet the demand of Mexican consumers and new players joining the market, the clash of online marketplaces in Mexico has only just begun.

In recent years, Black Friday has gone from a single day of sales and rebates for products, to a special deals extravaganza that can be enjoyed throughout the entire month of November. In turn, with Cyber Monday serving as the e-commerce equivalent of the shopping holiday, consumers today are able to find and take advantage of digital deals like never before. From in-store on Friday to online on Monday. Just like the celebration of various seasonal holidays, shopping on Black Friday is a given for many consumers. In countries around the globe, discounts and sales in brick-and-mortar stores on the last Friday of November result in billions in spending each year. In today’s consumer climate, this spending is often distributed both in-stores on Black Friday, and online with Cyber Monday as countless e-commerce storefronts attempt to attract shoppers each year. In the United States, for example, while about 27 percent of consumers planned to shop in person on Black Friday in 2023, over 66 percent intended on participating in Cyber Monday shopping – resulting in a total 12 billion U.S. dollars spent on the digital shopping day in 2023. Concurrently, in the United Kingdom, expected Cyber Monday spending reached 1.5 billion pounds sterling – and in Italy, six in ten consumers’ purchases amounted to two billion euros in e-commerce retail sales across Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the same year. Trends among Cyber Monday shoppers. While overall spending around the world reaches new heights every year, individual spending for consumers can depend on a number of things. In France, younger shoppers tended to spend the most, with those from aged 18 to 34 using budgets nearly twice as high as those of their 65 and older counterparts for Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping. As for what people were interested in buying at discounted rates: apparel, electronics, and personal care items were among some of the most popular products purchased in markets around the world, such as in Canada and Australia. Regardless of the products being purchased or the country in which they are bought, the success of Cyber Monday as a digital shopping holiday will only continue to increase in parallel with the constant development of e-commerce as a whole.

India’s retail sector is one of the largest markets globally and is projected to reach about four trillion U.S. dollars in the coming years. With a substantial contribution to the country’s GDP and a share in employment of around eight percent, the retail sector is also domestically of high significance. Moreover, due to the introduction of various new players, the retail industry has become one of the most competitive and quick-paced markets. Highly competitive retail space. Small retailers and kirana stores have shaped India’s retail landscape. Located in narrow neighborhoods, on busy streets, and within the walls of gated communities, kirana stores attract customers through easy accessibility. Personal interactions with the shop owners also make them a social meeting spot. In contrast, the organized retail sector with its air-conditioned stores and sprawling shopping malls provides play areas for kids, convenient parking facilities, cinema entertainment, and food court with different cuisines. Therefore, these facilities offer customers an all-around exciting shopping experience. Although the number of malls has increased and is expected to rise further, emerging “ghost malls” with a vacancy rate of over 40 percent and low customer rate, reflect the high competition from unorganized retail forms. Local stores still outnumber mid-size retailers in new openings, but their shares in new openings are rising. As the market evolves, retailers must continuously adapt to the changing consumer preferences to stay relevant in India's retail space. Brands leading omnichannel retail. To offer a seamless shopping experience across online and offline channels, retailers are gradually adopting omnichannel strategies. Indian consumers mostly prefer features like click-and-collect, self-checkout, and express delivery options. For instance, Nykaa one of the leading beauty and personal care brands, offers a multichannel presence through its website, app, and in-store. Besides, India’s largest online home décor and furniture marketplace brand, Pepperfry, has adopted an omnichannel approach. They provide services through online channels and their retail studio outlets. Similarly, several other brands foster consumer loyalty by offering a personalized shopping experience and tapping into the growing e-commerce market. Key growth trends in the retail market. Rising incomes have contributed greatly to the market by increasing discretionary spending and fundamentally changing consumer preferences and behavior across various retail market segments. In addition to this, rapid urbanization and the growing middle class drive growth by providing a large and lucrative customer base to retailers. Furthermore, the integration of AI in the retail sector is rapidly transforming consumer experience through personalization, demand forecasting, and boosting customer engagement. These growth trends highlight the transformation of the retail landscape. Apart from this, retailers are expanding into smaller cities and rural areas, tapping into new markets with significant growth potential.

Beauty lovers worldwide are flocking to social media apps for the latest trends like lip oils, red light therapy tech, and faux freckle tints. While magazines and word-of-mouth once guided purchasing decisions, social media now plays a pivotal role in the beauty industry as product recommendations from influencers and fellow users catapult brands and items to viral success. Consumers can purchase products through shoppable links, referrals to online stores, or in-app purchases directly on social platforms. Social sites spark purchase ideas. In 2024, social sites ranked as the fourth most popular online channel worldwide to get beauty product purchase inspiration. Especially user-generated content on these apps is highly valued among consumers, who want to see authentic reviews by fellow collectors, rather than the perfected images brands post. On average, nearly 30 percent of global users watch reviews of makeup products on social media, with the highest viewership in Indonesia, India, and Mexico at 43 percent. All-in-one shopping destinations. Social platforms have evolved from being purely discovery channels to becoming the likes of marketplaces. Nowadays, shoppers can complete beauty purchases directly within the apps, eliminating the need for third-party online stores. TikTok leads this trend with its e-commerce feature, TikTok Shop. In 2024, TikTok Shops worldwide achieved a GMV of roughly 2.5 billion U.S. dollars from beauty sales, making it the merchandise with the highest amount of total sales made on the platform. That same year, around 370 million beauty and personal care products were sold on TikTok Shops worldwide. When taking a closer look at what is trending on social sites, P Louise stands out as the most followed beauty brand on TikTok with over three million fans. Dior Beauty dominates on Instagram, with a follower count of 13.2 million. In 2024, La Roche Posay was the brand consumers most search for online, with over 33 million annual searches, while Rhode was the emerging brand that year, witnessing a 223 percent rise in searches. Social commerce is a booming industry that is estimated to reach one trillion U.S. dollars in revenue by 2028. As health and wellness products are some of the most purchased categories, the future of beauty shopping is not only digital but deeply interconnected with social media.

The Christmas season in the United Kingdom is an exciting time not just for people celebrating, gathering with loved ones, and eating good food, but also for retailers. Sales figures peak during this period, with a significantly greater volume of retail goods sold in the United Kingdom in December than in any other month. The total value of seasonal sales in the United Kingdom was forecast to reach approximately 91 billion British pounds in 2025, which was an increase of nearly three billion pounds from the previous year. Nevertheless, these forecast sales figures for the United Kingdom ranked the highest in Europe, with expected sales worth roughly 16 billion pounds more than those in second-placed Germany. What will consumers buy as Christmas gifts? One of the British consumers’ biggest expenditures during the Christmas period is gifts. In particular,  Brits generally buy gifts for their children or partners. Beauty products, apparel, and footwear are among the most popular gifts in the country. However, as the UK has only recently recovered from a period of elevated inflation, many shoppers remain concerned about their financial situation. As a result, most reported that they plan to change their gift-giving habits in 2025, such as prioritizing gifts for close family and friends only. Where will consumers buy their gifts? The majority of Christmas retail sales are still done in-store. In 2025, this channel was forecast to generate over 57 billion British pounds, roughly 23 billion pounds more than online sales. According to a 2025 survey, consumers' favorite purchase channels for Christmas gifts, other than online stores, were specialty stores such as jewelry stores, toy stores, electronics stores, and apparel stores, with more than half of consumers shopping at these locations.

Despite being the smallest in area out of all the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Finland), Denmark is one of the biggest retail markets amongst its peers. In recent years, retail sales have fluctuated, reaching a sales index of 102 in 2024, where 2015 is the baseline of 100. This marks a two percent increase compared to the basis year. Retail sales. Supermarkets make up a significant part of the retail environment of Denmark. In the second quarter of 2024, total sales revenue of supermarkets in Denmark reached nearly 14 billion Danish kroner. In comparison, discount stores earned more than 10.7 billion Danish kroner in revenue, while sales of grocers and late-night stores (kiosks) amounted to over three billion in the same time period. Key industry players. One of the biggest companies in Denmark in terms of market share, is consumer goods retailer Salling Group A/S, with a share of over 36 percent in the grocery store market. The retailer owns several chains of stores, such as discounter Netto, and holds franchise rights for Starbucks. In 2025, Coop Danmark A/S took a leading position amongst other Danish competitors, with revenues amounting to more than double that of Circle K Danmark A/S, which came in second place. Some of the stronger contenders within the Danish retail landscape are supermarkets and convenience stores, such as Netto, Bilka, føtex, and Kvickly just to name a few. When surveyed about their interest in shopping for different product categories, nearly 60 percent of Danes specified the food and drink category, making it the third most popular category after clothing and shoes.

The holiday season has conventionally been a time of significance to retailers. The compounding effects of national holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as a successive series of shopping festivals – Singles’ Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday – have seen higher sales centered around the end-of-year period, compared to the other quarters of the year. Unfortunately, the bright mood has been dampened by the dark cloud of inflation. Driven by multiple factors, the global rate of inflation was estimated at roughly seven percent in 2023, marking a major spike in the last decade. In a survey conducted in August 2022, nearly a third of consumers worldwide cited galloping inflation as their prime concern for the holiday season. Consumers are voicing their concerns. In 2023, nearly half of consumers in the United States cited price as their primary consideration when making shopping decisions during the holiday season, far surpassing other factors such as quality and uniqueness. In the previous year, many coped with higher prices by investing more time in price comparison and buying only discounted items, as well as testing out other price-reducing strategies such as using coupons and switching to store brands. In addition, a survey conducted in 2023 revealed that seven in 10 consumers worldwide planned to scale back on gift-giving to extended family and friends, and to pare down on items, such as decorative lights, which would increase utility costs. This attitude of seasonal austerity was adopted to its extreme by four in 10 shoppers in the United Kingdom, who stated that they would cut all expenses related to Black Friday and Christmas spending due to the increased cost of living in 2022. Are consumers actually tightening their purse strings? Despite the prevailing somber mood, it seems that holiday season spending has not actually suffered a significant downturn. In fact, the figures are looking up. In the U.S., online Black Friday spending hit a record 9.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, while sales for Cyber Monday are expected to grow by around five percent, hitting a new high of approximately 12 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. Over in Europe, Christmas spending had also generally increased over the past five years, and is predicted to grow further, if only slightly, in 2023.

Romania's retail sector is undergoing a significant expansion in modern retail spaces. By the end of 2024, the country surpassed the 4.5 million square meter mark, marking a new record in its retail infrastructure, with an estimated addition of around 186,000 square meters. The two largest food retail chains in the market are Lidl and Kaufland, with Lidl having the highest revenue. The key players are solidifying their presence. The Romanian retail industry, which comprised 129,084  retail companies in 2023, has seen a decrease of approximately 17 percent since 2008. This decline can be attributed to various factors, including market consolidation, increased competition, and changes in consumer behavior. Despite this, the industry's revenue has surged by an impressive 234 percent since then, reaching a substantial 374 billion Romanian lei. The shopping platform eMAG has emerged as the  most valuable Romanian brand in the online retail sector. Furthermore, Profi has established itself as a major player in the food retail industry, with the highest number of stores compared to its rivals. With a staggering 1,726 stores, Profi solidified its position as a leader in the food retail landscape, catering to the diverse needs of Romanian consumers nationwide. Shifts in consumer spending and e-commerce. Consumer spending patterns and the rapid rise of e-commerce also shape the Romanian retail landscape. Promotional sales have long played a significant role in attracting shoppers, with their share reaching 24.4 percent of total  FMCG sales in 2025, up from 20.6 percent in 2021. This increase reflects stronger competition and changing purchasing behavior. At the same time, online retail has gained unprecedented momentum, with eMAG.ro generating net e-commerce revenues of 970.5 million U.S. dollars in 2024, far ahead of other players such as Dr. Max with 399.3 million dollars and FarmaciaTei.ro with 191.6 million dollars. The FMCG sector also experienced notable price adjustments, with coffee, tea, and cacao products seeing the steepest year-on-year increase of 10 percent in 2024, while pet food recorded a contrasting 7 percent price drop. By 2027, Romania's retail sector is expected to expand by over 700,000 square meters of new modern retail space, including major projects such as the 80 million euro overhaul of Palas Mall in Iași and the launch of new regional shopping centers like M Park Orăștie. These shifts underscore the evolution of the Romanian retail market. 

France is one of Europe’s e-commerce heavyweights, with a market that has witnessed remarkable growth in recent years. Ranking third after Germany and the United Kingdom, e-commerce users in France were estimated at over 30 million in 2024. In the last decade only, e-commerce sales revenue in the country more than tripled, reflecting both the reach and profitability of the country’s burgeoning trade in the digital realm. Profitable segments and the C2C revolution. With an estimated 16 billion U.S. dollars in revenues, fashion was by far the most lucrative e-commerce segment in France in 2024. Within the fashion segment, the second-hand online marketplace Vinted was the most visited fashion and apparel website in France as of December 2023, surpassing global powerhouses Zalando and ASOS. Indeed, e-tailers had to respond to growing consumer demands for more affordable and sustainable products, which led to the flourishing of C2C e-commerce, as evidenced by the rise and popularity of online marketplaces for buying and selling secondhand products online such as Leboncoin, Cdiscount, and Vinted. As of April 2024, leboncoin.fr recorded a monthly web traffic of nearly 120 million visitors. The rise of shoppertainment. The emergence of social media shopping (social commerce) and buying via livestreaming (live shopping) is slowly redefining the e-commerce landscape in France. With Instagram’s "shoppable tags", buyers can directly click on the tag of the products they like in an Instagram post and purchase them through the app. In a 2022 survey, a quarter of French shoppers reported having purchased on social media at least once, with celebrities and influencers being a leading source of motivation for around 18 percent of shoppers to engage in social commerce. With internet users spending more and more time on social media content, social shopping promises to become one of the most relevant sales channels for e-commerce in the near future.

Technology has significantly influenced numerous aspects of modern shopping, both online and offline. Since the introduction of barcodes in the 1970s, the retail industry has continuously adopted and adapted to ongoing technological advances to streamline various aspects of their operations, from in-store processes to inventory management, procurement, warehousing, distribution channels, and payments. Yet when we talk about retail technology today, what is often meant is the deployment of emerging technologies like A, IoT, and immersive experiences such as AR and VR in retail operations. Over the past years, the financing of businesses developing retail technologies received a total funding of almost 300 billion U.S. dollars. The majority of these deals took place in Asia and North America. Automation, automation, automation. Automation powered by artificial intelligence is infiltrating every aspect of the economy and business, and since the retail industry impacts millions of people, it is particularly exposed to these developments. However, the retail industry also has the potential to benefit from these advancements in automation. In 2021, the global market for retail automation was estimated to size up to four billion U.S. dollars, with a projection to reach 33 billion U.S. dollars. Other new areas in the retail industry that make use of emerging technologies are self-checkout and virtual fitting rooms. These markets are estimated to grow to around 14 billion U.S. dollars by 2030. The three main benefits of AI retail executives highlighted in recent survey were increased productivity, cost reduction in operations, and faster time to profitability. What technologies retailers are planning and prioritizing for investment? Retail companies already acknowledge the importance of emerging technologies in their business operations. Although the full deployment of such technologies is a long way off, some consumer goods and retail companies are testing the waters. In a 2022 survey, a quarter of respondents from the industry said they were piloting immersive technologies that allow shoppers to virtually look up and place products such as furniture or home décor. A more personalized customer experience comes forward as another key area. In the U.S., the leading technology retailers said they were prioritizing for 2023 was customer experience. UK retailers are also focusing on creating a seamless customer experience, and they are currently exploring innovative solutions in this area. Are consumers ready for AR-shopping? In line with this, consumers have expectations from retailers to deliver a more hassle-free shopping experience. In a survey, easy mobile payments and smart vending machines were found to make consumers’ shopping experience much better. That said, consumers seem to be less enthusiastic about some of the technologies that are being innovated right now. This is particularly true of AR and VR experiences in shopping. Around 55 percent of consumers said they would not be interested in trying out fashion items virtually. In another survey, the impact of AR-powered smart fitting rooms on consumer likelihood to shop for fashion items in physical stores was found to be low. Only 18 percent of consumers said a connected fitting room would make them go to the physical store.

The e-commerce market in Denmark has grown steadily in recent years, similar to that of its Nordic neighbors. In 2024, e-commerce revenue in Denmark is estimated be worth around 7.6 billion euros. By 2029, online retail revenue is forecast to hit 11 billion euros. This growth reflects the increasing popularity of online shopping, with many consumers now choosing to purchase goods and services digitally. Keeping it local. Consumers in Denmark have a strong preference for domestic online retailers over foreign ones. In 2023, nearly 90 percent shoppers made purchases on national websites, whereas four out of ten online shoppers bought from other EU countries. A mere 16 percent shopped from retailers located outside the EU. As local retailers in Denmark remain a favored choice for shoppers, they outperform their foreign counterparts in e-commerce sales by a considerable margin. In 2023, e-commerce sales from Danish retailers totaled 132 billion Danish kroner, equaling over 17 billion euros. In contrast, foreign web shops generated 53 billion Danish kroner, or nearly seven billion euros. When comparing consumer preferences, Danish men were more open to buying products from abroad, whereas women preferred to stick to domestic sites. Ultra-low prices from abroad. Although cross-border shopping makes up a small part of Danish retail, this is gradually changing due to the meteoric rise of Chinese e-commerce players, such as Temu and Shein. Danish consumers particularly prefer to engage in fast-paced consumerism on mobile devices. Temu was the most downloaded shopping app in Denmark in 2024, a remarkable feat given that it was launched in Europe in April of 2023. The app was downloaded more than 1.2 million times. To put that number into perspective, Denmark has only a population of around five million people. The second-hand marketplace Vinted ranked second with approximately 760,000 app downloads. Consumers flock to these apps because they offer heavily discounted prices, gamified shopping experiences, and interactive communities. In 2024, approximately 35 percent of Danish consumers made their last online cross-border purchase from China.

