Covid-19 promotes e-commerce, but not in all sectors

Alibaba Group continues to be world leader in e-commerce (Credit: AFP)

The Govt-19-related restrictions gave a big boost to e-commerce last year, but not for all companies – a UN survey reveals.

According to a study, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCDAT) notes that despite the epidemic infecting entire sectors of the economy, the sector has made “amazing progress” in the face of travel restrictions.

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But the negative impact of the epidemic has been documented in vehicle sharing or travel services, according to a report based on statistics from seven countries (Australia, Canada, China, South Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States). . Overall, they account for two-thirds of consumers (called P2Cs) in online business sales.

Data for these countries shows that online retail sales increased by 22.4% last year to $ 2.45 trillion, while in 2018-2019 it recorded an advance of 15.1%.

“Between 2018 and 2019, online share of total retail sales increased by 1.7 percentage points, while between 2019 and 2020 it increased by 3.6 percentage points. Progress is twice as fast, “said Dorborn Friedrichson, chief of The Christian Science Monitor’s Washington bureau.

However, evolution depends on the country: in Australia, online sales have increased by 59%; In the United Kingdom, 46.7%; And in the United States, 32.4%. In China it is only 14.6%.

UNCDAT does not yet have global data for 2020, but Frederickson says many states are showing strong growth in e-commerce in other regions.

Latin American online business group Mercado Livere recorded an average 40% increase in user activity in Latin America between the end of February and the end of May 2020.

Jumia, the industry’s largest company in Africa, recorded a growth of more than 50% in transactions in the first six months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, the expert said.

– Alibaba is the leader –

In 2019, global e-commerce sales are almost. Statistics show that it has reached 26.7 trillion, an increase of 4% compared to 2018.

This figure includes both companies (P2B) that represent the majority (82%) of e-commerce – and consumer (P2C) from the company and this equates to 30% of gross domestic product (GDP) for the year, according to the study.

“Statistics show the growing importance of online activities. They also highlight the need for countries, especially developing countries, to have this information as they rebuild their economies in the aftermath of the Govt-19 epidemic, ”said Shamika Sirimanne, UNCDAT Director of Technology and Logistics.

Data from 13 major e-commerce companies – ten of them from China and the United States – however, indicated that the epidemic “caused a significant change in the situation for sites that provide services such as car sharing and travel”. UN Company.

Companies operating in these sectors recorded a sharp drop in total product volumes, while P2C companies’ global rankings declined accordingly.

For example, Expedia went from 5th in 2019 to 11th in 2020; Booking Holdings, 6 to 12; And Airpin, which went public in 11 to 13 in 2020.

The first four places in the rankings are the same as the previous year: Alibaba, Amazon, JD.com and Bintudo, in that order.

Despite the reduction in the total number of service companies (VGMs), the total VGMs of the first 13 B2C e-commerce companies grew by 20.5% in 2020, which is higher than in 2019 (17.9%). Profits are particularly significant in the case of Shopify and Walmart, according to UNCAD.