The $1 trillion price tag: the value of ecommerce spending by 2022

The enforced ecommerce social experiment of the last 12 months has turbocharged the value of online buying.

The dollars funneled into digital have been piling up and up, soaring beyond the Burj Khalifa, which is set to reach the stratosphere: ecommerce spending is expected to hit $1 trillion by the year 2022, that’s according to Adobe analysis.

The introduction and popularization of quarantine commerce coping mechanisms, such as curbside pickup, contactless payment, broadening the storage facilities from the warehouse to the store, etc., were short-term fixes to acute issues affecting business.

But what we’re seeing is the continual usage of such strategies and delivery options, as consumers have gotten used to them, and in many cases prefer them, despite the slow and gradual reopening of physical stores across the country and across the world.

(Interestingly, Adobe’s analysis found that as consumers continually use click and collect, they were actually heading to the store to pick up their goods during working hours, thanks to the flexibility enabled from the blending of work and home life… not that blending work and home life is all good, but does point towards certain advantages.)

Back in December, it was reported that 40% of retailers provided click and collect services – a jump of 1/4 from 2019, which help power digital sales.

$1 trillion unpacked

To unpack this projected price tag of ecommerce, let’s take a look at a couple of other interacting figures to come out of the Adobe analysis.

• Since the beginning of the pandemic, in March 2020, until February 2021, consumers have spent an extra $183 billion on ecommerce.
• That brought the total value of ecommerce during the period to $844 billion.
• By the end of 2021 ecommerce spending is expected to land somewhere between $850 billion and $930 billion.
• The major landmark of $1 trillion for ecommerce is expected to be reached by 2022.
• During January and February of 2021, buy-now-pay-later services skyrocketed 215% when compared to last year.
• 30% of ecommerce consumers prefer to shop via click and collect, and curbside pickup, rather than standard delivery.

Now that this shower of statistics has subsided, it’s important for shops to realize or reaffirm the importance of ecommerce strategies and maintain effort to sure up their digital capabilities, no matter whether it’s a big player retailer powered by Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud (a favorite of high-selling, deep-spending brands that need complex solutions for complex business needs) or a mom-and-pop store powered by WooCommerce, the native ecommerce plugin of WordPress (a favorite of many with basic ecommerce needs and low-entry requirements to set up your own business).

PS: ArganoUV is one of the world’s leading Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud dev teams. Contact us to see how we can work together.