E-commerce news: May 2021

Global e-commerce jumps to $26.7 trillion, fuelled by COVID-19. Online retail sales’ share of total retail sales rose from 16% to 19% in 2020, according to estimates in an UNCTAD report published on 3 May. The digital retail economy experienced the most growth in the Republic of Korea, where internet sales increased from around one in five transactions in 2019, to more than one in four last year.

Asia Pacific’s e-commerce sales are expected to nearly double by 2025 reaching USD 2 trillion, according to global market research company Euromonitor International. The region is predicted to see the highest retailing sales growth in 2020-2025, following Latin America, with digitalisation, connectivity and demographics representing the key drivers in the region’s shift into an innovation hub post-pandemic.

British online shoppers abandon more than £100 worth of goods in baskets every month on average, a new Barclaycard Payments survey has found. Getting distracted by other online shopping and forgetting what baskets contain is one of the key drivers of payment dropouts. Homeware, smart clothing, gadgets, party outfits and holiday wardrobes were among the items frequently ditched over the past year.

What is better: to create your own products or to resell purchased goods? Forbes has collected the pros and cons of both ways. In the case of your brand, you can do it however you see fit, but you have to invest in production and marketing. At first glance, selling other brands' products is easier, but it will be more difficult to control the quality. But the main thing, according to the author, is to be interested in the product enough that you can become an expert on it.