With a market penetration of over 40 percent, the Spanish digital market is a motor that keeps the economy of the European country going, allowing millions of users to sell and buy products in an innovative way. While many Spaniards favor the endless possibilities that e-commerce offers, some miss certain traits of the offline experience.  Trade-offs of going online . Many Spanish consumers opt for shopping online rather than in-store, doing it mainly via desktop computers, with smartphones following closely behind as the most used devices for online purchases in the Iberian country. The convenience and affordability of e-commerce have led more and more Spanish consumers to satisfy their shopping desires online. Above all factors, convenience plays a pivotal role in the decision-making process for online purchases. The primary driving force to buy online rather than in physical stores in Spain in 2024 was comfort, followed by better prices and discounts. However, for some consumers, e-commerce has yet to replace certain aspects of the in-person experience. As per a 2024 survey assessing attitudes towards online purchasing in Spain, close to a quarter of respondents wanted to see and touch an item before buying it. Meanwhile, about 16 percent expressed enthusiasm for integrating augmented and virtual reality technologies in their online shopping ventures. An increasingly interactive experience. Because the e-commerce landscape and consumer preferences are constantly changing, there is always room for new market trends to emerge. A prime example is the increased use of social networks for online sales and purchases. Recognizing the latent potential embedded within these platforms, by 2024, more than half of e-commerce professionals in Spain had harnessed the power of Facebook for commercial purposes, while 49 percent of merchants had utilized Instagram to further their business goals. Additionally, more than a quarter of e-commerce professionals have readily employed WhatsApp and Telegram as part of their e-commerce strategy. Despite being relatively novel, e-commerce is a market where players and behaviors evolve every day, and where more changes are expected in the near future to provide a better experience and accommodate more buyers.

With Canadian internet usage reaching new heights, the expansion of the fashion e-commerce market has followed suit. Canada’s online fashion industry has seen enormous growth in the last half decade, more than tripling in revenue from approximately 3.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 to 12 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. While Canadians have notably been slower than their global counterparts to adapt to the influx of tech changes in online shopping, they are gradually catching up with new digital consumer trends. How, what, and from where? Canadian consumers value transparency and often engage in pre-purchase research. In fact, reading customer reviews and doing online research are the two most popular activities for Canadian e-shoppers. When it comes to product categories, clothing leads the ranking of products that are most frequently bought online versus offline, ahead of media and consumer electronics. Within the fashion segment, Walmart is the highest grossing online store by net sales. Walmart, an established player in both offline and online retail, generated over 780 million U.S. dollars from its Canadian e-commerce operations in 2022. In turn, in the mobile sphere, SHEIN was the most downloaded fashion and beauty shopping app. But what are Canadians buying, exactly? If we divide fashion into three categories – apparel, footwear, and accessories – the apparel segment generated the most revenue in 2023, accounting for almost eight of the 12 billion U.S. dollars total sales. Accessories came next, followed by shoes. Forecasts indicate that clothing purchases will continue to make up the bulk of fashion products that Canadians buy online. The average online fashion shopper. There are some 25 million Canadian users expected to engage in the fashion e-commerce market in 2023, and this figure will only grow, nearing 36 million by 2028. If we specifically look at Canadians who shopped for apparel with their mobile devices, women make up over half of m-commerce apparel shoppers, and younger adults did more mobile shopping than older generations. When it comes to devices, Android phones were the preferred choice for more than seven in ten mobile clothing shoppers in 2023.

Norway’s prosperous economy is usually associated with the country’s vast natural resource deposits and their responsible management. Another significant part of its economic environment, however, is the wholesale and retail trade sector, as a rise in sales has led to the founding of many new companies and doubled employment in the past 20 years. Despite recent declines the number of enterprises in the Scandinavian country has remained consistently above the 20-thousand mark. Where Norwegians shop. As a member of the European Economic Area, Norway applies the EU’s regulations on free movement of trade, persons, services and capital. As of 2024, Norway’s largest and most important export partner was Great Britain, followed by the Germany. Both countries together accounted for nearly half of all Norwegian exports the year prior. How Norwegians shop. Despite considerable stability in inflation rates as of 2025, Norwegians still aim to choose carefully what they spend their money on by utilizing different means of online and physical research of products. One aspect in their consumption stands out and that is the awareness of carbon footprints. In a survey conducted in 2024, a majority of Norwegian shoppers had no idea how much they impact the environment through carbon emissions, but a select few made an effort to have conversations with their close ones on the matter. Scandinavian pragmatism is still alive and well in Norway, from responsibly managing natural resources, to choosing the best product when shopping. Perhaps one of the main drivers behind Norway’s developed economy is its people’s resourcefulness and using their surroundings and knowledge to make the most informed purchases.

There are over 60 million Hispanics living in the United States, accounting for roughly 20 percent of the U.S. population. In terms of geographical distribution, there is a high concentration of Hispanic Americans living in Southern states, such as New Mexico, California, and Texas, but also New York is a popular living destination. Over the next four decades, this demographic is expected to grow steadily, reaching close to 100 million people by 2060. However, size alone does not make this population a popular target audience in the world of business. With a buying power of over two trillion U.S. dollars, Hispanic Americans contribute significantly to the U.S. economy. U.S. Hispanic vs. non-Hispanic consumers. One example to show just how much consumer behavior can differ among groups is the avocado. Home to Central America, this fruit is frequently enjoyed by over 90 percent of Hispanic consumers in the United States, while only two-thirds of non-Hispanic consumers purchased avocados in 2023. A similar discrepancy can be noted when it comes to quick service restaurants (QSR). In 2023, Hispanic Americans were more likely to eat at fast food restaurants than their non-Hispanic counterparts. In a survey, almost 60 percent of U.S. Hispanics indicated eating weekly or monthly at a quick service restaurant, while only roughly half of non-Hispanic respondents did. In the world of fashion, the Swedish clothing brand H&M was more popular among U.S. Hispanic Americans than the general U.S. population in 2023. Even more of a difference between U.S. Hispanics and non-Hispanic consumers could be found in the case of the sports and athleisure brand, lululemon. U.S. Hispanics: targeting a key audience. When looking at Hispanics in the United States as a separate consumer group, language becomes an important factor to take into consideration. Nearly three in four Hispanic TV viewers in the U.S. watched Spanish-language content at least occasionally in 2023. Numbers for Spanish-dominant Hispanics were even higher. It comes as no surprise that some companies direct their advertisement efforts specifically at Hispanic audiences. Two of the leading beauty and personal care companies to target U.S. Hispanics in 2023 were Aesop and Gillette, investing over 80 million and 40 million dollars in digital advertisement, respectively.

From manufacturing sites to the consumers’ doorsteps, the distribution of products sold online is extremely complex. With retail e-commerce thriving, the volume of parcels handled and delivered to shoppers has increased tremendously over the last years, posing a true challenge to e-tailers and logistics providers. Logistics play a key role in the customer experience and ultimately the perception of online purchases, as much as the characteristics of the products themselves. From warehouses to shipping. Except for big retail corporations, most online merchants outsource services of the e-commerce supply chain to third-party logistics (3PL) providers. These companies offer multiple types of online product distribution – from omnichannel to drop shipping. With online consumers expecting fast delivery, time efficiency in order fulfillment is essential. On average, the process takes less than one hour, with nearly 30 percent of professionals estimating it to be under 30 minutes. To improve order-processing speed, distributors adopt enhanced warehousing systems, optimize the entire layout of the warehouse, or employ new pick strategies. At the same time, they employ robotics and consider new packaging techniques and formats. Latest trends. Due to economic uncertainty and the aftermath of the post-pandemic oversupply of warehouse space, the latest figures on the industrial leasing market show that the warehouse leasing activity has generally declined in the United States. In 2025, e-commerce companies revised their spending on real estate and drastically downsized the number and corresponding areas of leases. Compared to 2024, the volume of orders went down on most marketplaces, except for Amazon, which witnessed a stable trend in the average order volume per merchant. From Europe to North America, shippers and logistics providers face higher supply chain costs and are required to fulfill customer expectations in terms of quality and speed of last-mile delivery services. The significant demand for fast delivery is often paired with higher rates of damaged and delayed deliveries than expected. While big groups and marketplaces can allow themselves to reduce shipping margins thanks to different sale strategies, direct-to-consumer players are not going to absorb additional costs related to rapid delivery.

In the country with the fourth-highest median age worldwide, Gen Z shoppers can be an interesting species to observe, being a small part of the population. In Italy, consumers belonging to the Generation Z purchase quite differently than Italians of other age groups, especially online. A series of unfortunate events. The global COVID-19 pandemic followed by ramping inflation and economic stagnation have shaped the shopping behavior of Zoomers, the most likely to trade down when purchasing a product, if compared to older consumers. Italian Gen Z opted for lower-priced items and favored e-commerce over physical stores when wanting to spend less money. In 2023, about 60 percent of them believed they could find products at lower prices on e-commerce channels. The habit aligns with their general reluctance of shopping in store. Over half of Gen Z shoppers never or rarely use stores as collection points for their online purchases. The shopping cart of Gen Z e-shoppers. The grocery segment shows the most striking difference between generational cohorts, as Gen Z shoppers are the most eager to use grocery delivery services. Regardless of the product category, the customer journey often starts on social media, with YouTube still being more popular than TikTok. Among Italian young shoppers, the potential of influencer marketing is enormous, as nearly 60 percent of them did purchase a product recommended by a social media influencer in 2023. Gen Z shoppers might have owned a smartphone way before having a bank account. Familiarity with mobile technologies explains the strong preference for mobile payment methods over pre-paid and credit cards. Gen Z have high expectation of the overall purchasing experience, and a streamlined payment process plays a critical role in this. Although they do not necessarily demand for high levels of automation, Italian Gen Z consumers contacting a company expect human customer service to respond immediately. A generation of mobile-first, digitally native, and social media-influenced has entered the Italian e-commerce market, challenging brands and retailers willing to engage them.

The Danish hygge and the Swedish lagom are two Scandinavian concepts that go hand in hand with the winter holidays, even said to have been implemented as a way to deal with the dark, cold nights in Northern Europe. In the midst of preparing to spend quality time with their families, Scandinavian consumers rush to the stores to make the most of their holidays, keeping Christmas retail sales growing. People in Norway, Denmark and Sweden tend to go all out on Christmas and Christmas Eve church services are attended by thousands of people, with nearly 410,000 attendees in 2023 in Norway alone. Most favored Christmas dishes. Another integral part of the Christmas holidays in Scandinavia is the preparation of festive meals to be shared with families and communities. For example, in Sweden the julbord features Christmas ham and a dish cleverly named Jansson’s temptation – a casserole made of potatoes, onions, pickled sprats and scream. While the Swedish prefer pork as their main dish, in Denmark this title went to duck for Christmas dinner. The pros and cons of holiday shopping. During the holiday season in 2024, one-third of Danes were expected to spend between 250 and 500 Danish kroner on gifts per person. Meanwhile, the average Norwegian was estimated to spend 12,250 Norwegian kroner on Christmas, over four-fifths of which would go to food and drink. Despite all efforts made in preparation for the holiday season, many Norwegians shared that they were growing weary of Christmas shopping especially around Black Friday, naming the intrusiveness of shopping ads as one of the main reasons why. A growing trend amongst all Scandinavian countries seems to be the topic surrounding second-hand gift-giving. Driven by sustainability and rising costs, more and more Scandinavians choose to thrift Christmas gifts for their loved ones, or even re-gift items they have never used. In Denmark, second-hand gifting behavior was most popular among Gen Z and Millennials.

The Republic of Ireland, which has been a member state of the European Union since 1973, is a continuously advancing country that has seen its gross domestic product triple at current prices since the early 2000s. Coupled with the declining unemployment rate, Ireland and its consumers are, overall, in a stronger financial position compared to decades past. Apparel is popular among Irish shoppers. When asked what products and services they were interested in, in early 2024, about 70 percent of consumers in Ireland said they were interested in clothing. Between 60 and 70 percent of surveyed Irish shoppers expressed an interest in food and drink products, as well as footwear. Interest in clothing and shoes is reinforced by the fact that about the same share of Irish shoppers had bought something in an apparel and/or shoe store in the past 12 months. Generally, the country’s shoppers looked for quality and comfort when shopping for apparel, above all other criteria. Wants and needs among shoppers in Ireland. Just like many other countries, Ireland and its population has certain important values, and not respecting these wants and needs can lead consumers not to want to buy from certain retail enterprises. In early 2024, nearly 85 percent of consumers surveyed in Ireland found protecting customer data important when it comes to building trust in a company. This made it the leading factor that could influence customer trust in Ireland. Other important factors included a consistent and high-quality customer experience, high-quality products, as well as the fair and ethical treatment of employees. An important change in values seen in many countries such as Ireland is the shift towards sustainable consumption. Irish shoppers increasingly want to reduce their environmental impact, and according to a 2024 survey, they have been doing so by buying more sustainable products, eating different foods, and even supporting green political candidates and policies.

Online food delivery is a growing market worldwide, with an estimated number of around 1.96 billion people using such services in 2021. In South Korea, around 31.5 percent of households ordered food delivery that same year. This was often done for reasons of convenience and the possibility of limiting contact with others. Mobile and online ordering was the method of choice for around 47 percent of consumers in South Korea. Food delivery apps in South Korea. In 2021, the transaction value of food and beverage sales made through mobile devices exceeded 18 trillion South Korean won. Mobile apps in particular were a popular method of ordering food delivery. The most popular domestic food delivery app, Baedal Minjok (also known as Baemin) had over 20.7 million users as of December 2021. Its main competitor, Yogiyo, had over nine million users. As of March 2021, both Baemin and Yogiyo were owned by German multinational online food delivery service Delivery hero, giving the company a significant foothold in the South Korean food delivery market. The impact of COVID-19 on South Korea’s food delivery industry. The food delivery industry has seen a sales increase since the beginning of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Being able to order and receive food at home without having to buy ingredients and cook or come in contact with other people proved to be a popular business model during this time. While this model of food delivery predates the pandemic, innovations were still made to further decrease human contact. From contactless delivery to Coupang Eats’ “one order, one delivery” system, the increased need and demand for ever more convenient food delivery services in South Korea continues to drive the industry.

The beauty and personal care e-commerce market is blooming in the Nordic region, where many products are infused with local ingredients, such as birch sap, spring water, and arctic berries. The market is estimated to be worth 2.84 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, and it is forecast to reach a revenue of 4.21 billion dollars by 2029. In this region, over 20 million people purchase beauty and personal care items via the internet. Local beauty retailers enjoy market dominance . Homegrown retailers dominate the beauty field in the Nordic countries. Lyko.com and kicks.se are the leading online beauty stores in their founding country of Sweden, raking in a staggering 137.5 million and 68.4 million U.S. dollars in revenue in 2023, respectively. These stores have also spread their roots to other nearby countries, being major players in both Finland and Norway. However, Norway's very own blivakker.no is the top beauty site in its origin country, with yearly revenues of 70.4 million U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, in Denmark, the Danish wellness site matas.dk reigns supreme with an impressive 130.2 million U.S. dollars in revenue. The Nordic countries clearly favor purchasing their beauty products from local online stores or from those of their neighboring nations. A budding Finnish beauty brand. Nordic beauty brands have ingeniously captured the essence of the region‘s wondrous nature in their product offerings. Take Lumene, a Finnish brand named after the serene Lake Lummene in Central Finland. It exemplifies this trend by offering a range of cosmetics and skincare products made from native ingredients, such as cloudberry, lingonberry, and heather’s flowers. When looking at how the manufacturer's direct-to-consumer online store is fairing, more than 100,000 visitors frequent lumene.com each month. Most site visits come from Finland, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and the United States. Recently, the store has expanded its offerings on online marketplaces like Amazon and Zalando, reaching an even larger consumer base. As Lumene expands its presence globally, it continues to champion the values that define the Nordic beauty market, such as keeping nature at the forefront of its practices. The beauty and personal care e-commerce market in the Nordics is blossoming, with strong regional companies, and brands gaining global recognition for their nature-inspired products.

