E-commerce: The rebound of a sector as old as the Internet

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused substantial changes in people’s consumption habits, due to the adoption of social distancing measures and, as a result, the impossibility of accessing retail stores in person. In this way, online shopping channels have gained prominence from 2020 onwards.

According to data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in that year, the share of e-commerce in world retail trade increased to 17% from 14% the previous year.

Projections estimate that, by the end of this year, this sales channel will have generated close to 5.4 billion dollars worldwide, a figure that could reach 6.3 billion by 2024, with North America and Asia as the leading markets.

It should be noted that, in addition to the pandemic, another fundamental factor in the upturn in e-commerce is innovation, since digital transformation is part of the process of evolution and growth of any company. In this sense, incorporating or expanding sales channels requires a heavy investment in digitization, which is a constraint for small and medium-sized companies, leaving many of them out of the game.

According to UNCTAD, the main e-commerce companies in 2020 are: Alibaba (1,145 million dollars), Amazon (575, 000 million), JD.com (379,000 million) in gross value of their merchandise.

In terms of turnover, Amazon (233 billion dollars), JD.com (56 billion) and Alibaba (40 billion) are at the top of the list.

The outlook in Mexico

According to the Mexican Association of Online Sales (AMVO), the pandemic triggered online purchases by Mexicans growing 81% in 2020 compared to 2019. According to forecasts, e-commerce will increase 100% in Mexico by 2022.

It is estimated that by 2025, this sales channel will grow 226% and will represent around 58% of total sales in the retail sector in the country, while the remaining 42% will correspond to physical stores.

According to Statista data, Amazon is the e-commerce platform with the largest market share in the country, according to 2019 figures, the American company obtained a 13.4% share of online sales in Mexico, while Mercado Libre was placed as the second leading company in the category, with 11.4%, and finally Coppel with 4.7%.

The two categories that showed the greatest interest in purchases were food delivery (44%), technology (38%) and supermarkets (29%).