Online share of retail sales jumps to 19% amid lockdowns

Online sales accounted for nearly a fifth of total retail turnover last year as lockdowns to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic fuelled a boom in e-commerce, a United Nations study released on Monday showed.

Online sales accounted for 19 percent of overall retail sales in 2020, up from 16 percent a year earlier, according to estimates from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) based on national statistical offices in major economies.

South Korea reported the highest share at 25.9 percent, up from 20.8 percent the year before. China had a 24.9 percent share, Britain 23.3 percent, and the United States 14.0 percent.

Global e-commerce sales rose 4 percent to US$26.7 trillion in 2019, according to the latest estimates available, UNCTAD said. This included business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sales, and was equivalent to 30 percent of global economic output that year.

The pandemic led to mixed fortunes for leading B2C e-commerce companies in 2020, according to the report.