eCommerce Analysis

Predictions about how much money global eCommerce makes are very different because people use different methods to calculate the numbers. For example, Statista’s DMO and ECDB estimates are US$3.64 trillion and US$3.57 trillion, respectively, while Allied Market Research’s projection includes both B2B and B2C eCommerce revenues, resulting in a much higher figure of US$15.7 trillion. 

The first two are closer due to the identical scope of the calculation, which encompasses sales of physical goods through online channels and omits digital media, services, as well as B2B sales. 

To provide a leading reference on the data of the world’s top 250 eCommerce stores, we dive into the breakdown of their revenues per region, country, and dominant industry for the 2019-2022 period.

eCommerce: Defining the Largest 250 Companies

To kick things off, we want to inform you that this insight focuses on the world’s 250 largest publicly traded companies that derive at least a portion of their revenue from eCommerce activities. The criteria for their inclusion are based on market capitalization valuations, adopting a financial investment viewpoint rather than our customary focus on revenue generation. 

Our study covers companies with diverse eCommerce involvement, such as Microsoft and Apple with multiple sales channels, as well as Amazon or Alibaba, which are pure online players. It presents total revenues across all sales channels and serves as the first in a series of ongoing, detailed examinations.

Most Revenues in Americas

Looking at the total revenues of the top 250 publicly traded eCommerce companies, as defined above, we first take a regional perspective.

Collectively, these top companies account for revenues that are higher than the GDP of prosperous economies such as Germany or Japan, and revenues have grown consistently over the observed period at a CAGR (2019-2022) of 9%.

Of all the regions included in the subsequent breakdown, North America, together with Latin America, accounts for the largest share of the revenues generated by these top 250 companies.

More specifically, of the US$5 trillion generated in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, about 59.2% came from the Americas, and their annual growth rate between 2019 and 2022 outpaced global development by one percentage point.

Despite economic barriers during the pandemic and resulting inflationary pressures, as well as supply chain disruptions and the war in Ukraine, the top 250 public companies experienced revenue growth.

Asia Accounts for More Than One-Fifth of Global Sales

Other regions showed less pronounced development. Of these, Asia is the region with the next highest revenue for the top 250 companies, but its figures are still well below American revenues. However, these top companies still generated more than US$1 trillion in revenue annually in Asia between 2019 and 2022, with a slight decline from 2021 to 2022, but an overall CAGR of 8%. As a share of global revenue, Asia contributed 20.9% in 2022.

eCommerce in Europe and Oceania

Europe approaches Asian figures in both absolute and CAGR terms (2019-2022), with revenues exceeding US$1 trillion for the first time in 2022. Australia & Oceania lags far behind with figures of around US$100 billion in 2022 and a low annual growth rate of 2%. As the smallest region in this sample, its deficit reflects this fact. But size is not the whole story. Africa, for example, has not been included in this sample because in that region, the world’s top 250 companies generate miniature figures, even though it is a large continent. 

While a regional perspective provides us with a general idea of how the top companies’ revenues are distributed globally, it still lacks specificity. With that in mind, the following subsection examines which countries are proving to be the most profitable for the leading 250 public companies with eCommerce involvement.

U.S. Lead in Revenue, While China Grows Steepest

Taking a more granular look at the country-specific perspective, the five countries with the highest number of companies among the top 250 are shown below. Affiliation is determined by the presence of corporate headquarters in the location. Together, these five countries account for 65% of the 250 companies included in our analysis.

A first glance at the results shows that the United States and China are significantly ahead of the other three nations, and the growth over the observed period is most pronounced in these two countries. 

While the U.S. already started at a high level in 2019 with revenues of US$31 billion, an overall growth rate of 34% resulted in US$41.6 billion by 2022. Thus, despite the pandemic, the largest companies were able to ensure a steady increase over the years.

While China Follows U.S. Lead, Other Countries Lag Far Behind

China’s story is similar, though not identical. With a lower starting point of US$16.1 billion in 2019, revenues peaked momentarily in 2021 at US$24.1 billion, but declined again in the following year to US$23.4 billion. However, with a growth of 45% from 2019 to 2022, China’s top companies reported a steeper rise than U.S. companies, with a difference of more than 10 percentage points. 

These developments are particularly noteworthy in relation to the growth rates of the remaining three countries, which did not reach double digits during this period. Of these, the United Kingdom leads with revenues of US$15.2 billion in 2022 and a growth rate of 8%, followed by Japan (2022: US$9.1 billion and 8% growth) and Germany trailing (2022: US$9 billion and 9% growth).

