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Date:07 June 2012

IMRG Publish B2C Global e-Commerce Overview 2012

IMRG have today published a report looking at the e-commerce potential for every region in the world. The IMRG B2C Global e-Commerce Overview 2012 also focuses on 15 of the most developed and most interesting up-and-coming e-commerce countries in detail, identifying trends, issues and opportunities in each.

The aim of the report is to provide insights into these markets to help e-businesses make the most appropriate decisions in support of their expansion plans.

Total B2C e-commerce sales in 2011 are estimated to have grown to €690bn (£599bn, $961bn), an increase of close to 20%. IMRG estimate that growth will continue in the coming years, passing the trillion-euro mark in 2013, a year earlier than forecast in the first edition of this report published last year.

The world leader in B2C e-commerce remains the USA, followed by the UK and Japan. Asia-Pacific is continuing to power ahead in terms of growth, with China’s e-commerce market in particular rising over 130% in 2011.  The mature markets in the world such as USA, UK and Japan will continue to grow slightly slower, but still in double digits between 10-15%. France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Turkey and Poland will be the fastest-growing markets in Europe.  IMRG forecast substantial growth in Latin America, led by Brazil and Mexico and the Middle East, led by Israel and UAE.

The number of internet users at the end of 2011 was estimated to be around 2.2 billion and is forecast to reach close to 3.5 billion in just a couple of years, around 50% of the world’s population.  As the number of internet users grows and users get more and more confident in purchasing online, the number of e-shoppers is set to grow rapidly.

In addition to the well-established markets, this report examines the e-commerce potential in the BRICS countries (Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa) as well as the MIKT countries (Mexico, Indonesia, Korea and Turkey) which have excellent economic futures and will in the coming years be amongst the leaders in internet and e-business. A separate report focusing solely on the BRICS countries will be published by IMRG later this month.

Aad Weening, Head of International at IMRG and author of the report, said: “The future of e-retail is global and with the inevitable slowing of growth in several major markets in the likes of North America and Europe, it is important for businesses to understand where the future opportunities will be. The country profiles in this report take in to consideration a range of factors in assessment of the potential for the development of the e-commerce markets there; online is now becoming an integral part of any country’s economy and should be considered so. Worldwide we are increasingly seeing trust and confidence in purchasing online growing and government and private initiatives brought in to support the development of the global digital economy.”


The IMRG B2C Global e-Commerce Overview 2012 can be purchased and downloaded on the IMRG website. More information HERE.

Contact:
Aad Weening
Tel: +32 (0) 14 542532; mobile: +32 (0) 474 951341; main IMRG office: +44 (0) 20 7716 5604
Email: aad.weening@imrg.org

About IMRG
IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group) is the UK’s industry association for e-retailing. IMRG is a membership community, set up to develop and the latest best practice advice to enable retailers to succeed in the world’s most competitive online market. IMRG is the recognised authoritative voice of e-retail, supporting and promoting online shopping and digital commerce since 1990. The mission of IMRG International is to inform, assist and enable the successful adoption of interactive media by businesses and governments around the globe, by providing access to intelligence and know-how and by assistance and guidance in identifying and accessing markets.

Our market research capabilities are greatly enhanced by the open-access IMR Smart Knowledge Base. An exclusive product of IMRG, IMR Smart is a store-house of contemporary and historical data covering a range of relevant categories (e-commerce, internet usage, demographics, economics, delivery and country-wide rankings for example) from countries across all regions of the world. IMR Smart features a user-friendly interface for undertaking graphical analysis of the data, exporting the data into different formats and carrying out comparative analysis.