Online Sales Share Grows for Alibaba, Shrinks for Amazon

eCommerce is a real heavyweight among the main drivers of economic performance and growth across the globe. In 2021, the total global eCommerce market produced revenues of US$3.9 trillion. No wonder, thus, that the leading global eCommerce companies are also among the strongest and most successful global companies in general, and many of the strongest global retail companies which originally had an offline focus now produce a relevant share of their revenues through eCommerce activities. ecommerceDB has taken account of the significance of eCommerce companies. The brand-new eCommerce company section on ecommerceDB features information on major companies on the international eCommerce stage, with detailed company profiles each. Measured by total revenue, Walmart, Inc. is the leading eCommerce company out of the selection of major eCommerce companies on ecommerceDB, generating 2021 revenues of US$573 billion. When it comes to the share that eCommerce net sales contribute to overall revenue, however, Walmart is beaten by several competitors:

JD.com, Inc., which is in rank 7 of the biggest eCommerce companies worldwide by total company revenue, produces the bulk of its total net sales through first-party eCommerce. Although the eCommerce share shrank slightly by -1.7% year-on-year, JD.com, Inc. generated 86% of its overall net sales through first-party eCommerce activities in 2021. Other revenue streams of JD.com, Inc. include logistics and other services. Amazon.com, Inc. is in rank 2 of the biggest global eCommerce companies by total company revenue, and also the company with the second highest first-party eCommerce share in this comparison. Although Amazon started off as an online store, Amazon.com, Inc.’s net sales today mainly come from other sources than eCommerce – with 47% (down 4% YoY), less than half of Amazon, Inc.’s net sales came from first-party eCommerce activities in 2021. Amazon, Inc. today has many business segments, including cloud services, advertising and subscription services, and physical stores. The detailed sales shares of these segments can be found in the Amazon, Inc. company profile. The companies Alibaba Group Holding, Ltd., Target Corporation, and also Walmart, Inc. increased their eCommerce net sales shares between 2020 and 2021. Alibaba Group Holding, Ltd. saw the strongest increase. The share of eCommerce sales increased by 5% from 26% to 31% in total net sales. Alibaba Group’s total eCommerce net sales amounted to US$40.5 billion in 2021.