eCommerce Statistics: the continued rise of ecommerce

Mobile transactions will account for 26 percent of US retails sales by 2017

It’s no surprise that ecommerce has made a major impact on everything from the economy to small businesses to the way said small businesses market their items. In fact, with ecommerce accounting for roughly 8 percent of total retail sales in the U.S. alone, the ecommerce market is expected to outgrow physical brick-and-mortar stores over the following five years.

With research from AmeriCommerce, below are many more facts regarding the continued rise of ecommerce:

• Growing at almost 17 percent a year, ecommerce is currently a $220 billion dollar market.
• By 2017, online retail sales are expected to hit $370 billion.
• Mobile transactions will account for 26 percent of US retails sales by 2017 Currently, in 2014, that percentage sits at only 19 percent.
• 52.3 million people in the US will purchase goods or services through a smart phone this year, and 71.1 million will make purchases through a tablet.
• 61 percent of shoppers around the globe research products online.
• 41 percent begin their shopping process by using a search engine.
• In a survey by Ascend2, 57 percent of marketers said that the most effective SEO approach was quality content creation.
• Search, not social, is the driving force behind traffic to content websites--beating social by 300 percent.
• Facebook is responsible for roughly 60 percent of social media referrals to retail sites.
• 50 percent of purchases driven through social media happen within one week of a consumer tweeting, sharing, liking, or favoriting the product.
• 71 percent of consumers change their viewpoint on a brand after seeing how they respond to a review.
• Stats from Marketing Metrics reveal that brands are 60-70 percent more likely to convert existing customers and only 5-20 percent likely to convert new prospects.
• In the same vein, stats from Laura Lake indicate that repeat customers spend three times more than new customers.
• And finally, when retention rates are given a 5 percent boost, brands can see a raise in profits from 25-95 percent.

Sources:

• “The Next Generation of eCommerce.” 2014. KISSmetrics.com
• “Forrester: U.S. Online Retail Sales to Hit $370 Billion by 2017.” 2013. Mashable.com
• “Customer Retention.” 2014. CMO.com