The United Kingdom has generated an e-commerce turnover of $ 169.0bn in 2014 (equaling an amount of €147.63 or £108.03), reveals the latest Global B2C E-commerce Report by the Ecommerce Foundation and Ecommerce Europe. In a world-wide comparison, the UK ranks third, only behind global giants China and the United States. It is the world’s second most popular cross-border destination behind the US, and in terms of per capita online spend, the UK even tops the bill. And the good news is: It’s not too late to jump on the boat!

Source: Ecommerce Foundation

The US, China and the UK together account for 61 percent of total B2C e-commerce sales worldwide.
“Asian-Pacific’s strong e-commerce performance is mainly due to the unleashed Chinese e-commerce market,” says Jorij Abraham, Director of the Ecommerce Foundation. “The online turnover of this e-commerce giant grew by 63.8% last year, and reached $ 538.1bn. With this, it increased its lead on the American e-commerce market, which grew by 11.7% to $ 482.7bn.”

The United Kingdom ranked third, with a B2C e-commerce turnover of $ 169.0bn. Yet, in terms of average spending per e-shopper, the UK leads the way. In 2014, British e-shoppers each spent $ 4,082 (€3,565; £2,610) on average. American online shoppers ranked second with $ 2,888 (€2,522; £1,847) followed by the French with $ 2,126 (€1,888; £1,359). China is somewhat lagging behind, but at $ 1,703 (€1488; £1,089), the average spending per e-shopper increased by more than 55% in 2014.

Although the UK is a mature market with online selling already established as a mainstream channel, the online share in retail is only 13 percent (the European average is 5 percent). This share is expected to reach 23 percent before 2018, which shows a clear tendency towards growth and potential.

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