From newspaper clippings and print circulars to mobile apps and QR codes: The coupon landscape in the United States has undergone a significant digital transformation over the past decade. By offering deals online, businesses can address larger potential audiences, build brand awareness, and boost engagement rates and sales. With close to 60 percent of U.S. consumers using digital coupons, rebates in all their forms are one of the most popular marketing tools for brands. The digital coupon shopping cycle. While plenty of shoppers still prefer to receive their coupons in print and by mail, for many consumers, the desire for bargains has predominantly moved online. In the U.S., about two in ten consumers find coupon and deal platforms as a source of inspiration for new product purchases, and social media accounts for an even larger share of exposure. This becomes more significant when taking into consideration that 34 percent of U.S. shoppers were using social media to find coupons as of July 2024. Alongside social media, consumers also utilize search engines, websites, rebate-specific apps, and email subscriptions as a means to discover coupons. On average, most online shoppers reported spending about five to ten minutes searching for digital coupons. These coupons were most likely to work about ten to thirty percent of the time. In this case, or when no digital coupons could be found, a 2024 survey revealed that only a minimal share of U.S. shoppers tended to always abandon their carts, whereas nearly forty percent still rarely abandoned their cart despite having no digital coupon. Bargain business market leaders. In December 2023, the most visited coupon website in the United States was capitaloneshopping.com, boasting nearly 17 percent of site visits among its competition. The Capital One Shopping: Save Now app was also the second most downloaded discount and offer apps in the country that year, second only to Fetch: America’s Rewards App which was downloaded over 10 million times in the same period. Other popular rebates platforms included Upside, Ibotta, and Safeway. Whether they are accessed through apps, social media, or emails, what storefronts can be sure of is that digital coupons are always desired by consumers in some capacity. Millions of online shoppers across the U.S. are always looking for the best deals before they finalize their purchases, regardless of the category.

Private labels generally refer to products produced by contract manufacturers and sold by the retailer owning the brand. In Japan, private labels are synonymous with self-managed store brands of retailers competing with national brands. The first private labels entered the Japanese retail market at the end of the 1950s, with big retail chain operators following in the decades after. One of the most successful private brands from the early period was Mujirushi Ryohin, owned by Ryohin Keikaku. Better known by the brand name Muji, the no-brand label was introduced as a private brand for supermarket chains under the Seiyu Group umbrella before it became an independent brand with a dedicated store network. Development of store brands in Japan. Store brands are the main form of private labels in Japan as leading retail chains developed in-house brands to compete with products of national brands stocked on their shelves. Drivers of the market growth are retailers like supermarkets, convenience stores, and department store operators that offer a broad product range. Convenience store operator Seven & i Holdings distributes over three thousand items under the “Seven Premium” brand in its affiliated stores, which covers household essentials, fresh and processed foods, apparel, and personal care products, among others. Suppliers to private labels are either company-owned manufacturing divisions, subsidiaries, or contracted manufacturers. Contract manufacturing is particularly prominent in the food manufacturing industry, where more than 60 percent of businesses are involved with private labels in the retail market. Manufacturing used to be outsourced primarily to small- and mid-sized businesses, which resulted in significant quality differences. To improve and stabilize product quality, retailers have increasingly contracted with original equipment manufacturers (OEM) of national brands at the turn of the century. Brand awareness and image. The Japanese consumer goods market is dominated by national brands of manufacturers catering to the image that higher prices equate to quality products. Private labels compete against this mindset, which is still dominated by the image of inexpensive products with varying quality. To dispel consumer doubts, brand owners build on their store image to advertise their products as quality products at low prices, often supplemented by a premium segment to cater to different customer groups. Furthermore, the brand strategy benefits from current price developments in Japan, as price tags remain one of the leading factors consumers consider in consumer goods purchases. Tax hikes and inflation have been impacting household budgets, motivating consumers to look for alternatives to national brands, and granting retailers an opportunity to raise repeat purchase rates.

Retail online shopping is growing rapidly in Southeast Asia, with the  Southeast Asian e-commerce market expanding year after year. The rising internet penetration, smartphone usage, and increasing use of digital payments in the region have been key growth drivers of the market, resulting in constantly evolving consumer habits. As competition intensifies, understanding consumer behavior becomes even more crucial for businesses and retailers aiming to stay ahead in the market. The rise of e-commerce in Southeast Asia. The share of online shoppers accelerated greatly after the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the shifting shopping behavior of Southeast Asian consumers. E-commerce has been on the rise in the region, with e-commerce platforms generating billions of web sessions. The gross merchandise value (GMV) of e-commerce platforms doubled in 2023, compared to 2020. Among the top platforms, Shopee and Lazada stood out in the region. While Shopee is a Singapore-based company, it has shown great popularity in Indonesia and Vietnam. In both countries, beauty, health, and personal care was the category with the highest GMV on Shopee. Additionally, the growing demand for fashion, electronics, and home essentials highlights the diversity of online shopping preferences among Southeast Asian consumers. Consumer preferences and shopping trends. Consumers in Southeast Asia shifted to shopping online instead of traditional offline shopping due to various reasons. Convenience, prices, and flash sales are a few of the many benefits they take advantage of when shopping online. Mobile shopping has become particularly popular, making online shopping even faster as users can shop through mobile apps. Additionally, digital payments in e-commerce further support the increasing online shopping shift, making the whole process of ordering easier without the need for cash.  Recent trends of social commerce and live commerce are further reshaping shopping behavior in Southeast Asia. Popular platforms like TikTok and Facebook are driving product discovery and influencing consumer purchase decisions. Live commerce has gained significant traction as it creates a more engaging and trust-driven shopping experience, where consumers can engage with sellers and influencers in real-time before making a purchase. As a result, brands and retailers are increasingly adopting live streaming as a key strategy to boost engagement and sales.

Success can be difficult in the online food delivery business, due in part to the relatively small profit margins and fierce competition. The Berlin-based company Delivery Hero, founded in 2007, is now introducing some changes to increase their profitability. In 2023, the company incurred net losses totaling around 2.3 billion euros. About Delivery Hero. In the past nine years, Delivery Hero has seen their annual revenue go from 42 million euros in 2013 to about 9.9 billion in 2023. Although the company was founded in Germany, it has achieved the most popularity in Asia. The country which generated the most revenue for the company was Korea, with 2.4 billion euros in 2023. This is perhaps in part down to their quick commerce (q-commerce) strategy, which comes with a promise to deliver goods in under an hour. The company, however, has recently seen some financial challenges with net losses and the stock value decreasing by around 44 percent compared to the previous year. Perhaps in order to cut down on expenditures the company has taken new measures including closing some tech offices in Turkey and Taiwan as well as decreasing the size of the workforce. Business deals. In May 2024, it was announced that an agreement had been reached for Uber to buy foodpanda, a food delivery service in Taiwan belonging to Delivery Hero, for 950 million U.S. dollars. Although foodpanda was the most popular food delivery service, UberEats also has a strong presence in Taiwan and therefore, is in a good position to take over. Despite this agreement being reached it is not completely a done deal as due to Uber’s strong presence in the delivery market authorities must still assess whether this would be a regulatory risk. In addition, Uber bought newly issued shares worth 300 million U.S. dollars in Delivery Hero which will help the company’s liquidity. Who is their competition? The online food delivery market is a relatively new industry but despite this, it has seen rapid growth and restaurant-to-consumer delivery is expected to make a revenue of around 2.8 billion dollars in Germany in 2024. The food delivery app, Lieferando.de was the most downloaded food delivery app with around 2.4 million downloads. The takeout app with the next highest number of downloads was Uber Eats with just over 1.14 million downloads, which is less than half of the downloads of Lieferando showing them to be ahead of the competition and thus, also ahead of Delivery Hero. Among non-German customers, Lieferando is perhaps better known as Just Eat Takeaway, as Lieferando is just the name for the German version of the food delivery platform. In 2023, the company had a global revenue of over 5.2 billion euros, and over half a billion euros of this revenue was from the German market. It is not known whether the foodpanda deal will be approved by the authorities and what impact this will have on Delivery Hero’s business. It will be the financial development of the company over the next few years that will indicate whether the decisions that the management have taken were successful or not.

The way consumers in the Asia-Pacific region shop has transformed drastically, driven by factors such as the rise of digital platforms, social commerce, and evolving consumer expectations. As the population becomes more tech-savvy, along with increasing smartphone penetration, online shopping is no longer just a convenience, but rather a lifestyle. Consumers in the region are embracing innovative shopping choices, from AI-driven product recommendations to live-streamed product showcases, resulting in faster purchase decisions than before. New online shopping platforms. New platforms and trends are shaping consumer behavior, with marketplaces like Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop competing for consumers. Social media and influencer-driven marketing also play an important role, as shoppers in the Asia-Pacific region rely on reviews and recommendations of family members before making a purchase. With the success of social commerce, many consumers also indulged in livestream commerce, which provides more transparent product reviews and real-time engagement, making purchase decisions easier.  Consumer preferences and decisions. The COVID-19 pandemic was inarguably the main cause for new digital consumers in the Asia-Pacific region in recent years. As consumers have grown accustomed to online shopping, the preference to shop in physical stores has declined. While  most customers mix both online and offline shopping, their choices largely depend on product categories. Influences on shopping decisions can vary significantly across countries, shaped by cultural and socio-economic factors. Among Gen Z consumers, online shopping dominates, from product research to buying processes. Online marketplaces and social media platforms were common sources for discovering and researching products among Gen Z. With the younger generation being more immersed in technology, many digital innovations, such as AI-driven product recommendations, have been met with a positive and open attitude. As technology continues to evolve, the future of shopping in the Asia-Pacific region will likely become more personalized, interactive, and seamless.

From financial crises to a pandemic or even to the threats of commercial barriers such as the United-States-imposed tariffs, several economic factors have influenced consumption behavior in Portugal in recent years. With the consumer price index (CPI) climbing to over 124 points in April 2025 and with the average monthly disposable income per household reaching 1,878 euros, the Portuguese have been maintaining a delicate balance between consumption and savings. However, as the confidence of consumers decreases, not only does the share of disposable income saved rise, but also consumption habits adapt to the present circumstances. Consumer behavior and spending habits. The annual food expenditure of households in Portugal has reached 35.5 billion euros in 2024, a higher value than in pre-pandemic times. Still, food and beverages are only the third product category where consumers splurge the most money. In fact, it is on clothing and accessories that the Portuguese prefer to make the most expensive purchases. Despite privileging comfort when acquiring apparel, half of the consumers in Portugal state that dressing well is very important to them. Simultaneously, the vast majority of the Portuguese look out for special offers or promotions when purchasing a product of any class, which reveals a struggle between consuming what is desired and making responsible financial decisions. When it comes to planning future spending activities, 40 percent of the Portuguese intend to use money to go on a trip. Despite this being the single activity on which most people planned to spend money in 2024, pursuits regarding housing, such as buying, renovating, or furnishing the house, gathered even more interest when combined. Online shopping and retail events. Although the Portuguese continue to prefer shopping in physical stores, online shopping has become a common practice among consumers of all ages. In 2024, over half of people aged between 45 and 54 years had made at least one online purchase, and this share was even higher for younger age groups. The frequency of using e-commerce for acquiring products or services has been increasing over the past two years, along with the share of people making sales to other consumers, which reached the all-time highest in 2024. During special retail events, consumption escalates both offline and online. During Black Friday 2024, there was an increase of over 190 percent in the number of purchases paid with national cards just in the clothing and accessories segment. However, it was high-tech gadgets that most consumers intended to acquire during the event. As the unpredictability of commercial policies remains on the horizon of Portuguese consumers, it is not surprising that they expect their financial situation to deteriorate during the upcoming year. Consumer behavior will continue adapting to internal and external trends in an effort to which the Portuguese are already quite accustomed.

In the past decade, the constant growth of e-commerce sales  has offered fraudsters unlimited opportunities to take advantage of a market worth over 4 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide. In 2024, losses to online payment fraud were estimated at 44 billion U.S. dollars. While that figure declined in comparison to 2023, it is forecasted to surpass the 100 billion U.S. dollars mark by 2029. In light of this situation, fraud detection and prevention in the e-commerce market is crucial for reducing losses of online shoppers and merchants alike. To trust or not to trust. Fraud attacks come from diverse sources, and affect both online buyers and sellers. Although buyers are frequently impacted by fraudulent sellers, they also engage in e-commerce fraud at high rates. In 2024, e-merchants across the globe reported experiencing more than a dozen of different types of fraud attacks, with refund and policy abuse being the most common. Other fraudulent activities of buyers like coupon/discount abuse was also reported by e-merchants. According to online sellers, the increase of first-party misuse  happened mainly as a result of increasing sales as well as consumers learning how to “game the system”. Because potential fraudsters are becoming more knowledgeable every day and e-commerce only continues to grow, it is imperative for online retailers to effectively enhance their prevention measures against these attacks. What’s next for e-commerce fraud? E-commerce companies are well aware of the high costs that fraud generates, and they have already introduced measures to fight against attacks. Out of the several measures implemented to prevent e-commerce fraud, two-factor authentication (2FA) and machine learning (ML) solutions were the most efficient methods in 2024. While new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are being used to combat fraud, fraudsters are still trying to level the playing field by using those same technologies in their favor. In 2024, AI was perceived to increase the sophistication of phishing and online scams globally. Fraud has been around since the origin of e-commerce, however the complexity required to fight it is increasing. The use of technology will remain a vital component for e-commerce sellers hoping to avoid fraud-related losses as fraudsters attempt to utilize it against them.

The Nordics are a region characterized by high purchasing power and digital proficiency. In 2023, the regional e-commerce market generated roughly 30 billion U.S. dollars in revenue. By 2029, the figure is expected to rise to 51 billion U.S. dollars. Online marketplaces are popular e-commerce destinations, where third-party companies sell their goods or services. They are one-stop shops with a vast range of brands, products, and price points to choose from. International overtake. Amazon.se launched in Sweden at the end of 2020. This marks the first time the international retail giant entered the Nordic market, reshaping the e-commerce landscape in the region. In 2023, amazon.se generated net sales of around 152 million U.S. dollars. With such a large revenue flow, Amazon poses a serious challenge to local marketplaces in the region. Other Nordic companies can now trade on amazon.se, or opt for the German site amazon.de. For Danish companies, amazon.se already offers professional support in their native language. To what extent the e-commerce giant will impact online retailing in the region remains to be seen. Hobby and leisure were the top-selling categories on Amazon's Swedish platform in 2023. With around 36 percent of sales, electronics was the second-largest category. In March 2023, most Amazon mobile shoppers were under 35 years old. That same year, Swedish shoppers downloaded the Amazon app a staggering 393,000 times. It was also a popular marketplace app in other Nordic countries, signaling growing popularity in the region. Homegrown players. While multinational Amazon is a business-to-consumer (B2C) platform, local players are the biggest consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketplaces in the Nordics. C2C marketplaces are platforms that facilitate transactions between private sellers and buyers. Essentially, these are forums where people can sell their used goods online in order to make some extra cash. The Norwegian Schibsted Media Group has a firm hold on the Nordic C2C market. Founded in 1839 as a publishing company, the company now operates some of the biggest online marketplaces in the Nordics: Finn, Blocket, Tori, and DBA. In 2023, Schibsted's marketplaces generated over 5.4 billion Norwegian kroner in revenue. The segments classifieds (83 percent) and advertising (10 percent) made up the highest revenue shares. The Schibsted marketplaces attract millions of visitors every month. In February 2024, users visited Finn 42 million times, Blocket over 21 million times, and Tori approximately 17 million times.

Generation X includes individuals born between 1965 and 1980. The name is commonly abbreviated as Gen X and sometimes more loosely defined as encompassing the time frame from the early sixties to early eighties. The generation follows the Baby Boomers and precedes the Millennials. In the U.S. there were roughly 65 million members of Generation X before the beginning of the pandemic. The last members of the generation turned 18 in 1998 and the generation is slowly shrinking in terms of numbers. Grocery shopping behavior. The grocery market of the United States is a massive juggernaut worth over 680 billion U.S. dollars. While the Silent Generation is about to completely vanish from the shopping landscape, Generation X makes up over a third of all grocery store food buyers that contribute to this market. This makes the Gen Xers the second largest contributor after their younger counterparts. Online shopping is increasingly important to Generation X as a growing number of them have already used an online-only grocery retailer to order food. Eating behaviors. Three-quarters of Generation X would agree that meat is a part of the American identity. Their thinking on the matter is indistinguishable from older generations, while younger generations, especially Generation Z, see this somewhat differently. However, more than half of Gen Xers have tried plant-based meat alternatives. They are only slightly more willing than older generations to pay more for food products that do not harm the environment. Their children, of which many can be found in Generation Z, are much more willing to pay this price.

