Who Spends Most per Online Order?

Online shopping has found its way into all corners of the world and has become a natural part of many peoples’ lives. But eCommerce shopping habits vary, depending on many factors. Obviously, the size of the overall eCommerce market differs greatly from country to country, more or less in line with general economic strength. While, not surprisingly, China is the biggest global eCommerce market with 2021 total net sales of an overwhelming US$1.37 trillion according to Statista Digital Market Outlook data, countries like Argentina or South Africa only generate a fraction. China’s mere size and huge population are of course among the main reasons why the eCommerce market is as large as it is. When breaking it down to the individual shopper, the Chinese are not the biggest spenders:

To allow for an even deeper and more precise analysis of online stores, eCommerceDB has introduced a new KPI: The Average Order Value (AOV). It refers to the average amount an eCommerce customer spends on an individual online purchase. When taking a look at the Average Order Value per country, it turns out that U.S. Americans are the most generous spenders in eCommerce in our selection of countries, at least per individual order. They spend an average of US$109 per online purchase. This is US$16 more than the global average. The U.S. is followed closely by Japan, where online shoppers spend US$106 on an average order. Canada and Germany are also above the global average of US$93 in this comparison of selected countries. Other strong economies like Australia, South Korea, France – and also China – have AOVs below the global average. Chinese online shoppers spend an average of US$69 per individual purchase, which is US$24 less than the average online shopper in the world. With US$47, South African online shoppers only spend about half of the global average on an individual online purchase. Of course, the AOV says nothing about how frequently people shop online. A Chinese shopper who makes three orders a day might spend more in total than an American shopping twice a week.