China Leads the Global E-Commerce Market

The global e-commerce market is dominated by China. According to data from eCommerceDB, the country's total online retail sales amounted up to almost $2.2 trillion last year. The United States is in rank 2 with sales of $981 billion and the United Kingdom comes third as revenues reached $157 billion. Sales included in the data represents B2C sales of physical goods including VAT.

Already catering to a giant market back home, China has recently been trying to gain a stronger foothold in international online shopping. More and more Chinese e-commerce firms are branching out with platforms for the international market. Temu by Chinese PDD Holding (formerly Pinduoduo Inc.) is the most recent example of this. The site recorded record sales of 130.56 billion yuan (equivalent to around $17 billion) in 2022. Previously, Alibaba had tried its hand at overseas markets with AliExpress. A similar platform giving consumers more direct access to Chinese goods, Wish, was a new, independent venture, however, and was founded in the United States in 2010. 

The term e-commerce refers to the trading of goods and services on the Internet. Depending on the trading participant, a distinction is made between, among other things, B2B (corporate customer business), B2C (trade between companies and consumers) and C2C e-commerce (trade between companies).