Online shopping has revolutionized retail in the past decades. But the digital sales wave is also taking over the business-to-business (B2B) segment. Manufacturers supply other manufacturing firms with raw materials, production supplies, finished products, and services. Due to the large variety of traded goods, this sub-branch of B2B e-commerce encompasses both generalist marketplaces and vendors specialized in a specific product sector or vertical. E-commerce and e-procurement. E-commerce providers benefit from the investments manufacturers allocated to innovate and digitalize their entire supply chain, including sale channels. In Europe, a bit over 20 percent of Dutch and Spanish manufacturers sell products and services on their websites. Outside of the EU, estimates for the Indian market predicted a seven-fold increase in manufacturing gross merchandise value by 2027. In Japan, the overall B2B online sales of manufacturers exceed the wholesale counterpart. Big manufacturing groups often integrate and automate the purchase process in their enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. To achieve that in an efficient way, large organizations use online procurement platforms, i.e. software dedicated to purchase transactions and strategic storage of suppliers’ and buyers’ data. In 2024, one in three procurement professionals in the manufacturing sector intended to invest in the full digitalization of procure-to-pay processes by 2027. Successful marketplaces. In the United States, numerous players populate the market. While giants Alibaba and Amazon Business dominate the generalist market, the ranking of U.S. B2B specialized vendors shows a quite diverse pool of players, including manufacturers and shipping service providers. AI-powered marketplace Xometry thrived in the U.S. and abroad by combining on-demand manufacturing with supplier services. Lastly, online store sales of industrial supply companies Fastenal and Grainger increased remarkably over the last years. A better customer experience. As the manufacturing e-commerce market gets more competitive, the attention towards user experience grows. Thanks to optimized customer relationship management (CRM) systems and AI-powered technology, manufacturing companies are improving the digital customer experience in the United States. Their efforts paid off in terms of increased customer loyalty and satisfaction, as well as higher sales or revenue. In industrial manufacturing, e-commerce platforms will be at the center of product experience management projects.

Discovering new brands and getting product reviews are easier now more than ever, thanks to social commerce. Social media users are no longer limited to interacting with their online peers and watching entertaining video content, but they can also shop without leaving the platform. Through affiliate links, user-generated content (UGC), and influencer marketing, brands can easily connect with their potential customers and entice them to purchase a product they are selling. With the highest average time spent on social media in the APAC region, this subset of e-commerce has considerable potential, as reflected in the growing estimated revenue of social commerce in the Philippines. Facebook dominates the social commerce scene. Facebook was by far the leading social media platform in the Philippines in 2023. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was also the most used platform for making a purchase, according to a 2023 survey. With its embedded marketplace, shoppers can browse through several products and services on offer. They can even filter through locations, making it easier for them to shop. Facebook also had the highest estimated social commerce revenue for 2024, with revenues twice as much as the second-leading platform. Aside from its embedded marketplace, brands also make use of the millions of potential advertising audiences on the platform, using targeted digital ads. Facebook also introduced live selling, allowing businesses and individuals to showcase their products and communicate with their customers in real time. More than photos and videos: captivating shopper's attention on Instagram. Meanwhile, although Instagram Shop is not available in the Philippines, brands maximize their presence on the platform by showcasing their products and linking their profiles to their shops on e-commerce marketplaces. With the use of reels, brands also partner with Instagram influencers and encourage user-generated content to review their products. The platform is especially popular among female audiences, which account for the highest share of advertising reach on Instagram. The rise of TikTok Shop. With its entertaining short-form or 10-minute videos, TikTok has captured not only a growing number of users, but also brands eager to market their new products and services. As in the case of Facebook and Instagram, brands and businesses can easily reach their potential customers using targeted ads, partnering with TikTok influencers, and collaborating with TikTok users through user-generated content (UGC). The platform also allows individuals and businesses to link products to their videos, offering a seamless shopping transaction. In addition, TikTok Shop was introduced in the Philippines in 2022, a fully integrated e-commerce solution with a dedicated shopping tab. While the estimated social commerce revenue of TikTok in the Philippines is still lower than that of Facebook and Instagram, TikTok already emerged as one of the  leading e-commerce platforms in the country in 2023, based on gross merchandise value. The dominance of Facebook as a social media platform made it easier to capture the growing social commerce market in the Philippines. However, the growing popularity of TikTok Shop has proven to be a contender not only against rival social networks but also in the entire e-commerce scene.

Retailing, that is, the sale of goods to end consumers in relatively small quantities, is an important part of the global economy. As such, it should come as no surprise that, at any given month, there are millions of people working in this sector in each of the world’s main economies, which are also often home to the world’s leading retail markets. North America and Europe. The preliminary data for February 2022 suggested U.S. retailers employed over 15.7 million people in the country that month. Recording roughly 6.6 trillion U.S. dollars in retail sales in 2021, the United States also represents the largest retail market worldwide. U.S. retail employees worked on average 30.4 hours a week in February 2022. As for their northern neighbors, according to data for 2020, Canadians whose main job was in wholesale and retail trade worked on average 33.5 hours a week. In Germany, which also figures among the world’s leading retail markets, nearly 1.2 million out of its 83 million inhabitants were working full-time in the retail sector in 2020. Selected retailers. As of 2021, the U.S. multinational Costco employed around 192,000 people just in the United States, and an additional 47,000 employees in Canada. Macy’s, headquartered in New York, USA, had over 75,700 employees on its payroll by the end January 2021, a considerable decrease in comparison to a year earlier. The Swedish H&M employed an average of 107,375 people around the globe in 2021, which similarly represented a significant decrease in comparison to its pre-pandemic personnel numbers. Headquartered in the Netherlands but also founded in Sweden, the major furniture retailer and big-box store known as IKEA employed around 225,000 people worldwide in 2021. COVID-19 impact on retail employment. Although retail sales have not necessarily decreased, the sector is going through changes, some of which might spell danger for brick-and-mortar operations. Even though warning signs could already be seen before the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the situation further strengthened the e-commerce segment, while also making things even more difficult for physical stores and their employees. Store closures are one of the ways in which jobs are lost, and in 2020, store closures of JCPenney alone impacted around 90,000 jobs in the United States. Across the pond, in the United Kingdom over 105,000 jobs were lost in the sector, and nearly 11,500 store closures were recorded in 2021.

The Nordics—a region characterized by high levels of internet penetration, digital literacy, and purchasing power—has a thriving e-commerce market. Within the Nordics, Norway has the highest online shopping reach, whereas Sweden generates the highest e-commerce revenue. In 2023, Sweden’s e-commerce revenue amounted to an estimated 13.6 billion U.S. dollars. E-commerce in Norway, generated 8.6 billion dollars that year, closely followed by Denmark with 8.4 billion and Finland with 6.7 billion. A region of mobile shoppers. Mobile commerce keeps expanding rapidly in the region, with around half of the Nordic consumers now purchasing products online via mobile devices. By mid-2024, over three-fourths of visits to retail websites originated from smartphones, while only 23 percent came from desktops and one percent from tablets. Moreover, Nordic consumers also purchase most of their products online via mobile phones, accounting for approximately 70 percent of all other device orders. However, more than eight in ten baskets created on mobile online stores did not result in completed purchases. In comparison, the abandonment rate for orders created on desktops was slightly lower, with roughly three-quarters of baskets being abandoned. Marketplaces dominate. In the Nordic region, online marketplaces are the most popular online shopping destinations. The region has a strong consumer-to-consumer (C2C) market, with recommerce marketplaces being the most popular online stores. Tori.fi dominates in Finland, Finn.no in Norway, Blocket.se in Sweden, and DBA.dk in Denmark. All these leading second-hand marketplaces are owned by the Schibsted group. In 2023, Schibsted’s online marketplaces generated a revenue of around 5,400 million Norwegian kroner. The Nordic e-commerce market is booming, driven by a high adoption rate of mobile shopping, and successful recommerce marketplaces. In 2024, the Nordic e-commerce industry is estimated to worth around 37 billion U.S. dollars. By 2029, it is expected to reach nearly 57 billion dollars.

E-commerce sites are complex platforms serving as digital shopping windows, payment checkouts, hubs for fulfillment services, and marketing tools. Cloud-based software providers like Shopify have successfully specialized in e-commerce suites able to streamline these processes seamlessly. Founded in 2006 in Ottawa, Canada, Shopify is now a global player, accounting for roughly ten percent of the worldwide e-commerce software market. From Decathlon to Fashion Nova, Netflix, and ColourPoP, several well-known international brands have built their online stores on Shopify – contributing to the growing Gross Merchandise Volume of the company. How Shopify’s business works. Since going public in 2015, Shopify’s annual revenue increased significantly, hitting nearly nine billion U.S. dollars in 2024. As stated by the company, the business is based on subscription services and merchant solutions. Merchants can subscribe to get a full package of e-commerce tools - including the upgraded version known as Shopify Plus, while booking additional solutions, mostly related to payment services. In the competitive e-commerce industry, small retailers require a constantly expanding range of marketing and fulfillment services, which Shopify has highly invested in. The company’s strive for innovation is confirmed by the year-over-year increasing investment in technology: Shopify’s research and development spending nearly quadrupled between 2018 and 2021, before stabilizing in the following years. Recent acquisitions. Shopify has committed resources to develop and integrate more advanced AI functionality into their products. In early 2025, the company acquired Vantage Discovery, a startup founded by former Pinterest engineers Lance Riedel and Nigel Daley, who built an AI-powered search engine for retailers. A more efficient use of AI models for product design is behind the acquisition of Molly Studio in August 2025. The expertise of the New York-based design firm will allow Shopify’s retailers to customize their design identity thanks to AI prompts of the Product Design Studio package. By integrating the design agency into their business, Shopify aims at applying AI in product design and product experience aspects. Shopify’s meticulous attention to merchants' needs and a strategy which has avoided sensationalism are driving forces behind the optimistic prospects about profitability and growing price of their shares.

Knock knock: direct selling is a business model in which a company utilizes person-to-person interactions to sell products. Typically, the process involves an independent seller buying the goods from the parent company and then selling them to other individuals (single-level marketing), sometimes recruiting them to also become independent sellers (multi-level marketing). This business practice takes place across the globe, but is especially common and successful in the Americas and the Asia Pacific region. And although many legitimate companies and representatives around the world operate in this manner, direct selling is sometimes confused with or deemed controversial due to “pyramid schemes”, as certain major multi-level marketing (MLM) companies have been accused of forming such illegitimate business models. A pyramid scheme is an unsustainable business model in which sellers receive money for recruiting other sellers, who must then also recruit their own sellers in order to turn a profit, creating a business structure that resembles a pyramid, frequently without a genuine product to sell. Direct selling worldwide. Globally, there are many direct selling companies specializing in numerous areas and providing various products from wellness supplements and cosmetics to household and home improvement items. Combined, they generated some 168 billion U.S. dollars' worth of annual global retail sales in 2023, which is a noticeable drop compared to one year earlier. Direct selling companies specializing in wellness products make up about a third of the industry’s total sales, making it the largest direct selling product category. Direct selling in the United States. In the United States, the world’s largest direct selling market, the industry had seen an increase in retail sales in 2020, when the country’s yearly direct sales jumped to 40 billion U.S. dollars. In 2021, U.S. sales even amounted to nearly 43 billion U.S. dollars. That said, the spike did not last, as annual sales figures resembled pre-COVID-19 numbers once again as of 2023. Furthermore, the size of the U.S. direct selling community, i.e., sellers and customers, had declined in similar fashion, amounting to less than 44 million people as of 2023. Leading MLM companies. Some of the world's largest multi-level marketing and direct selling enterprises include the likes of eXp Realty, Natura &Co, Coway, Nu Skin Enterprises, PM-International, and so on. The top direct selling companies in the United States are Amway and Herbalife. The larger of the two, Amway, generated about seven and a half billion U.S. dollars in 2023 and offers a broad range of products, with nutritional items, cosmetics, and home goods accounting making up the vast majority of the company's sales. The second-largest company, Herbalife, primarily offers weight management and nutritional products, and reported annual net sales of approximately five billion U.S. dollars. Across the globe, the direct selling industry has seen better days, with declines in sales being recorded for many companies and in many countries. Although the model is far from gone, it would not be a stretch to call in-person direct selling somewhat antiquated. A similar model that has become much more prevalent in the last decade is direct-to-consumer e-commerce, a model in which manufacturers sell their products directly to their customers' doorsteps using online channels, effectively omitting the need for third-party retailers and sellers.

The conditions for product research are constantly evolving in the digital arena. Whether it is the increasing role of GenAI as a product search tool or Amazon stopping to advertise their products on Google Shopping, e-commerce users need to adapt to new trends to discover more about the products they intend to buy. Many digital buyers prefer not to spend their hard-earned money before doing research on prices, reviews, product details, among other characteristics. In 2025, the majority of e-commerce users worldwide conducted research online before major purchases, not leaving their purchase outcomes to chance. Research preferences. Online shoppers favored online marketplaces to do product research, with almost a third of them using these platforms as a primary source to search for products in 2024. Online marketplaces lead as a research tool in many product segments, like household products or luxury products, being a preferred source of product information over retailer sites or brand websites. The convenience of comparing the price of similar products on the same platform gives marketplaces an edge over other platforms during the product research. Newer tools like ChatGPT are also being used during the online shopping process to find inspiration on products, and other channels like online searches or social media were also popular places to start the customer journey. Social media, a source of product information. Social media platforms have become not only a preferred digital place to acquire products, but also for inspiration and research. In 2024, almost 40 percent of consumers used social media to discover new products to buy or to browse products they were looking for already. The use of social media platforms for product research was especially popular among younger generations, with Millennials and Gen Z consumers using social media for this purpose the most. In Europe, YouTube was the favorite platform of online shoppers to learn about the products they planned to buy, while for American shoppers of most generations, TikTok was the top social app for product research. This dominance of TikTok in the first stages of the customer journey is subject to change given the legal struggles the company is facing in the North American country. Regardless of if it happens on online marketplaces, social media, or AI platforms, discovering and researching products online before buying is a common practice among consumers. The convenience of having the product information just a few clicks away turns the digital ecosystem into a great alternative to start the purchase process.

Whenever traditional retail fails to provide the convenience, selection, or service that customers now expect, e-commerce stands ready to capture that unmet demand. That is true for pharmacies and the health and wellbeing product category in Europe. In the 27 countries region, online pharmacies are estimated to generate revenue worth roughly 13 billion euros largely due to the sale of over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceuticals. Where and why e-pharmacies are flourishing. In Germany – one of the biggest markets in Europe – the number of pharmacies significantly decreased due to business costs and lack of personnel, making access to pharmacies more difficult for people living in rural and small urban areas. In 2024, the German market of consumer health products sold on online pharmacies dwarfed other European countries, at over 3.5 billion euros. In France, where the number of pharmacies and parapharmacies is higher, online channels have not got the same appeal to consumers. As a result, only 14 percent of French online users purchase their medication online, against over 40 percent of Germans doing so. Although the COVID-19 pandemic surely pushed distant selling of pharmacies, figures related to countries such as Spain clearly indicate that the e-commerce revenue from online sales of pharmaceutical products have nearly reached 2020 levels. Leading players challenging Amazon. The European market for e-pharmacies is fragmented and there are no huge players overshadowing the others. However, a few domestic players expanded in multiple countries by acquiring their competitors. Over the years, companies like Red Care and Atida secured cross-border markets thanks to a series of acquisitions. The Swiss-based DocMorris did the same with the online marketplaces PromoFarma in Spain and the German medpex. In Germany and Italy, where e-pharmacies are thriving more than in other countries, Amazon challenged e-pharmacies and succeeded in reaching a market share of 41 and 29 percent, respectively, in the segment of health and wellbeing products. Consumption and prospects. Product catalog and online services of e-pharmacies are tied to countries’ regulations on healthcare. In Europe, the online selling of prescription drugs is allowed in Germany, Nordic countries, and the United Kingdom, explaining why OTC drugs and personal care products account for the largest shares of online baskets in Europe. In Italy, e-pharmacies’ sales of supplements even outdid the fore mentioned product categories. Favorable forecasts for Europe's online pharmacy revenue, and the intense competition among key players point to highly promising prospects for the e-commerce pharmaceutical market.

Making it to the top of the wine e-commerce market is no small feat. To stand out in a very niche vertical with no chance of competing with brick-and-mortar seems like an impossible task. Yet, Vivino did not only establish itself as a leading name in online wine retail but went above and beyond to make its brand name almost synonymous with the industry. A global footprint. In 2023, Vivino ranked as the second leading wine and liquor online store globally, just behind Chinese alcohol e-commerce marketplace jiuxian.com. Hailing from Copenhagen, Denmark, Vivino managed to expand its consumer reach in every corner of the globe. From Brazil to Singapore, the Danish online wine retailer has reached wine lovers and consumers wherever they are. In an industry plagued with a staggeringly low e-commerce user penetration rates, Vivino’s consumer reach is impressive in its breadth. As of 2024, the company’s operations span four continents and include key markets such as the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany. User-generated content at the center of the value proposition. The number of people who purchase and consume wine is much higher than the number of wine experts. Vivino’s marketplace boasts a community of millions of wine lovers from around the globe who rate and review their favorite (and least favorite) wine bottles – putting word-of-mouth at the center of the company’s digital strategy. Users can filter their search by region, grape variety, price range, average rating, and even suitable food pairings. Vivino sees its mobile app downloads peak in December of every year, as holiday shoppers start looking for the perfect wine bottle for the festive season. As for web traffic, Vivino.com had approximately 6.4 million visitors to its website in October 2024, with a bounce rate of just under fifty percent. Vivino’s marketplace is more than just an online wine store. It’s a digital community space for wine lovers to browse through, discover, and purchase wine from all over the world, regardless of what their budget is, or how much they know about grape varieties or food pairings. This effective differentiation strategy enables Vivino to leverage a competitive edge that goes beyond the confines of the wine e-commerce industry. Vivino’s disruptive potential and multichannel ambition makes the Danish marketplace an important player to be reckoned with. 

