The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a boost for e-commerce as it has become the default option for many customers worldwide and it is set to remain the preferred shopping method beyond the pandemic, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

E-commerce has seen a boost in 2020, particularly in countries where online shopping is not the mainstream shopping method. As a result, it is projected to grow at a faster rate than in previous years. For example, in China, it is expected to grow from 10.4% in 2019 to 12.4% in 2021, a whopping two-percentage-point increase of e-commerce spending per GDP. E-commerce spending in the US has also witnessed significant growth – increasing from 8.4% in 2019 to 9.2% in 2020, and it is projected to reach 10% in 2021, according to GlobalData.

Vlad Totia, Payments Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The real impact for the industry isn’t just the customers who will use e-commerce during the pandemic and go back to their normal outside shopping habits. The retention level for people already used to doing most of their shopping online will be the real growth engine for the industry.

“GlobalData’s forecast for e-commerce growth shows that COVID-19 was an accelerator for phenomena that was already happening. E-commerce was steadily becoming a bigger industry, while people were slowly getting more comfortable with buying their products online. However, with this being the preferred shopping method for the foreseeable, forecasts show an immense retention for the industry.

“Online shopping and food and grocery delivery are here to stay at the very least at a much more popular level than before, if not even becoming the default method to buy products in the next few years.”