Business e-commerce sales and the role of online platforms

UNITEDNATIONSCONFERENCEONTRADEANDDEVELOPMENT UNCTADTechnicalnotesonICTfordevelopment|No.1 Businesse-commercesalesandtheroleofonlineplatforms Advancecopy ©2024,UnitedNations Thisworkisavailablethroughopenaccess,bycomplyingwiththeCreativeCommonslicencecreatedforintergovernmentalorganizations,athttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/. Thefindings,interpretationsandconclusionsexpressedhereinarethoseoftheauthorsanddonotnecessarilyreflecttheviewsoftheUnitedNationsoritsofficialsorMemberStates. ThedesignationsemployedandthepresentationofmaterialonanymapinthisworkdonotimplytheexpressionofanyopinionwhatsoeveronthepartoftheUnitedNationsconcerningthelegalstatusofanycountry,territory,cityorareaorofitsauthorities,orconcerningthedelimitationofitsfrontiersorboundaries. MentionofanyfirmorlicensedprocessdoesnotimplytheendorsementoftheUnitedNations.Photocopiesandreproductionsofexcerptsareallowedwithpropercredits. Thispublicationhasnotbeenformallyedited. UnitedNationspublicationissuedbytheUnitedNationsConferenceonTradeandDevelopment UNCTAD/DTL/ECDE/2024/3(Advancecopy) eISBN:978-92-1-106449-0 Tableofcontents 1. E-commerceisanincreasinglyimportantsaleschannelforbusinesses1 2. Newlyavailablestatisticsonbusinesse-commercesales3 3. Developingeconomieshaveroomtogrowe-commerce7 4. Theeconomicscaleofbusinesse-commercesalesvaries9 5. Onlyasmallminorityofbusinesse-commercesales takeplaceinternationally15 6. Business-to-consumere-commerceisincreasing23 7. Transactionsthroughonlineplatformshave sharplyincreased31 8. Conclusions35 References37 AnnexA. Sourcesfore-commercesalesvaluesandassociatedfigures38 AnnexB. Sourcesforinternationale-commerce41 AnnexC. Sourcesforonlineretailsales43 AnnexD. Sourcesforonlineplatformtransactions46 Summary Thistechnicalnotepresentsthelateststatisticsonthevalueofe-commercesalesbybusinesses.Itbenefitsfromanotableincreaseinavailabilitybroughtaboutbytherelease,byEurostat,offiguresformanyEUandpartnercountries. In2021,approachingUS$25trillionofe-commercesalesweregeneratedbybusinessesacross43developedanddevelopingeconomiesaccountingforaroundthreequartersofworldwideGDP.Thisrepresentsa15percentincreaseoverpre-pandemic(2019)levelsandsalesareestimatedtohaverisenafurther10percent-toalmost$27trillion-in2022. Theshareofbusinessturnovergeneratedthroughe-commercevarieswidelyintheeconomiesanalysed,fromlessthanonepercenttoasmuchas30percent.Inalmostallcases,themajorityofe-commercesalesbybusinessesaremadetootherbusinessesororganizations.Inmost,theshareofbusiness-to-consumersalesislessthanaquarter. Whiledevelopingeconomiesgeneratearound40percentofglobalGDP,theirshareinbusinesse-commercesalesisconsiderablylower. Thebulkofe-commercesalesacrossthese43developedanddevelopingeconomies,whichalsoaccountforaroundthreequartersofexportsglobally,occurbetweenbuyersandsellersresidentinthesameeconomicterritory.Itisestimatedthatdigitallyorderedexports(i.e.internationale-commercesales)fromtheseeconomieswerewortharound$2.5trillionin2021.Thisequatestoaround13percentoftotalexportsofgoodsandservices.However,asthereislimiteddataondigitallyorderedtrade,thisestimateisrelativelyuncertain. Statisticsononlineretailsales,asubsetofbusiness-to-consumere-commerce,sharethesamepatternofrapidgrowththatwasboostedduringthepandemic.Thisgrowthmoderatedsomewhatin2023aspandemicrestrictionsanddisruptionsabated.China,theUnitedKingdom,andtheRepublicofKoreastandoutforhavingmarkedlyhigheronlineretailsalesthanothereconomies,ataround25to30percentofallretailsales.TheUnitedStatesfollowsataround15percentwhilethebulkofeconomiesfallinarangeofroughly5-10percent. Digitalintermediaryplatforms(DIPs)arekeyplayersinthee-commercelandscape.Thevalueoftransactionsthrough37majorDIPsincreasedbyover55percentduringthepandemic. TheTaskGrouponMeasuringE-commerceValue(TG-eCOM),convenedbyUNTradeandDevelopment,bringstogethervariouscountriescoveredinthisreport,aswellasinternationalorganizations,todevelopinternationallyagreedguidelinesandrecommendationsthatcanserveasabasisforcapacitybuildingandtechnicalassistancetoimprovetheavailabilityandcomparabilityofstatisticsone-commerce. 1. E-commerceisanincreasingly importantsaleschannelforbusinesses SellingovertheInternetisincreasinglyimportantfordoingbusiness.Today,manyenterprisesare“borndigital”,sellingonlineonly,whileothersmixincreasingonlinesaleswithtakingordersbyothermeans,notablyoverthephoneorinperson.Forsuccessfulonlinesellers,keybenefitsincludetheabilitytoreachnewcustomersdomesticallyandabroad,inawaythat isrelativelylowcostandconvenientforbothbuyersandsellers.Onlineonlybusinessescanalsoavoidthecostsofoperatingcustomer-facingsalespremises. E-commerceisdefinedas“thesaleorpurchaseofgoodsorservices,conductedovercomputernetworksbymethodsspecificallydesignedforthepurposeofreceivingorplacingoforders”(OECD,2009).1 Furthermore,“thegoodsorservicesareorderedbythosemethods,butthepaymentandtheultimatedeliveryofthegoodsorservicesdonothavetobeconductedonline”(OECD,2009).Whilee-commerceorderingisoftenaccompaniedbyonlinepayment,thisisnotadefiningfeatureof it