Ecommerce is growing worldwide and becoming the preferred way for purchasing products and services. The statistics being thrown up by global ecommerce is full of unbelievable numbers that can make any entrepreneur perk up and immediately look into incorporating it into their business.
While these numbers are pretty big right now, they're expected to only increase in the coming years. It had been quite an amazing year for ecommerce in 2017, and 2018 is expected to top it in many ways.
So we’ve created this data visualization that highlights the top ecommerce platforms based on the number of businesses using them around the globe (we’ve gathered the data using Builtwith’s database):
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Retail Ecommerce Sales Worldwide in 2017
Last year, ecommerce achieved a total of $2.304 trillion in sales, and it's expected to reach $4.5 trillion by 2021. According to cumulative data from Statista, that's a 246.15% increase from $1.3 trillion in 2014. In such a short time, ecommerce has become a force to be reckoned with in the business world.
Another statistic worth noting here is B2B (business-to-business) ecommerce being 234.18% greater than B2C (business-to-consumer) ecommerce. While the latter reached ecommerce sales of $2.304 trillion, B2B ecommerce reached $7.7 trillion, which now makes ecommerce indispensable for B2B companies.
In particular, mobile ecommerce (mcommerce) is becoming more and more of the preferred way customers order products online. Global mcommerce sales rose by 40.3% to $1.357 trillion in 2017, with China making up 67.1% of that total.
The 10 Largest Ecommerce Markets in the World
The worldwide growth of ecommerce has made international sales more or less mandatory. If you're looking to make it big with ecommerce, you should be able to sell to the global market and ship your products internationally, especially to these countries:
- China: $672 billion
- United States: $340 billion
- United Kingdom: $99 billion
- Japan: $79 billion
- Germany: $73 billion
- France: $43 billion
- South Korea: $37 billion
- Canada: $30 billion
- Russia: $20 billion
- Brazil: $19 billion
* Statistics sourced from Business.com
While the US and the western world once held the ecommerce crown, Asia has caught up with the giant markets of China, Japan, and South Korea. The US' hold on ecommerce is expected to slide from 22.2% in 2015 to 16.9% in 2020.
Most of these countries are known for having good broadband infrastructure, which is necessary for ecommerce to propagate. Of course, ecommerce is more conducive for certain categories of products and services, like fashion, media, consumer electronics, and so on.
While most of ecommerce see purchase and delivery of durable (non-perishable) products, there has been a growth in demand for online purchase and delivery of perishable goods like groceries, beauty products, medicine, and so on.
Among the top 10 countries, it's South Korea that sees the majority of ecommerce in consumable products.
The Top Ecommerce Platforms in the World by Usage
WooCommerce
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Total sites: 2,287,356
One of the most popular ecommerce platforms worldwide, WooCommerce is a free-to-use plugin for the WordPress blogging platform.
That makes WooCommerce widely accessible to a tremendous number of users worldwide with a user-friendly installation process in WordPress and the availability of WordPress + WooCommerce bundles out there.
WooCommerce goes toe-to-toe with Shopify for the throne of world's top ecommerce platform. If you happen to already have a website powered by WordPress, then WooCommerce is a no-brainer.
Pros:
- Advanced features for larger online stores
- Customer accounts that support store credit
- Site-wide SSL encryption
- Well-integrated with WordPress
- Good product presentation
- Allows to add product variants easily
- Works in WordPress backend
Cons:
- No multilingual support
- Limited range of free templates
- Hidden costs
Shopify
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Total sites: 1,275,905
Popular for being an all-in-one platform used all over the world, Shopify is part of a group of turn-key ecommerce solution that provides everything an online entrepreneur needs from setting it up to selling products.
The company was founded in 2004 and the platform was launched in 2006.
Shopify is well-received by tech pundits, who described the platform as "clean, simple, and easy-to-use." The publicity it garnered from various business and tech outlets spread its name far and wide, which contributed to its popularity.
Pros:
- Worldwide user base contributing reviews and community support
- Built-in speed and security for hosting
- Has all the bells and whistles
- Great customer support
- Online marketing features
- Responsive design with tons of custom themes
- Wide selection of add-ons
Cons:
- Can be pricey
- Obtuse initial setup process
- Customization opens vulnerabilities to hackers
- Not the best built-in blogging platform
- Lots of Shopify jargon
- Moving to another platform made difficult
Squarespace Commerce
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Total sites: 1,075,124
As one of the best known online brands in the world due to its marketing efforts, Squarespace is mostly known for its easy-to-use website building and hosting solutions. They have since added ecommerce functionality into it, which is Squarespace Commerce.
With Squarespace Commerce, you can build an online store and make it operational in virtually no time flat. You do need to pay more for all the extra bells and whistles, but you do end up with a very good-looking online store with Squarespace Commerce.
Pros:
- Squarespace's template design
- Elegant backend design
- All-in-one platform
- Good speed and security
- Simple data import/export feature
- 24/7 customer support and improved onboarding
Cons:
- Very pricey
- Advanced marketing tools are lacking
- No regulated ecosystem for apps and extensions
- Functionality of backend is also lacking
- Not designed as an ecommerce platform from the start
Wix Stores
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Total sites: 978,742
The free website hosting service has now added its own ecommerce platform (known as Wix Store), similar to Squarespace Commerce.
