Digital commerce to exceed 11.6 trillion dollars in 2021

Soaring growth in online sales show e-commerce spending is set to rise 11.5 percent this year to 11.6 trillion dollars.

New findings from Juniper Research highlight the success of digital solutions during the pandemic spurring consumer behaviour will become increasingly digitally led, rather than reverting to pre-pandemic norms.

The research identified that reactive digital commerce strategies built in the pandemic by merchants need to turn into proactive, long-term strategies that offer the best user experiences, as competition in the digital commerce ecosystem intensifies.

Interestingly, mobile commerce will account for 73 percent of all digital commerce transactions by value in 2021; rising to 79 percent by 2025. Mobile has emerged as the most important way to access services, and although online will remain relevant for higher-value transactions, user experiences must be mobile first.

Research author Nick Maynard explains: ‘Mobile apps are the dominant force in digital commerce, with user experiences becoming critical, as products become heavily commoditised. Merchants must leverage AI-based analytics to ensure a truly personalised mobile commerce experience, or they will lose out to more digitally adept merchants.’

The research also found that remote physical goods purchases will account for the single largest transaction value of any segment in 2021 at 22 percent of the total, followed by money transfer and QR code payments. The research identified however that contactless mobile payments will have the highest rate of growth; increasing over 242 percent in value between 2021 and 2025.