Across Australia, the demand for eco-friendly and ethical goods and services has been gaining momentum. For several consumers, sustainability has become a more significant purchase criterion in their shopping journeys, alongside the societal impacts of their product purchases. Nonetheless, as cost and convenience are propelled into center stage and the prevalence of ‘greenwashed’ products becomes more evident, will Australian consumer actions be able to match their sustainability awareness and intentions? Do-say gap: action versus intention. Concerns surrounding the environmental impacts of product purchases on wildlife and nature, alongside the goal of protecting the planet for future generations, were voiced as the key motivations for buying eco-friendly goods among Australian shoppers. Nonetheless, while the desire to purchase sustainably is growing, awareness and intentions are not always translating into proactivity. With consumers impacted by tight household budgets, price and product quality often remain the key priorities. Alongside high price tags, a recent survey of Australians highlighted that difficulty navigating product labeling and widespread skepticism of business green claims were prevalent barriers to purchasing sustainably.  While increasingly frugal shoppers struggle to prioritize sustainability, its role in purchase decisions varies across different demographic groupings. According to a 2024 survey, Australia’s higher-income households were the most likely to shop sustainably, likely due to greater flexibility in their budgets. Alongside this, female and younger consumers more frequently gave precedence to sustainability during the buying process than their male or older-generation counterparts. Closing Australia’s fashion loop. Mindfulness around fast fashion’s adverse environmental and social outcomes  is rising, with several Australians seeking ‘greener’ alternatives and purchasing routes.  To lessen the ramifications of their fashion habits, Australian intentions to reduce apparel purchases and research responsible disposal methods are mounting. Australia’s Gen Z and Millennial shoppers are the driving force behind eco-friendly clothing purchasing, with Boomers the least likely to have bought sustainable fashion. Yet, while Australians hope the clothes labeled as 'sustainable' are truly eco-friendly, several doubt fashion brands’ transparency. Moreover, Australia’s high clothing consumption and waste levels continue to outpace its fashion circularity initiatives. ‘Green’ food consumption efforts. Elevated demand for sustainable options in the grocery and food service sectors is another notable trend. To offset their carbon footprint, Australia’s eco-conscious shoppers increasingly minimize food waste, opt for plant-based foods, and practice more mindful meal delivery habits. Additionally, due to high consumer expectations of hospitality venue sustainability practices, including using sustainably sourced, seasonal produce and donating unused food, over half of businesses cited sustainable food sourcing as a top priority for 2025. Mending the business-consumer trust gap. The consumer call for accurate reporting and product labeling alongside concrete explanations of the products’ beneficial environmental impacts has heightened following recent scrutiny of many Australian businesses’ green claims. Despite the vital retention opportunities afforded by aligning with shopper sustainability expectations, knowledge and awareness of the circular economy remain limited among some organizations. To curb misleading and uncorroborated assertions, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released extensive guidance for businesses on making environmental claims. With many Australian consumers trying to strike a balance between sustainability and affordability when shopping, brand optimization of product labeling, price incentives, and fostering their reputation as an honest and authentically eco-friendly retailer could be key to closing shoppers’ value-to-action gap regarding sustainable product purchases.

Much like any holiday season, the Indian festive season is a time characterized by compassion, a vibrant celebration of culture, and exuberant consumerism. The three-month long festivities commence with the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi in September and proceed well into October and November, the end being marked by Diwali. Gifting and shopping are essential to this period, with consumers planning to spend more each year, thus boosting the economy. Diwali shopping spree. Diwali or Deepavali, the festival of lights is one of the most significant Indian festivals, celebrated by families across different states and religions. It serves as a crucial period for Indian retailers in multiple sectors. Typical activities during this occasion include cleaning and decorating homes, shopping, exchanging gifts, and worshipping. While retailers offer a wide range of products for Diwali such as gifting items, jewelry, and pooja paraphernalia, consumer electronics and apparel remain the most beloved segments for festive shopping. In the days preceding Diwali, consumer demand for gold jewelry or coins spike, marking the special occasion of Dhanteras. Emerging festive trends include a growing emphasis on purchasing eco-friendly and sustainable products. Additionally, quick commerce is slowly gaining traction for last-minute shopping needs and delivering gifts during this period. Blending tradition: Hybrid festive shopping. As a result of consumers preferring a blend of digital and offline shopping channel for the festive season, the competition between online and offline retailers has intensified. Major e-commerce platforms offer massive discounts under the Amazon Great Indian Festival Sales and Flipkart Big Billion Days. Resulting in over one billion visitors for the event and sales growth primarily fueled by tier 2 and tier 3 cities. Convenience, extensive discounts, and multiple payment options were the leading reasons for consumers to opt for online shopping. Meanwhile, physical stores provide an immersive shopping experience. Markets are lit up with colorful lights and decorations, creating a warm festive ambiance that online platforms cannot imitate. Furthermore, retailers offer diverse product selections, special discounts, and a personalized shopping experience. By using these strategies, offline retailers are trying to remain significant and appealing during the festive period. In order to interact effectively with the dynamic market, retailers are simultaneously adapting to the evolving consumer preferences. Hence, the festive season reflects a fusion of tradition, consumers’ optimism, and digital transformation in the retail landscape of India.

The value of business-to-business online transactions outpaces the business-to-consumer (B2C) market, making it one of the most interesting e-commerce segments to look at. The United States is one of the largest and most mature global markets in terms of B2B e-commerce adoption. General market trends. In 2021, the combined value of e-shipments of manufacturers and wholesale trade amounted to 4.23 trillion U.S. dollars. Even more conservative estimates suggest that the B2B e-commerce sales will experience steady growth by 2027. In the wholesale and distribution sectors, the online channel has gained ground vs. offline, and the trend towards digital seems unstoppable. U.S. e-commerce wholesale trade sales were worth 3.8 trillion U.S. dollars in 2022, roughly one-third of total wholesale trade. Vertical marketplaces are here to stay. Generalist marketplaces like Amazon Business thrive thanks to their established position in the B2C market, but B2B e-commerce specialized in specific sectors proved to be successful thanks to their unique business model and range of offered services. The U.S. is home to vertical marketplaces like Zoro - owned by the industrial supply and equipment provider Grainger – and Xometry, specialized in on-demand 3D manufacturing. Business services opened new opportunities for B2B players launching online businesses. Fiverr is not just a marketplace connecting companies with professionals in creative fields. It now serves as a platform for the freelancing community worldwide. In the realm of logistics, Freightos is an online platform for freight booking but generates most of its increasing revenue from data analytics services. Marketplaces serve as digital platforms for B2B exports, too. In this case, payment services are crucial. The variety of payment services used for cross-border operations suggests that any category of marketplace must integrate payment options in a streamlined user experience. Similarities and differences with B2C e-commerce. Purchase channels are not mutually exclusive. In the United States, suppliers' websites and marketplaces do not report a huge gap in usage rates among B2B professionals. It is perhaps a sign that the competition between the two channels – if it ever existed - is still open. As in the B2C environment, the role of social media is gaining relevance, with one in five buyers using them. Furthermore, a significant number of B2B enterprises adopted or experimented with artificial intelligence in e-commerce operations while nearly 20 percent of them are evaluating the use of AI-powered technologies in the future.

Achieving sustainability appears to be more challenging in the UK e-commerce industry every year. Not even the economic recession reversed the growing trend in package shipping in the United Kingdom. In the twelve months ending March 2024, over 3.9 million packages were shipped in the country, a figure surpassed only by the peak of pandemic times. E-commerce footprint. Parcel volumes might be due to the operations of different types of businesses. While online retail accounts for less than 14 percent of industrial real estate, third-party logistics and distribution companies – indirectly serving wholesale and retail businesses - contribute to over one-third of the annual take-up of warehouses in the UK. Delivery plays a key role in the carbon footprint of online retail. Couriers operate differently, generating carbon emissions which range from 200 to 600 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per parcel. However, most of the retailers' carbon footprint comes from the production, supply, and distribution of products that precede the sale and delivery to consumers. Despite tangible efforts, groups like Amazon have not succeeded in reducing their location-based carbon emissions, giving consumers good reasons to be concerned. Good news, at last. Like other G7 countries, the United Kingdom committed to the net-zero emissions target by 2050, including all economic sectors. While the emissions reduction plan appears too ambitious in the international aviation and shipping sectors, more optimistic prospects open in last-mile delivery closely related to e-commerce activities. Urban areas are ideal for cycle freight expansion. In London, the number of cargo bikes increased by over 40 percent between 2022 and 2023. By 2030, delivery operators have the chance to replace up to 17 percent of van kilometers with bicycle freight in the Central London area. Shipping to pick-up points and parcel lockers would make delivery more efficient and eco-friendly. Estimates based on London show that out-of-home delivery models would successfully reduce congestion in cities. Consumers' opinion aligns with forecast scenarios, as over half of UK shoppers are aware delivery at service points or parcel lockers is more eco-friendly and wish more retailers would offer out-of-home pickup options in the United Kingdom.

From posadas in Mexico to novenas in Colombia, the Christmas season in Latin America is full of diverse celebrations and unique traditions. The traditionally Christian holiday is celebrated among close family members or extended relatives around decorated trees, nativity scenes, gifts, and big feasts. According to a 2022 survey, the biggest priorities when going Christmas shopping among Latin American consumers were the Christmas presents, Christmas dinner, and clothing and accessories. When it came to the younger generations, spending time with the family held the biggest meaning of Christmas for children and teens in Latin America. However, with a region as diverse as Latin America, Christmas customs and consumer behavior greatly vary from one country to another, ranging from more indoor winter celebrations in Mexico to summer blowouts in Brazil or Argentina. Brazil. With the largest population in the region, the Portuguese-speaking giant was estimated to generate over 60 billion Brazilian reals from retail sales during the Christmas season in 2022. Therefore, it is not surprising that close to 100,000 new temporary retail jobs were created to meet the seasonal increase in sales in Brazil that Christmas. While some people help out restocking, the majority of these seasonal retail jobs were expected to employ salespeople in 2023. Furthermore, over a quarter of these seasonal hires were expected to work in the footwear and apparel sector. Colombia. For many Colombians, the Christmas season already starts on December 7, with the celebration of Día de las velitas, or Little Candles Day. However, most Colombians start preparing for the Christmas season much earlier. In 2023, almost half of Colombian consumers planned to do their Christmas shopping as early as November, with a significant amountnumber of consumers planning to take advantage of the November shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Mexico. As one of the few Latin American countries on in the Northern Hemisphere, and thus celebrating the end of the year during winter, Christmas traditions and celebrations in Mexico are focused on family and friends. And just as in other countries in the region, Christmas dinner tops all other priorities when it comes to Christmas shopping in Mexico. Still, Christmas presents made up three times more of the total cost of Christmas in Mexico than the Christmas dinner.

From #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt to desktop shopping, the way in which consumers shop for fashion is highly dependent on several factors ranging from personal preferences to household income. One such factor, one that can be easily categorized and observed, is the demographic of age. Taking into account the Digital Age and the development of e-commerce in the last two decades, younger consumers have different experiences when interacting with brands and shopping online than their older counterparts and vice versa. The purchasing power of Gen Z. Born between 1997 and 2012, Generation Z, or Gen Z, makes up just under 21 percent of the population in the United States, and as they begin to enter the workforce and accumulate capital to spend, it becomes more apparent that there are defining trends to be seen amongst the generation’s shopping behavior. In the United States, when it comes to fashion, nearly 60 percent of Gen Z users over the age of 18 already had made online clothing purchases in 2023, just behind their Millennial elders at 64 percent. Their leading inspiration? Social media – with four in ten U.S. Gen Zers having reported such as their biggest source of inspiration for anything fashion related and 35 percent having purchased apparel through social commerce in 2023. Aside from social commerce, much of Gen Z’s shopping is typically done on mobile devices, and some of their favorite shopping apps were Amazon, Temu, SHEIN, and Walmart. Generational commonalities. Although Gen Z’s purchase power continues to grow, Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers are still quite relevant when it comes to fashion shopping online, and across the board also have several similarities when it comes to purchasing behavior. Across generational cohorts, over 80 percent of all shoppers in the U.S. specifically sought out user-generated content while making both clothing and footwear purchases online. And while Gen Z remains more inclined to use social media to find fashion inspiration, among all shoppers, websites or apps for brands and retailers also served as primary online discovery channels for many. Online stores were the most popular place for those aged 25 to 34 to purchase apparel in the U.S., and the second most popular for consumers aged 55 and older. The world of fashion e-commerce is extensive, and trends in fashion often reflect changing times. As the generations continue to age and shopping technology continues to develop, trends in the online shopping sphere will also mirror as much.

Everything is better when it is free. At least, that is what many online shoppers in the United Kingdom (UK) think. Complimentary shipping and returns are consumers’ main wishes for their web orders, a feat more and more retailers struggle to provide. In fact, only 17 percent of the leading retailers in the country offer free shipping, and the average return fee stands at 11.5 British pounds. Best and worst shipping providers. Over the past decade, the surge in e-commerce has led to a threefold increase in the volume of the UK parcel market. The Royal Mail, founded over 500 years ago, remains the dominant player of the courier market. This domestic shipping provider accounts for almost a quarter of the parcel market in terms of revenue, compared to other leading companies. The Royal Mail is also the most popular shipping service provider among online retailers, favored by more than half of the e-stores in the country. However, as Amazon continues to dominate the e-commerce landscape, Amazon Logistics is starting to take a larger share of the courier service market. Indeed, Amazon Logistic ranked as the second-highest revenue generating parcel service provider, accounting for about 15 percent of the total parcel market. Consumers reported less delivery problems with Amazon than with the Royal Mail, but none of them ranked as badly as Evri. Evri, or formerly known as Hermes, took the top spot as the most down voted parcel provider, with nearly half of UK consumers experiencing issues with the courier in 2023. The cost-of-living crisis makes returns more likely. Free and fast returns are the most valued return services online stores can offer. What might come as a surprise is how returns of online orders are directly linked to the current heightened cost-of-living in the UK. In 2023, nearly one-third of UK shoppers reported that they had returned an item as a direct consequence of the standard of living crisis. When receiving an online order, many people might rethink their purchases, and instead opt to save money and send back products. As the UK's e-commerce sector continues to grow, it is crucial that the 'last mile', the path that follows purchases from transportation hubs to their final destinations to consumers, remains seamless and economical. It is important for retailers to keep costs down for packages, as it is crucial for consumers to save money in these current times of financial hardship.

E-commerce for consumer electronics is rapidly reshaping the global retail landscape, with the market size projected to reach record highs in 2029 as millions more consumers embrace digital shopping. Germany stands out among leading markets, boasting a thriving e-commerce sector driven by robust revenue growth, diverse segments, and increasing user numbers. As technology adoption accelerates and consumer expectations climb, German e-commerce landscapes promise even greater innovation and competition ahead. Key brands and online shopping preferences. Germany’s consumer electronics e-commerce market in 2024 continues to be dominated by leading online stores, with amazon.de holding the top spot and generating nearly 12.9 billion in Gross merchandise value (GMV). Other major players like apple.com, mediamarkt.de, and otto.de also claim significant shares, together accounting for more than half of the Gross merchandise value among the country’s top 100 electronics stores. Strong brand awareness, loyalty, and active usage among German shoppers underscore the enduring popularity of these retailers, as consumers increasingly prefer platforms that offer reliability, choice, and seamless experiences. Brand reputation and online convenience play a central role in shoppers’ attitudes and expectations, shaping not only what devices are purchased but where and how they are bought. Generational shifts and smart shopping strategies. Online purchase behavior exhibits clear generational patterns, with Gen Z demonstrating a strong consideration for sustainability and personalized shopping experiences, and Gen X enjoying the large selection of products that are offered online. Across all age groups, German consumers actively research products: most visit multiple websites before making a purchase, using reviews, comparison platforms, and influencers to guide decisions. Attitudes toward value-for-money, personalized recommendations, and seamless delivery highlight the high expectations set by today’s e-commerce users. Germany’s consumer electronics e-commerce market is thriving in 2025, with leading brands and innovative digital platforms attracting a diverse range of shoppers. As generational buying habits evolve and shoppers expect more personalized and seamless experiences, the sector remains a benchmark for growth and innovation in European online retail. Looking ahead, adaptability and a focus on digital trends will be key for continued success in Germany’s dynamic e-commerce landscape.

