Despite having a smaller population than the eight combined European countries surveyed, along with one of the smallest projected year-over-year growth rates, the US still leads -commerce sales with an expected revenue of USD 349 billion (compared to USD 254 billion in projected sales in surveyed European countries, according to an international study commissioned by RetailMeNot marketplace for digital offers and carried out by the Centre for Retail Research agency, cnn.com reports.
US consumers also have the highest average order value (AOV) of USD 115 per purchase online, a 26% increase over all eight countries surveyed in Europe (USD 85); 21% greater than consumers in Sweden (USD 91); 22% greater than consumers in the UK (USD 90) and 15% greater than the average Canadian purchase (USD 98).
That growth in online sales, across the 10 countries surveyed, is largely being driven by consumers collective adoption of mobile commerce. The US also appears to be adopting the shift to mobile at a faster rate than other countries surveyed. Mobile commerce is projected to represent 27% of total ecommerce sales in the US (USD 93.6 billion) in 2015 versus 20% of ecommerce in the eight countries surveyed in Europe (USD 61.5 billion).
Outside the US, where ecommerce sales are projected to grow by 14% in 2015, other markets in North America and Europe continue to be attractive for retailers interested in a bigger international base of customers. In particular, Germany, France and the UK combined, represent 82% of all ecommerce sales among the eight countries surveyed in Europe.
Projected growth rates are as follows: Germany: 23% projected year-over-year ecommerce growth, and ranked second in sales among EU studies surveyed, France: 17% projected year-over-year e-commerce growth, and ranked third in sales among EU studies surveyed, UK: 16% projected year-over-year e-commerce growth, and ranked first in sales among EU studies surveyed. Poland expects a 21% projected year-over-year ecommerce increase among countries surveyed in Europe while Canada represents the slowest ecommerce growth rate (13%).
In a world where credit card adoption and online payments have fueled the ecommerce opportunity, Canada does hold one distinction as it leads the US with online purchases made via credit cards. Credit cards are used for 64% of transactions versus 42% in the US. Alternative online payment methods, such as PayPal, seem most dominant in the UK and Poland, where they make up 20% of online payments.
Check out our Cross-border Ecommerce Research section here for more info on country-specific ecommerce facts and figures, preferred payment methods, risk and fraud, as well as ecommerce legislation and regulation for mature and emerging markets.
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