Revenue Statistics: Myriad Factors Play a Role

Among these five markets, the pandemic appears to have hit Germany and the UK the hardest, as evidenced by slight revenue declines of up to 0.3 percentage points in 2020. At the same time, the post-pandemic recovery has been slower in these countries, while Japan experienced a decline in 2022. Nonetheless, it is important to consider additional factors such as Germany’s dependence on Russian gas and high inflationary pressures, which have also increased the cost of energy and living in the UK, while slowing investment.  

A mix of these aspects thus affected the earnings performance of the highest-rated companies in the top 5 markets. This is in stark contrast to the two best performing countries in our analysis. 

In addition to a geographical discussion, there is also an industry perspective to consider. The final section provides insight into revenue trends of the most common industries in which the top 250 public eCommerce companies operate.

Internet Retail Companies: Growth of 82% From 2019 to 2022

In a final exploration, we break down revenues by the dominant industry in which the concern primarily operates. Several patterns emerge, which we discuss below.

At first glance, it is clear that Internet Retail, which describes companies that operate an eCommerce platform or marketplace with a generalist approach, has grown the most during the pandemic years. The growth rate for this industry reaches a whopping 82%. Starting from a relatively low level of US$17.8 billion in 2019, the revenues of companies operating in this sector reached US$30.5 billion in 2021 and further increased to US$32.4 billion in 2022.

Grocery Stores to Maintain Steady Sales

Grocery Stores, on the other hand, set out from a high position with revenues of US$27.4 billion in 2019 and grew at a rate of 16% until 2022, thus maintaining a steady positive development over the years.

As our analysis includes both offline and online sales of the top companies in their respective sectors, eCommerce can be seen as a supplementary income for grocery stores over this period. Since shoppers are always in need of groceries, the positive performance of grocery stores supports this assumption.

Luxury Goods Grew at a High Rate

Among the remaining three categories observed, Luxury Goods stand out with a high increase of 37% between 2019 and 2022. Despite a slight dip at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, the sector rebounded quickly, with the top companies reaching US$16.8 billion in 2022.  

For more information on the online luxury market, see the ECDB Luxury Report. Luxury goods are considered particularly resilient due to the continued affluence of consumers, even in challenging economic times.

Otherwise, Apparel and Specialty Retail were unable to compete with the other categories in our study. Specialty Retail refers to stores that focus on a specific product category, as opposed to the generalist approach where a variety of product categories are the focus of sales.

While fashion still managed to generate positive growth overall at a rate of 7%, Specialty Retail grew intermittently but ended up at the same level in 2022 as it started out in 2019. As there may be several influences behind this development, it could be that generalist players are taking a slice of the specialist pie. 

Having assessed the breakdown of leading companies’ revenues across regional and industrial dimensions, we can now recapitulate the most defining takeaways.

Top eCommerce Companies - Key Takeaways 

Global business activities have been shaped by the digital shift and rise of eCommerce, which brought about monumental changes in the way retail takes place. Through the lens of the leading 250 publicly traded companies, the preceding insight examined central patterns in revenue generation, the influence of regional divisions, and industry-specific categories.

Regional Revenue Distribution:

The Americas stood out as the leading regions in terms of revenue for the top 250 companies involved in eCommerce. Representing a share of more than half of global revenues, the Americas also outpaced the global CAGR (2019-2022).  

While Asia holds a sizable share of about one-fifth of global earnings, it remains below American figures. Europe and Oceania trail even further. 

Country-Specific Insights:

The United States and China are the most dominant players when splitting up revenue by country assigned per corporate headquarters. Both nations have demonstrated notable growth, with top companies headquartered in the U.S. achieving revenues of US$41.6 billion by 2022 from an already high base of US$31 billion in 2019.

Meanwhile, China, with its impressive growth rate of 45% between 2019 and 2022, underlines it rising influence, even though it experienced a slight dip in 2022. Countries like the UK, Japan, and Germany, while still significant, did not exhibit the same meteoric growth.

Industry Breakdown:

The Internet Retail sector, as defined by companies that operate generalized eCommerce platforms, are the standout performers with an increase of 82% between 2019 and 2022. Grocery stores maintained steady growth over the years, emphasizing their consistent importance in both online and offline sales.

Luxury Goods started out at a lower level but recovered substantially from an initial decline in revenues at the early stages of the pandemic, while the remaining sectors Apparel and Specialty Retail fared less positively, possibly to the encroachment of more generalized retailers into their domain.