Subscriptions as a business model are not new to Japanese consumers, since the idea of paying a recurring fee for access is the basis of established services like telecommunication contracts and newspaper deliveries. However, the widespread adoption in other sectors is a comparatively young development, which was further accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic. Subscription services represent the most distinguished segment, owing to the prominence of video and music streaming services like Netflix and Apple Music. Within the consumer goods sector, regular deliveries of non-durables with a predictable usage period have been established in segments like health and functional foods. Over the last decade, the subscription sales model has gradually diversified due to the varied nature of how different products are consumed.  Subscription models: from flat-rate to rental . The flat-rate model is the most common and popular subscription model in Japan. This subscription type allows unlimited use of a service for a recurring fee and is the standard for digital services as well as subscriptions tied to facilities like beauty services. A common model for non-durables is subscription boxes that allow customers to discover new products while also receiving scheduled deliveries of items matching their preferences. Although still low in adoption, meal kits, snack boxes, and experts-curated cosmetics are just a few examples of the subscription box model. In contrast, rental-type subscriptions have been established as a compromise for semi-durable and durable consumer goods requiring either high investments for purchase or high fees for short-term renting. In this model, subscribers can rent out a specified number of items according to their monthly plans for a recurring fee, with a buyout option to own a product at a reduced price. This model focuses on the experience and caters to the increasing preference for renting over buying among young consumer groups.  The appeal of subscription commerce . Regulatory barriers have hampered the growth of Japan’s subscription market to protect consumers from malicious sales practices, as the number of issues with subscription mail orders reported to the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan continues to grow. Nonetheless, businesses are exploring opportunities to secure stable revenue streams and loyal customers amid an aging and declining population. The variation in subscription-type services, ranging from digital entertainment over fan club memberships to subscription furniture rentals, also shows that consumers are not averse to the business model. Cost-saving deals through bundling will be key to attracting consumers, and the most desired providers of subscription bundles are telecommunication operators. Japan’s major telecommunications companies have already caught on, and subscription bundles with access to major streaming services, are just the beginning of the bundling trend.

With online retail sales constantly increasing, the sustainability of the e-commerce industry is becoming more relevant. The undeniable ease of having products delivered has an environmental impact: in the biggest urban areas worldwide, carbon emissions due to e-commerce logistics are forecast to hit around 25 million CO2 metric tons by 2030. E-commerce retailers will be expected to simultaneously ensure a greener supply chain and satisfy more demanding consumers wanting fast and low-cost delivery. Reducing the carbon footprint of e-commerce. Aside from transport and delivery, other aspects of online shopping are crucial for the environment. The amounts of orders purchased and returned to retailers contribute to the carbon emissions of the e-commerce industry worldwide. Additionally, a high number of these orders are not put back into the retail value chain, as returning and repacking would result in extra costs for the retailers. In 2022, it was estimated that over four billion tons of returned items ended up in landfills in the United States. Their transportation produced 24 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions that year. In the same year, a UK study estimated that half of online fashion returns that could not be resold ended up in landfills. Enforced in 2016, the Paris Agreement treaty urged countries and companies to reduce their carbon emissions to keep global warming below 2 — preferably 1.5 — degrees Celsius. As thousands of other organizations, and retailers with e-commerce activities have intervened in their Scope 3 emissions, the ones most related to the distribution and transportation of goods. Although essential, offsetting carbon emissions is only one aspect of sustainability in e-commerce. Businesses are challenged to implement further actions to achieve full circularity; by ensuring easy recycling of products, improving manufacturing efficiency, and partnering with other sustainable suppliers. Consumers stay alert. As widely as it's used, e-commerce doesn't have the best reputation. Consumers perceive fast delivery as harmful to the environment and therefore envisage other delivery options, perhaps questioning the myth of one-day delivery. Over one-third of U.S. shoppers would not mind delaying deliveries up to five days if given an incentive to do so. A higher number of online consumers welcomed the idea of combining the online orders made over the week and having them all delivered at a scheduled time. Latin America showed that online shoppers outlined dozens of different characteristics that make a product truly sustainable — from manufacturing sources to design and functionality. Whether the time of greenwashing is over or not, environmentally conscious consumers still appear to be very attentive.

Estonia has the highest online shopping penetration in the Baltics, with seven out of ten residents having purchased goods and services online over the past year. As a result, e-commerce earnings represent a larger share of the Estonian gross domestic product (GDP) compared to other Baltic countries, at nearly six percent in 2022. Some leading e-commerce platforms in Estonia include Hansapost and Kaup24, both part of the Pigu Hobby Hall Group (PHH) headquartered in Finland, as well as the furniture retailer On24. Apparel e-commerce in Estonia. Apparel is one of the most popular product categories purchased online in Estonia, with nearly one-third of the population having purchased clothing items, footwear, and accessories in the past three months in 2023. At the same time, apparel also has the highest e-commerce return rate, at 30 percent. Estonian consumers could order clothes from domestic marketplaces as well as from foreign online stores, with Zalando, H&M, and Zara present on the market. Nearly four out of ten Estonian e-shoppers purchased apparel and accessories from cross-border e-commerce providers. E-commerce delivery in Estonia. The majority of e-shoppers preferred to pick up their orders from parcel locker stations or receive them at home. Estonia headquarters Omniva, formerly known as Eesti Post, which is the largest e-commerce delivery services provider in the Baltics. The company has over 150 pick-up and drop-off locations (PUDOs) and over 320 automated parcel machines (APMs) in Estonia. Other leading out-of-home (OOH) delivery market players in the country include Itella (Posti), DPD, and Venipak. Estonia is the largest market for Venipak, an express parcel delivery provider based in Lithuania. In 2023, Venipak generated a revenue of 6.9 million euros from sales in Estonia. Outlook. The Estonian e-commerce market is set for growth in the following years. More residents are expected to order online, with the number of e-shoppers projected to reach 700,000 in 2029. In addition, they will increase their e-commerce spending, which will have a positive impact on the average revenue per user (ARPU). Therefore, between 2024 and 2029, the annual revenue is forecast to grow by approximately 50 percent.

With rising concern for the environment, people across the globe have become more involved in reducing their ecological footprint through various means, such as recycling. The used and second-hand goods industry, which involves the transfer of pre-owned items to a secondary consumer, has likewise increased in popularity in recent years. Specifically, the global second-hand apparel market was valued at approximately 33 billion U.S. dollars, a figure that is projected to nearly double in the next few years. Used goods trade in Canada. Canada is a wealthy country and one of the largest global traders of worn clothing and other worn articles. Ghana, Pakistan, and Kenya were some of the key destinations for used clothing exported from Canada, with a combined trade value of roughly 28 million U.S. dollars. When importing used clothing items, Canada acquired over 27 million U.S. dollars’ worth of second-hand clothes from the United States, making it the country’s leading import partner by far. Canadian consumer attitudes towards used goods. Canada was home to an estimated 1,400 used merchandise stores, many of which were located specifically in larger provinces, such as Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec. In other words, no matter where the used items originally came from, many Canadian consumers generally did buy second-hand products. When asked whether they had bought second-hand at all in the past 12 months, approximately half of Canadians confirmed that they had. Some of the most common items purchased were clothing, various media, e.g., books and games, as well as furniture and household goods. About three-quarters of the country’s second-hand shoppers said that saving money was their reason for buying used goods, making it by far the leading motivating factor.

The United States is home to one of the biggest markets for wine production and consumption worldwide. Americans consumed approximately 33 million hectoliters of wine in 2023, more than any other country in the world. This puts the United States in a unique position in the wine e-commerce industry globally, particularly because the country also boasts one of the most mature e-commerce markets in the world. Unabated growth. According to estimates, more than 29 million people were wine e-commerce users in the United States as of 2024. With an estimated nine percent of the population buying wine online, e-commerce revenues in the U.S. wine industry more than doubled in recent years, increasing from a mere one billion U.S. dollars in 2017 to some 2.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. This impressive growth is partly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on promoting the adoption of digital purchasing channels. In fact, revenue growth in wine e-commerce peaked at 40.7 percent in 2020, confirming the hypothesis that the pandemic significantly propped up the industry. Zooming in on Total Wine. As the pandemic came to an end and stores opened their doors again, some consumers still maintained the habit of shopping for their favorite wine bottle online. In October 2024, totalwine.com had around nine million visitors to its website, a web traffic that exceeds some wine stores’ monthly foot traffic by far. With more than 330 million U.S. dollars in e-commerce net sales, Total Wine was also the leading wine and liquor online store in the U.S. in 2023. The company’s success stems from its emphasis on its distinct range of choice: by focusing on fine wine hailing from every single wine-producing region in the world, their website offers customers the possibility to buy wine from Moldova, Slovenia, Georgia, Armenia, or even Lebanon.

When it comes to fashion, Amazon may not be the first brand people think of. However, the massive marketplace ecosystem that Amazon offers consumers has allowed the company to position itself as one of the world’s largest apparel retailers today. With both private label and third-party brands selling on the marketplace as well as convenient prices, speedy delivery times, and the added perks of optional Prime membership, Amazon presents an appealing mixed bag for fashion shoppers globally. Amazon’s well-carved corner in the fashion e-commerce market. Amazon hosts thousands of third-party sellers on its marketplace. From the niche to the established, shoppers on the platform can buy anything from a pair of jeans by an unfamiliar brand to Levi’s, or a drop shipped pair of sneakers to Adidas. Alongside these, Amazon also offers clothing, accessories, and shoes from their in-house brands, some of which include: Amazon Essentials – which offers affordable basics for men, women, and kids; Goodthreads – casual and professional wear targeted towards men; and The Drop – for the latest trending styles. In 2024, it was reported that Amazon generated nearly 10 billion U.S. dollars from fashion sales in the United States alone. Fashion sales by Amazon were also prominent in European markets like Germany, Italy, and Spain. Faring against the competition. While Amazon’s prominence in the online fashion industry is undeniable, the company still operates within a highly competitive industry that establishes purchasing drivers and barriers when it comes to consumer preferences. Amazon’s impressive logistics network allows for fast and reliable delivery, even to non-Prime members when items are fulfilled by Amazon. Selling fashion from recognized brands also helps to build a unique sense of trust and satisfaction among Amazon’s millions of users. Despite their strong consumer base, Amazon continues to double down on growing its fashion segment with an expansion into the luxury market and its new ultra-cheap storefront Amazon Haul – why? Amazon, where consumers also buy things from affordable electric toothbrushes and toolkits to headsets and air purifiers, can easily be associated with an image of practicality that may deter fashion-forward shoppers – a problem one of its biggest fashion competitors, Shein, does not seem to have despite not selling established brands on their platform. With trade-war fueled tariffs threatening Shein’s business model in the United States, however, Amazon Haul’s international launch may have what it takes to overtake their competition.

The global trade war is shaking up e-commerce. Ever since the Trump administration announced major changes to U.S. import tariff policy in April 2025, e-commerce players globally have been caught in an unpredictable cross-border rollercoaster. For the United States, the tariffs that were proposed and implemented in 2025 have already had tangible impacts on consumers and sellers alike. Industry forecasts suggest that the U.S. e-commerce market could miss out on up to 180 billion U.S. dollars in revenue in 2025 due to tariffs. A fork in the road for e-commerce globalization. A few months before Donald Trump announced tariff increases, foreign e-commerce businesses were thriving in the United States. Chinese low-cost online marketplace Temu grew to become the most-downloaded shopping app in the U.S. in 2024, amassing a staggering 86.9 million times that year. Pinduoduo’s Temu was not the only Asian player to succeed in the American market; fast fashion seller Shein came in second place in app download rankings, nearly doubling Amazon’s download figures. Shein, Temu, and other Asian online stores were profiting from the so-called de minimis exception to import tariffs. This loophole, which allowed goods valued under 800 U.S. dollars to enter the country duty-free, was officially abolished in August 2025 (in May for China specifically), causing significant price hikes for foreign e-commerce goods. As a result, Chinese marketplaces suffered a decline in usage and sales in the United States. Problems arise for American sellers. The tariff situation has been causing headaches for domestic sellers, too. Many e-commerce businesses rely on offshore manufacturers and/or foreign selling markets. The extreme volatility of tariff enforcement, both from the U.S. government and in foreign markets, means that many businesses are encountering financial and operational issues. Among Amazon sellers, increasing costs and prices were the most-cited impact of trade tariffs in June 2025, followed by lower Amazon margins. In addition, nearly half of surveyed sellers were pressured into abruptly removing their manufacturing from China and find a different production solution. The American shopper’s two cents. Surveys conducted since the start of 2025 reveal a divided nation. Just over one-third of Americans agree that import tariffs should be increased for foreign consumer goods. When it comes to recent tariffs announced by Trump, 70 percent of Republicans approved, whereas just six percent of Democrats did. Regardless of consumer sentiment, the tariff situation has already impacted purchasing behavior among all shoppers. For instance, 44 percent reported avoiding foreign online stores because of tariffs, and many shoppers have been stockpiling items since before the announced price increases took effect. Sellers, buyers, and supply chain managers are all struggling with the highly volatile nature of the current global trade climate. As long as global leaders are still pursuing trade deals and grappling with further tariff changes, uncertainty will continue to suppress e-commerce in the United States.

Brazil is not only the largest and most populous country in Latin America, it is a dynamic tapestry of cultures, languages, and histories that make it truly stand out as a "world apart" in the region. While countries like Mexico have made strides to compete, Brazil remains the leader in Latin America's e-commerce space. In 2023, the country’s online shopping revenues amounted to nearly 186 billion Brazilian reals, more than double the figure from 2019, with a 9.5 percent growth over 2022. As Brazil’s e-commerce continues to expand, it brings not only rising revenues but also new opportunities across the economy. With an ever-increasing number of online stores, the e-commerce sector is not only reshaping retail but also creating thousands of jobs, solidifying its vital role in the nation’s economic landscape. May the best shopping site win. As of the end of the first half of 2024, Mercado Livre — the Portuguese name for Argentine e-commerce giant Mercado Libre — was the most visited e-commerce website in Brazil. International players are increasingly betting on this massive market, with Amazon and Shopee following closely behind. Since its 2011 launch, Amazon has invested around 33 billion Brazilian reals in the country, counting over 78,000 sellers and an estimated 100 delivery stations by 2024. However, local competitors remain strong. Magazine Luiza, a traditional retailer founded in rural São Paulo in the late 1950s, leads in first-party online sales, far surpassing its competitors. Also known as Magalu, the company has adapted its core business to meet customer demands. In 2023, online sales made up more than 72 percent of Magazine Luiza's total retail sales, compared to less than half before the COVID-19 pandemic. Everybody online says ‘love’. A myriad of online shopping holidays energizes Brazil’s e-commerce throughout the year. Notably, Christmas, Lovers’ Day, and Mother’s Day are peak shopping seasons. The Brazilian version of Valentine's Day, introduced by an adman in 1948, has been celebrated every June 12 since then. In 2024, online sales during the 15-day period leading up to this date were estimated to reach 7.5 billion reals, marking the highest revenue to date. However, e-commerce thrives on more than just love; Black Friday is also a major online event, generating around 5.2 billion reals in revenue in 2023. The strategic timing of these two occasions—mid-year and year-end—indicates that both e-shoppers and e-tailers in Brazil share a common trait: they eagerly await the best opportunities.

Since companies have started to sell online, the way they communicate with customers has massively changed. Retailers aim to replicate interactions shoppers would have had in person on digital channels, making the customer journey as pleasant as possible. In e-commerce, where the entire customer experience is as important as the product sold itself, shoppers expect to reach out to brands via messaging apps and any other automated system of customer service. Messaging apps in the customer journey. Messaging apps are versatile in driving consumers to stores – either online or brick-and-mortar. Survey findings from Mexico revealed that messaging apps embedded in social media are used more often to build up brand awareness. As an ideal extended arm of brand presence on social media, they are widely used in assisting customers after the purchase. However, messaging apps like WhatsApp or Telegram are more effective in post-sale communication and in maintaining long-term relationships with shoppers. Being among the most popular messaging apps, WhatsApp allows users to interact with business accounts, a habit registered especially in Asia and Europe. Conversations with shoppers. Implemented either on messaging platforms or in marketplaces, chatbots allow companies to automate interaction with customers, as the most recurring topics seem to be pretty straightforward. Buyers enquire e-commerce AI chatbots about product specifications, order and shipping, and return or exchange of online orders. Most consumers believe conversational AI will make traditional call centers obsolete, even though the percentage of consumers valuing interactions with human agents is significant in certain countries. Companies have refined conversational features of AI chatbots, looking at the frequency shoppers get influenced by them in purchase decisions. Tune with consumers. After the first pioneering launches of voice assistants by Google and Amazon, voice shopping seemed to have lost its hype until generative AI kicked in. AI technologies have improved voice-activated shopping assistants contributing to the shift of voice commerce transactions, which had more than a fourfold increase between 2021 and 2023. In the latest year, over one in four consumers engaged with voice-activated shopping at least monthly, with Gen Z being the most receptive towards innovative ways to shop online. As generative AI enhances AI-assisted shopping, retailers and chatbot providers should be aware of what human interaction seems to be irreplaceable for. Shoppers still preferred to interact with human agents to receive comprehensive advice or additional clarification, as well as conclude contracts. How well can AI do that?