You can build a website and put up your online storefront all in one platform, making it easier for users with little technical proficiency to get into ecommerce and run an online business in the comfort of their own home.
It does have less customizability compared to more dedicated platforms, but it has all the basic parts needed for entrepreneurs to get into ecommerce.
Pros:
- Affordable short-term pricing
- Easy-to-follow site configuration and onboarding
- Diverse design template library
- Good speed and security
- Reliable customer support and knowledgebase
- Business customization
Cons:
- Questionable long-term pricing
- Editing and design customization can be frustrating
- Limited range of apps and extensions
- Limited marketing features
- Offers little technical customizability
- No way to export your data
OpenCart
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Total sites: 794,234
One of the earliest ecommerce systems out there, OpenCart was originally developed back in 1998 and saw its first public release the following year. It had a rocky start as it was eventually abandoned before being revived in early 2005.
OpenCart now has around 317,000 live OpenCart sites. Its long history and open-source architecture is conducive for its community of users and developers.
Pros:
- Not resource-intensive
- Beginner-friendly and easy to set up
- Community of developers due to PHP base
- Lots of customization options
- Wide selection of extensions and modules
Cons:
- Does not come with proper event system
- No efficient hook method
- Some themes and extensions may not perform well or be secure
Zen Cart
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Total sites: 780,139
Based on PHP and using MySQL for its database, Zen Cart is a platform that branched from osCommerce back in 2003. It differs in architecture and some of its core features. It now boasts over 100,000 users with developers from around the world supporting its growing community.
Pros:
- Secure software
- Scalable platform
- Easy to update
- HTML-style email supported
- Easy customer management
Cons:
- Average templates
- Not a lot of additional modules
- Complex upgradation
- No formal support
PrestaShop
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Total sites: 547,581
Introduced in 2007, Prestashop has been gaining popularity over the past decade with its Prestashop Ecommerce development solutions.
It focuses mostly on reliable online shopping solutions and an amazing user experience for online entrepreneurs with a low budget for establishing an online store.
Prestashop is a good solution for those who need to put up an online store right now without much budget. If you're looking for a fully-fledged store with more advanced features, Prestashop is not the best for that.
Pros:
- Easy to install
- Open source platform
- Easy to use and maintain
- User-friendly interface
- Good for customization
- Demographic assistance
- Minimal system requirements
- Secure payment system
- Economic choice
Cons:
- Limited scalability
- Unprofessional design
- Paid functionality
- No official support team
osCommerce
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Total sites: 314,148
With hundreds of thousands of users in its online community, osCommerce is a truly open source and free-to-use ecommerce platform under GNU General Public License. There are over 260,000 different stores running on osCommerce, with 12,800 registered sites under its belt.
This platform is best for those who are just looking to put up an online store without fiddling too much with it. Whether you're simply dipping your toes into ecommerce or running a small to medium online store, osCommerce is a pretty good solution.
Pros:
- Fairly easy to use
- Large user community
- Easy to customize and modify
- Additional plugins and add-ons
Cons
- Can be error prone
- Requires more manual intervention
- Doesn't always scale well
BigCommerce
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Total sites: 120,032
Built upon the concept of being all-inclusive, BigCommerce seeks to provide everything an online entrepreneur needs to get started with ecommerce in one package. This is opposed to other platforms that may offer bits and pieces of an online store separately.
BigCommerce is a hosted platform with all-inclusive options that competes directly with Shopify and Volusion, as well as non-turn-key options like WooCommerce (along with WordPress), Magento, and others.
Pros:
- Integrated education
- No-hassle speed and security
- Intuitive built-in features
- Built-in marketing features
- Helpful customer support
- Easy design
Cons:
- Tough pricing
- Limited availability of add-ons
- Lock-in
- Obtuse product and inventory management
- Too much choice all at once
Pixpa
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Whether you want to build an eCommerce store, start a blog, or create a portfolio as an artist, Pixpa is a great way to get started quickly. It requires no coding knowledge with its easy-to-use drag and drop features and customizable themes. Creatives such as photographers, artists, and designers can easily create and manage their portfolio online, business owners can use its eCommerce features, and bloggers can publish articles.
Pros:
- Beautiful templates focused for creatives
- Great for online portfolios
- Client centric features
- No commission taken for any client transactions
- Stripe, PayPal payment gateway support
- You can connect Shopify to Pixpa
- Tons of app integrations
- 15 day free trial
- 30-day money back guarantee on all new subscriptions.
Cons:
- Nothing can be published when you’re in trial period
- Cannot use the same photos unless you reload them
Conclusion
The online retail economy is certainly far from its peak, which also means that starting an ecommerce business (now) could prove to become a very lucrative endeavor in the future.
Choosing the perfect platform to use for a store might be a difficult task for some, but the good news is that there are so many available resources on the web (like the data we’ve presented above) that should help making the decision easier - because it should be.
Where to go next?
Ready to start your own ecommerce store? Check out these other helpful resources from the SaleHoo blog to get you started:
You can also follow SaleHoo on Facebook and Twitter to get more updates.
![Top eCommerce Platforms by Usage in 2018 [with Infographic]](https://cdn.salehoo.com/img/content/posts/3910.512feb440fdcab515cd629716784aa41.png?84667)
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