Christmas is arguably the peak point of what is known as the golden quarter in retail. It is also a civil holiday that is enjoyed by an increasing number of non-Christians and is an integral part of the holiday season. In 2025, eight out of every 10 people in the United States stated they were planning to celebrate the holiday, with less than one in 10 declaring that they would not be joining in with the festivities. Christmas is typically the largest economic stimulus for many nations around the world, as sales increase dramatically in almost all retail areas during this time. According to Statista estimates, in 2025 total holiday retail sales were projected to have reached a new high of nearly one trillion U.S. dollars. Christmas shopping: in-store or online? Online sales during the holiday season increased by a much higher margin compared to previous years during the COVID-19 pandemic. This trend in the popularity of online shopping is set to continue in 2025, with U.S. online sales made during the holiday sales predicted to grow to a record 312 billion U.S. dollars. Among shopping channels, most respondents to a 2025 survey indicated that they planned to do their holiday shopping at online-only retailers. Given this, it is unsurprising that Amazon was the t op website consumers planned to use when shopping. Consumer shopping plans. The Christmas shopping season can start as early as September, and some consumers begin even earlier than that. In 2025, nearly one-third of Christmas shoppers in the United States stated they were intending to start their shopping in October, while only six percent of respondents were planning to start in December. The  average amount people in the United States believed they would spend in 2025 amounted to over 1,000 U.S. dollars, which is more than the previous year’s budget. Among consumer expectations and concerns around the holiday season, economic factors played a role this year again, despite subdued inflation and consumer prices. In a survey that looked into holiday season gifting behavior, one third of consumers said the most important factor for them while shopping during the holiday season was the price of gift purchases. This year, nearly two-thirds of consumers also said they were going to look for sales more than usual during the upcoming holiday season.

Shopping has never been easier than it is now, thanks to social commerce. Purchasing an item could be as simple as scrolling through your social media feed, watching a video of your favorite influencer raving about a product, clicking the affiliated link, and checking out your shopping cart. With an estimated 95 percent of the population in Singapore using social media in 2023, social commerce has the potential to grow rapidly in the city-state. Brands and sellers planning to capitalize on this trend, however, should be aware of the generational difference when it comes to social media usage to maximize their reach and conversion. Singaporean shoppers are embracing social commerce. Social commerce is an expanding segment of the Singaporean e-commerce sector, growing by more than two-fold between 2021 and 2024. In 2024, revenue from social commerce is estimated at more than 560 million U.S. dollars. The projected number of social commerce users in that year amounts to around 23 percent of the population. Among the leading platforms for social media shopping, Instagram had the highest revenue, followed by TikTok. A generational divide when it comes to social media shopping. While Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok are Singaporeans’ preferred social commerce platforms, their popularity varies among the generations. Older users who have bought something on social media mostly did so on Facebook, while younger consumers preferred Instagram. TikTok is also becoming increasingly popular as a social commerce platform. In November 2022, the app launched TikTok Shop, followed by TikTok Shop Mall in 2024. ByteDance-owned TikTok is especially popular among the younger demographic, particularly Gen Zs. Influencing their way into your shopping carts. The appeal of social commerce is not just the convenience and ease of shopping while scrolling through social media. For many Singaporeans, social media has become a platform for product and brand research. Social media users have long been confronted with advertising in its various forms – from digital ads to product endorsements by celebrities and, more recently, influencers. The impact of influencers on consumer purchasing decisions can be significant, therefore an effective influencer marketing campaign should not merely be product placement. Social commerce users value authenticity and trust when it comes to recommendations from their favorite influencers. Brands would thus benefit most from partnering with influencers whose own personal brand align with theirs. Social commerce in Singapore, driven mostly by tech-savvy Gen Z and Millennials, will most likely increase its share of total e-commerce in the years to come. Among the leading social commerce platforms, TikTok is forecast to expand its user base and sales, especially among Gen Z shoppers.

The country where Latin America’s largest online sales portal -Mercado Libre- was born was the third- largest e-commerce market in Latin America and the Caribbean, showing the great impact the online market has in the South American country. The digital market in Argentina is evolving rapidly, with new trends and behaviors taking shape among online consumers. How big is the Argentine e-commerce market? The e-commerce market has grown rapidly in Argentina in recent years, particularly since 2019. The  number of e-commerce users in Argentina  increased by almost six million between 2019 and 2024, representing a 30 percent increase in digital buyers. The country where Latin America’s largest online sales portal -Mercado Libre- was born was home to over 24 million online consumers in 2024. Digital buyer penetration is also set to keep expanding in the coming years. In 2020, just over half of the  Argentine population shopped online, and in 2025 this figure is expected to ascend to roughly 64 percent. The size of the Argentinian e-commerce market can also be seen in terms of sales volume, where the country has witnessed substantial growth in the past years. In 2024, the number of items purchased by online shoppers had more than tripled compared to 2019, while the number of orders grew by roughly 180 percent during the same period. Even when the high inflation rate of Argentina is a factor to keep in mind when analyzing the South American country, these indicators show an expanding market with a lot of potential. Shopping preferences. From product search to payment and delivery preferences, Argentines have developed strong preferences to make their online shopping experience suit their needs. Most Argentinians carefully planned their major purchases by doing online research before a major purchases, heavily relying on customer reviews on the internet. Once online shoppers decided what they wanted to buy, almost 70 percent of them chose debit cards as their favorite payment method, followed by credit cards and online payment services like PayPal or Klarna. When it comes to delivery, over 60 percent of the products are delivered at home allowing customers to enjoy the comfort of this practical method. For the e-commerce market to keep growing and remain as one of the preferred channels for the Argentinian consumers, the online stores will need to keep quickly adapting to their preferences, prioritizing simplicity and convenience. 

In Europe, social networks have become a fundamental tool for online connectivity, gripping a staggering 80 percent of its population. Leading this trend are countries in the north and west of the continent. Given the widespread use of social media and a resounding seven out of ten Europeans indulging in e-commerce in 2022, these platforms hold the potential to be a vibrant channel for online sales and purchases throughout the region. That year, revenue from social commerce in Europe exceeded 18 billion U.S. dollars, a value expected to be 2.5 times greater by 2027. An aging audience: a bump in the road. Despite the widespread adoption of e-commerce, several European countries, including Germany, the UK, France, Italy, and Spain, are experiencing a slowdown in online shoppers. Given the  continent's aging population, it is not surprising that social media faces challenges as a selling and purchasing platform, as social shopping and influencers typically cater to the younger generations.  Compared to other regions, Europeans are less inclined to  research brands on social networks. In addition, enthusiasm in the old continent for  using social networks for purchases, whether on or off the platform, is also notably lower. Social media still has some way to go in establishing itself as a robust shopping channel in Europe, posing a hurdle to its expansion in the e-commerce industry. What will it take to win over social buyers? Even amid the proliferation of social networks focused on audiovisual content, Facebook remains the preferred choice for most European social commerce buyers. In Germany, for instance, Facebook is still the primary social commerce platform across all generations, except for Gen Z, who gravitates towards fellow Meta-owned app Instagram. In the UK and Belgium, on the other hand, the Chinese short video platform TikTok has taken hold among this generation's social network buyers. Hence, businesses aiming to leverage social media for selling in Europe cannot rely solely on joining the newest global social networks. To foster growth in social commerce, they must focus on engaging users of well-established platforms like Facebook. Furthermore, a 2023 survey revealed that Italian, Belgian, and Spanish consumers favor following brands and retailers on social media over influencers. This preference highlights their inclination towards conventional sources of inspiration and purchasing.

Online retail of wine and more in general alcoholic beverages has become an increasingly popular e-commerce niche. As happened with other consumer goods, online wine sales grew significantly after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. In Italy, wine e-commerce deserves some attention, as the country is a leading producer, exporter, and consumer of wine in Europe and worldwide. The lively niche of online booze. A recent study indicated that online channels summed up to four percent of wine market value in Italy, still lagging behind other countries like the United Kingdom and France. In the retail market, online sales of organic wine grew by 13.4 percent compared to 2020, hitting a bit less than one billion euros. A glance at the wine distribution channels suggests that wine selling business includes business-to-consumer (B2C) as well as direct-to-consumer (D2C) channels. A similar mix can be seen in the e-commerce universe, where big wineries surely invested in digitalization but did not have the capacity to implement successful e-commerce platforms.The wine group Italian Wine Brands represents one of the rare exceptions, as it has seen increasing online sales – especially abroad over the last years. Who are the biggest online players? A few marketplaces specialized in wine and spirits dominate the Italian wine e-commerce, thanks to an outstanding growth registered in the first half of 2020. More than that, they ranked as leading online stores in the food and beverages segment, outdoing even multichannel grocery retailers in terms of net sales. With annual revenue of 76 million euros, Tannico is the biggest online wine retailer, now also owning most of ventealapropriete.com, a French wine and spirits e-commerce website. As its primary competitor, the online store Vino.com saw its revenue increase tremendously in a relatively short time, from 5.3 million euros in 2018 to 43 million euros in 2021. Local trends in the spotlight. Wine shopping is inevitably changing in Italy. The general surge of food delivery in urban areas probably pushed the business of Winelivery, a service of fast wine and alcoholic drinks delivery. Seizing the opportunity given by wine tourism, in 2022 Winelivery partnered with the startup Devinea, allowing mobile users to book wine tasting at local wine growers’ cellars or vineyards, an appreciated habit among wine tourists.

What began as an occurrence in the United States, eventually became a large shopping tradition that takes place in many countries around the world. From North America to Europe, Black Friday is the biggest sales shopping event of the year. As with many European countries, the Netherlands has also gotten used to the Black Friday sales event. So much so, that it has even become one of the leading sales events consumers in the Netherlands take part in. Are Dutch shoppers excited about Black Friday? A considerable share of Dutch consumers take part in Black Friday each year. For 2023's holiday shopping season, about a third of consumers in the Netherlands intended to shop during Black Friday. But even though there were many people planning to shop during the event, a lot of individuals are not such huge fans of Black Friday. In fact, a whopping 40 percent of Dutch consumers taking part in a 2022 survey agreed with the statement that Black Friday is an outdated concept. What is more, many people in the country believed the shopping event should be abolished in the Netherlands, a sentiment that was especially common among older generations. What about the consumers who do expect to participate? In 2022, some 40 percent of consumers in the Netherlands made purchases during Black Friday, a figure that is projected to reach almost 50 percent in 2023. Of those planning to buy goods and services, nearly two-thirds expected to spend the same as last year. When asked what they intended to get themselves or buy for others, the most common answers included footwear, outer clothing, and perfumes.

Imagine getting your broken air-conditioner replaced and set-up within hours on a 40-degree day! That's the power of the Chinese quick commerce market, which, unsurprisingly, is experiencing significant growth. From food to everything. Quick commerce is a subdivision of online-to-offline (O2O) commerce, which involves instant delivery to home. In its early stages, q-commerce in China meant predominantly the on-demand delivery of fresh food. This business failed to gain much traction because most consumers preferred to buy fresh food from a local market, where they could personally assess food quality. However, the lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic profoundly changed their shopping behaviors. This shift not only propelled massive growth in the fresh commerce sector but also spurred the development of on-demand retail for personal care products, medicine, and household essentials. Today, while substantial overlap remains between fresh commerce and quick commerce, q-commerce service providers are striving to reduce the share of fresh food and expand the offering of non-perishable products to minimize loss rates. Among these, consumer electronics was one of the fastest growing categories. What is the fastest possible delivery time? Among the decisive factors driving fierce competition in the market, delivery speed stands out as the most critical, reiterating the quick in q-commerce in China. Recognizing its importance, companies are racing to shorten delivery times. With millions of riders nationwide, Meituan is well-positioned to ensure swift deliveries on a broad scale. Meanwhile, eBay, in partnership with express delivery giant Dada Now, JD Now (formerly known as “JDDJ”) claims to have achieved delivery times as fast as nine minutes in select cases. The race doesn’t stop there—ambitious players are introducing unmanned delivery vehicles and even drones, pushing the boundaries of logistics innovation. Delivery records are being shattered, and the pace of competition shows no signs of slowing.

When the clock strikes midnight, Thai shoppers rush to collect and use the limited top discounts within minutes of release on their preferred online shopping channels. Consumers can expect payday promotions, flash sales, free delivery coupons, and vouchers on various e-commerce platforms every month on repeat. This probably contributes to Thai internet users ranking first for weekly online purchases within the Asia Pacific region. Regionally, Thailand was second after Indonesia in terms of  internet economy size. The increasing  internet penetration rates in Thailand  have supported the booming e-commerce market over the years. Leading segments and preferred payment methods for e-commerce in Thailand. Online shopping has become very popular among Thai consumers regardless of income level. More than half of the Thai population uses or has purchased products and services through e-commerce channels. The spending increase on e-commerce purchases per person is estimated to nearly triple in 2023 compared to 2019. E-commerce platforms in Thailand offer a variety of products and services with competitive prices and promotions.  The most popular e-commerce products among Thai consumers  were apparel and footwear. Within the  fashion category, the apparel segment generated the highest revenue. In recent years, Thai consumers have increasingly turned to e-commerce platforms to buy personal and household care, and food and beverages. When it comes to  e-commerce payment methods, most consumers prefer to do bank transfers. Cash on delivery (COD) has lost its popularity since the pandemic. The rise of digital payments in Thailand, including QR payments and e-wallets, has slowly diverted the Thai market from being a cash-based society. What is the most popular e-commerce platform in Thailand?. For Thais, e-marketplaces such as Shopee and Lazada appeared to be the most popular e-commerce platforms  due to their vast range of products, promotions, simple platform structure, and timely delivery. However, Thai consumers show different preferences when it comes to the leading product categories purchased on the two platforms. Electronic devices and apparel were the top-performing product categories on Shopee Thailand, while lifestyle and beauty items were the best-performing product categories on Lazada Thailand. For sellers, on the other hand, Facebook took the lead as  Thailand‘s most preferred sales channel for online social sellers. Given the rise of Thailand’s social commerce industry, Thai merchants are seizing the opportunity to promote and sell products through Facebook pages, Instagram accounts, TikTok, LINE SHOPPING, and more. Cybershopping is here to stay, and more Thai consumers resort to it alongside visiting physical stores. The e-commerce market in Thailand can be expected to grow in the upcoming years.

China is one of the leading retail markets in the world. In 2024, the country generated a retail sales revenue of nearly 49 trillion yuan, showcasing a robust year-over-year increase. That year, rural and urban households continued to witness steady growth in disposable incomes. However, consumer confidence in China remained low compared to the pre-pandemic period. Online retail capturing market share. The rampant COVID-19 pandemic brought profound changes to China’s retail landscapes, with e-commerce growing increasingly crucial in China’s retail industry. In particular, live commerce has taken the lead amid the pandemic and successfully maintained its position afterward. Douyin, the most popular livestreaming platform in China, experienced skyrocketing growth in gross merchandise volume in the previous years. Heated competition on the physical field. Physical retailers in China are encountering stiff competition. On the one hand, e-commerce has been taking over the retail market; on the other, a price battle is underway in the offline market, squeezing the profit margins of most players. In general, convenience stores and membership supermarkets managed to stay profitable thanks to their high foot traffic and membership fees, respectively. However, most of the traditional supermarkets recorded a huge net loss in 2023, and dozens of them closed within the first quarter of 2024. To survive the competition, many supermarket brands have launched their private labels, to gain better control of product quality, differentiate product offerings from their rivals, build customer loyalty, and most importantly, increase profit margins. A way to cross the border between online and offline. China’s mature logistics network has enabled the development of a new retail mode, the so called online-to-offline (O2O) retail businesses. During the pandemic period, O2O commerce underwent swift expansion. One of the fastest developing subsets of O2O commerce was quick commerce (also known as “q-commerce”), which provides instant/on-demand delivery of online orders within 30 to 45 minutes. In addition, more and more e-retailers and physical retailers have integrated VR and AR techniques to enhance the immersive shopping experiences of consumers.

In the digital age, the ability to purchase fast fashion online has become an attractive option for consumers in the United States. Clothing that embodies the latest trends at very cheap prices, oftentimes paired with rigorous social media campaigns have only increased that attraction. For many, fast fashion means staying trendy without breaking the bank, while the convenience of online shopping further seals the deal. This has cemented fast fashion’s position not only in the U.S. retail landscape, but also globally, making the low-cost, rapid production method all the more enticing for retailers to pursue. Fast fashion’s fastest. A mix of e-commerce pure players and established retailers dominate the online fast fashion market in the U.S. Among the top companies, Shein has solidified a ranking as most popular. The brand is famously known for ultra-low prices, rapid production cycles, and the ability to churn out thousands of new styles per week. In 2024, Shein received the most downloads from U.S. consumers, totaling over 36 million in the country that year. While Shein has introduced an unprecedented level of fast fashion production, consumers still look to other fast fashion e-commerce players like Zara, H&M, Gap, Fashion Nova and Forever 21 to make purchases. Fast fashion brands particularly resonate with younger consumers, with 36 percent of Gen Z citing Forever 21 as their most-used store. However, because fast fashion describes a production model rather than a particular style of clothing, major marketplace retailers also utilize this method in order to offer their consumers a bargain for their buck. Walmart’s in-house brands such as Time and Tru and Terra & Sky and Amazon’s Essentials fit the bill for fast fashion – cheaply made and widely distributed through their massive distribution networks. Along with Walmart and Amazon which generate e-commerce net sales up to billions of dollars from online fashion sales, Temu also sells a plethora of fast fashion items. The slower alternatives. The fast fashion industry has faced growing criticism for its negative environmental and ethical impact via heavy accusations of contributing to overconsumption, labor exploitation, and environmental degradation. Despite these concerns, many American consumers continue to prioritize affordability and convenience over sustainability. Still, there still exists a demand for more sustainable alternatives. Second-hand e-commerce platforms like Depop, Poshmark, and Mercari have gained popularity among consumers concerned with sustainability. However, with the popularity of fast fashion alongside the influence of social media platforms like TikTok – which also offers TikTok Shop for fashion buying – demand for what’s cheap and trendy remains steadfast. Ultimately, the online fast fashion market is here to stay.

The Netherlands is a relatively small, but wealthy country with a large consumer market located in Western Europe. From ethical shopping considerations influencing purchasing decisions to the effects of rising prices on shoppers’ habits and overall consumer confidence, consumerism in the Netherlands has seen a fair amount of change in recent years. Habits of the Dutch consumer. As is the case for many other shoppers around the world, some of the physical stores most frequently visited by Dutch shoppers in 2024 included apparel stores, supermarkets, as well as drugstores and/or perfumeries. Apparel and shoe stores ranked first, with nearly 70 percent of Dutch shoppers having made a purchase in such a store in the past 12 months. When asked why they preferred shopping in-store in 2023, some 60 percent said it allows them to better assess the quality of goods, while about 55 percent liked the fact that they can get their hands on the desired items immediately. When the Dutch shopper goes online. From a European and a global perspective, the e-commerce market in the Netherlands is highly developed and the Dutch are very used to purchasing their essential and non-essential items on the internet. In fact, over a third of consumers in the Netherlands shopped for goods online on a weekly basis in 2023. Overall, consumers of all age groups shopped online; with over 95 percent, Dutch people between the ages of 25 and 54 were the country’s leading online buyers, while those older than 64 years were less involved with online shopping channels. An interesting fact that sets the Netherlands apart from other European countries is the consumer’s favorite online web shop. Despite having been around for years now, Amazon has not been able to dethrone Bol.com as the country’s favorite e-commerce store. Bol.com, founded in Utrecht and owned by parent company Ahold, was the country’s first widely successful e-commerce platform, and was still used by about twice as many shoppers as Amazon in 2024.

With a mission to integrate the ready convenience of e-commerce into the personalized services of a local pet store, Chewy was founded in 2011 by Ryan Cohen and Michael Day. By 2017, the niche online venture of online pet retail scaled into a multibillion-dollar acquisition by PetSmart. Today, Chewy is a publicly traded company that dominates the online pet market, providing their customers with everything from pet food to pharmaceuticals. Chewy’s competitive edge. Much of Chewy’s success can be attributed to its customer-centric approach in the market. Pets and emotions go hand in hand, and Chewy’s 24/7 customer service staffed by pet owners, hand-painted pet portraits, handwritten notes, personalized product recommendations, free returns, and even condolence bouquets for grieving customers work as a strategic investment to foster an important sense of loyalty to the brand. Chewy serves over 20.5 million active customers as of 2024, and with dozens of fulfillment locations around the country, provides fast and reliable shipping speeds as one of many available perks. While major retailers like Amazon and Walmart present competition with offers of pet food through their e-commerce storefronts, Chewy’s focus on pet retail allows a unique, curated understanding of the industry that continuously attracts users looking for the best to provide for their pets. The road ahead. Chewy uses an effective combination of strategies where fostered emotional attachments and popular thin-margin offerings, such as selling a variety of kibbles, acquire loyal customers. High-margin services like CarePlus pet insurance are then upsold to increase both return and value of the Chewy brand. The company has demonstrated impressive revenue growth since its founding and subsequent acquisition, but future growth will still depend on its ability to balance expansion with financial sustainability. Looking ahead, further focus on private-label products and an expansion into higher-margin healthcare services and international markets like Canada, where the brand has additional plans for in-house veterinary practices, represent a clear pathway of sustaining profitability as an industry leader. Chewy’s practiced ability to convert its customer base into a consistent revenue stream will determine if the company can ultimately maintain its edge over the competition of mass-market retailers and traditional pet stores, functioning as a one-stop shop that offers everything a pet owner could need.

E-commerce for consumer electronics has transformed the way people access the latest technology, making cutting-edge devices just a click away for millions of shoppers worldwide. As this industry continues to redefine retail, the United Kingdom emerges as a standout, now ranked the fifth-largest market for online electronics purchases globally. With tech-savvy consumers and dynamic online retailers leading the charge, the UK’s digital market is setting new standards for convenience and innovation in the world of consumer electronics. Powering digital growth: brands, retailers, and shifting trends. Brands like Apple, Amazon, and Samsung maintain some of the highest brand awareness and customer loyalty among British online shoppers, reflecting their prominence in both sales and digital brand buzz. Prominent online retailers such as Amazon, Argos, and Currys dominate gross merchandise value (GMV), while popular websites consistently attract millions of monthly visits and sustain high online visibility in search rankings. Retailers like Currys have effectively leveraged this digital shift, with a substantial share of their total sales now derived from e-commerce, reinforcing the importance of a strong online presence in the UK and Ireland’s consumer electronics sector. These factors combine to create a dynamic, competitive marketplace where evolving consumer preferences, strong brand reputation, and advanced digital retail experiences continue to drive growth and set new standards for the industry. Digital adoption and shopping habits. Online shopping is widely embraced across different age groups, but consumers between 25 and 64 years old remain the most active buyers. Notably, millennials account for roughly a quarter of those purchasing consumer electronics online, while Gen Z makes up about 18 percent, illustrating how digital retail appeals differently across generations. The digital shopping journey spans a mix of channels, from direct e-commerce sites to marketplaces and brand-specific platforms, shaping a competitive landscape where reputation and convenience matter most. The UK’s consumer electronics e-commerce market stands out for its fast-paced innovation, strong brands, and eager customers, making it a global leader. Growth continues as more people shop online and top brands compete, raising the bar for convenience and choice. As technology and shopping habits change, the UK market is set to keep shaping how people find and buy electronics.

In the South Korean retailing landscape chain-stores like hypermarkets and department stores co-exist alongside traditional and independent markets. However, online shopping has become more and more prominent, pushing in-store shopping to the sidelines. South Koreans are active participants in the domestic economy and retail sales have continuously grown over the last years. Due to the rising prices, consumers felt the burden in their daily lives and shoppers were more careful with their money. At the same time, brick-and-mortar stores have been losing ground to increasing e-commerce sales.  A digital shift. South Korea with its high internet speed is a highly digitalized country, and online shopping has become a leading channel in the retail market, driven by its ready availability, fast delivery times, and compatibility with busy lifestyles. As more consumers turn to digital shopping, traditional storefront shopping has declined, leading to vacant stores in popular shopping districts. But even when shopping in physical stores, the digital shift is noticeable. Self-checkout counters can be found in every larger store, some companies even launched crewless or hybrid-type stores for the convenience of their customers and to lower inter-personal contact. Convenience was also one the main reasons why e-payment services are being used more commonly, with many options only requiring the customer’s phone to make payments.  Shopping trends. Besides quality playing a big role in purchase decisions, South Korean shoppers also take price into consideration when shopping. Checking for a cheaper prices or coupons is very common, and retailers have adapted to this by often offering special promotions, like two-for-one, special events, or member benefits. Generally, the most money was spent on non-consumption expenditures, like household appliances or clothes, followed by food. In the future, experts expected a slow-down in sales and name the drop of consumer trust as one of the main reasons.

Halloween, also known as All Hallowe’en or All Hallows’ Eve, is a holiday celebration that takes place on October 31 each year. And while Halloween has dark origins spanning hundreds of years, it has evolved into more of a commercial tradition, in which people dress up, carve out pumpkins, and children haunt their neighbors in the hopes of acquiring confectionery. Get out your costumes. These traditions are especially common in the United States, where projected annual Halloween expenditure reached an all-time high of more than 12 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. Projections for 2024 were only being slightly lower. It was also found that many American consumers prepared for the event quite early on. For costumes, for instance, about 30 percent of surveyed shoppers planned to acquire theirs at least three weeks in advance. Less than 10 percent of shoppers said they would start looking on the day itself. Whether it be for adults, children, or their pet(s), consumers spend a considerable amount of money on spooky outfits, with projected Halloween costume expenditure amounting to a total of nearly four billion U.S. dollars in 2024. Insidious traditions. In 2024, more than 70 percent of consumers in the United States said they intended to celebrate Halloween. Some of the most common ways to honor the holiday in the United States included decorating one’s home and/or yard, watching chilling films, and wearing scary costumes. The prevailing tradition involved candy. Over 40 percent of Americans planned to hand out sweets and treats on that fateful evening in October. Spend of the living dead. Although Halloween is a major seasonal event celebrated each and every year, it is far from the most costly consumer spending event. In terms of average per capita spend, events such as the back-to-class period and the winter holiday season are more likely to haunt shoppers in the United States. When asked how much they would spend for Halloween in 2023, approximately a third of Generation Z consumers believed they would pay anywhere between one and 100 U.S. dollars. On the other hand, a higher share of millennials anticipated that they would be spending over 100 U.S. dollars. In recent years, consumers have had to contend with economic turbulence. When asked about economic change and if it would impact their Halloween spending, results were mixed. While many respondents were unsure or believed there would be no impact, just as many consumers in the United States felt that both inflation and the pending recession would influence their spending behavior for the event.

The last quarter of the year is the busiest time in retail. Typically, sales reach peak values in November and December, and with many promotional events around, consumers start meticulously planning their shopping journeys as the countdown to Christmas starts. This year, another holiday season period awaits consumers and retailers where retail sales are expected to grow at healthy levels. While demand for shopping and spending is there, retailers must plan their workforce to meet consumer needs be it in store or in online shopping. The state of retail employment. Retail workforce during the busy holiday period is essential to ensure a smooth working of the Christmas season economy. In the United States, where the holiday season shopping starts as early as October for some consumers, around 15.6 million people are employed in the retail industry on a given month. Of these, over 6 million employees work as salespersons and cashiers. According to the Bureau of Labour statistics, these numbers are projected to remain stable and flat with no growth projected in retail employment. In other major economies such as the UK, the number of people employed in the retail sector has also been falling. Seasonal company hirings. The holiday season, the busiest and highest yielding period in retail, often requires extra reinforcement, in the form of seasonal employee hires. In order to accommodate the increased number of orders, companies like Amazon and Target hire thousands of temporary employees. In the 2024 holiday season, Amazon was the leading company, announcing roles for 250 thousand seasonal workers to facilitate the increased amount of online purchases. For the fourth year in a row, Target announced roles for a hundred thousand seasonal employees, while the department store chain, Macy’s sought to employ over 31 thousand extra people temporarily. Online shopping and deliveries. Year after year, the budget of Americans for holiday shopping increases and in 2024, online retail sales hit an all-time-high of 280 billion U.S. dollars. Following a similar tendency, online retail sales in the United Kingdom increased by ten billion British pounds in the past eight years, reaching approximately 32.5 billion British pounds in 2024. As the popularity of online shopping grows, so does the number of parcel deliveries. In Europe, 6.2 billion parcels are expected to be delivered in the 2024 Christmas season, out of which, 1.3 billion just in the United Kingdom.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in economic and social development. For example,  in the United States, there are roughly 300,000 SMEs, making up the majority of businesses in the country. As technological and digital advances impact all sectors of retail, small firms that adapt to and take full advantage of these technologies can boost revenue by delving into e-commerce. Sales digitalization and imminent adoption of new e-commerce technologies usually translate to increased efficiency and productivity, lower long-term operational costs due to automation, and an enhanced customer experience. E-commerce has become the dominant channel for SMEs. Small and midsize businesses globally already established an online presence years ago. Back in 2022, an overwhelming majority of SMEs globally operated a website or a home page. Nordic countries stand out in this country comparison: 80 to 90 percent of Finnish and Danish SMEs operated a website in the most recent year of data collection. With increased website presence comes growth in e-commerce activity. A 2024 business survey reveals that 65 percent of American SMEs expect their e-commerce sales to grow in the future. The same growth trajectory can be witnessed in Europe, where the share of SMEs that make online sales has been growing annually since 2019. The e-commerce boom that can be seen with small and midsize businesses in the B2C space is both a contributor to and a result of the overall growth of the e-commerce market globally. Where do small e-commerce businesses thrive? One of the main obstacles for SMEs to launch an online sales business is the high initial cost of developing their own e-commerce platform. For that reason, small firms that intend to dive into e-commerce usually start by offering their products and services as third-party sellers on widely known online marketplaces, such as Amazon or eBay. On the former platform, small and medium-sized third-party sellers are able to achieve profit margins of up to 50 percent on a regular basis. Another platform that rose to prominence in recent years is Etsy. As of 2024, more than eight million entrepreneurs and small businesses use the platform to sell handmade and vintage products. In order to increase their online presence and reach their target group, more and more SMEs are turning to social media for marketing and direct selling purposes. For instance, roughly half of European SMEs already use TikTok for marketing purposes, and with the TikTok Shop launching in several EU markets in 2025, social commerce may be an important channel in the years to come. Much like the world’s B2C enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses are fully embracing e-commerce. Interestingly, e-commerce giants such as Amazon are the ones that make selling online much easier for SMEs, showing how large corporations and smaller players are operating in a codependent and dynamic e-commerce market. 

Globally, the retail sector is an important contributor to the economic landscape, and Italy is no different in this regard. Not only is this where a lot of money is generated, it is also an industry that employs millions of Italians. The country's overall retail sales saw noticeable fluctuations in 2020 and 2021, which then stabilized by 2023. In March of 2024, Italian retail sales had grown by roughly two percent compared to 12 months earlier. Italian companies and brands. Given the sheer number of well-known brands that originated in the country, from Ferrari to illycaffè, it comes as no surprise that Italy has made a name for itself as a producer of quality products. The country's most valuable brand worldwide was Gucci, with a brand value of nearly 15 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. Automobili Lamborghini was the fastest growing Italian brand as of 2023, with a growth rate of about 150 percent. Other brands that saw significant growth that year include household names, such as Birra Moretti, Aperol, and Prada. Italian households are spending more. Within the realm of retail, consumers are vital, and times have not looked fantastic for the average consumer in recent times. This is mainly because of rising prices. In the last couple of decades, the highest inflation rates by far had been recorded in 2022 and 2023. In 2023, specifically, Italy’s overall consumer price index increased by just over five and a half percent. 2022 recorded an increase of over eight percent. For certain categories, this jump translated to an observable change in spending within Italian households: between 2021 and 2022, total household expenditure on housing, water, electricity, and other fuels grew by a staggering 50 billion euros. Figures had also shot up for categories such as food, recreation, and clothing, and could potentially remain high as prices for goods have increased.

Alibaba.com is the business-to-business (B2B) marketplace operated by Alibaba Group. When the founder Jack Ma launched the B2B platform in 1999, his strategy was to connect Chinese companies with international B2B buyers. Twenty years later, Alibaba opened the B2B site to sellers from the United States and Europe willing to sell their products in domestic and foreign markets or export them to China, where the share of e-commerce trade imports is on the rise. Worldwide growth and averted delisting. In September 2014, Alibaba Group went public on the New York Stock Exchange and achieved the second- largest initial public offering (IPO) in history. This contributed to expanding the business outside of its headquarters, since the presence of Alibaba appears to be still limited in cross-border markets. On the one hand, less than three percent of the company’s annual revenue is due to international wholesale commerce. On the other hand, outside of China, less than four in ten B2B buyers shop on Alibaba. Although Alibaba highly invested in India and Brazil, the U.S. B2B e-commerce market remains the most strategic for Alibaba, which is competing with Amazon Business in the marketplace business. The financial growth of Alibaba Group in the United States faced turbulent months in 2022 when U.S. regulators investigated the e-commerce giant and other U.S. public companies headquartered in China and Hong Kong. Concerned investors of these companies claimed a lack of financial transparency and demanded deeper scrutiny. By the end of 2022, audit boards completed their investigation and cleared out possible risks of delisting – including Alibaba’s. Alibaba as a digital initiator. From 2021, Alibaba has arranged further services for B2B firms as well as special programs for organizations introducing new wholesalers to the platform. Only in early 2023, DHL secured a logistics partnership with Alibaba in Spain to push small-and-medium enterprises ’ international trade business. In Alibaba’s Verified Supplier membership project, test provider TÜV Rheinland collaborated to assess the sustainability and transparency of suppliers based in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The B2B player also invested in an enhanced shopping experience, by providing virtual reality showrooms, where B2B users can tour the facilities and production sites of their suppliers. The innovation does not come as a surprise, given the significant number of B2B buyers interested in augmented reality and metaverse.