17 Surprising Facts About Ecommerce
Mashable recently posted an article listing 17 little-known facts about eCommerce. The multi-billion-dollar ecommerce industry is a part of our everyday lives, but many don’t realize the numbers and history behind it, so we decided to repost the information.
- By connecting a modified domestic television with a phone line, Michael Aldrich invented online shopping in 1979.
- Although Amazon launched in 1995, the first yearly profit wasn’t until 2003, and as of June 2012, theaverage order value was $47.31.
- Because of forced account registration, online users abandon their shopping carts 26% of the time.
- Netflix wasn’t the first online DVD subscription service — Blockbuster announced Blockbuster.com in 2004, but it’s unclear whether services such as Netflix and Redbox led to its ultimate bankruptcy.
- During the third quarter of 2012, $4,423 was transacted per second via PayPal.
- Zappos’ referrals from social media per order yield $0.75 from Pinterest, $2.08 from Facebook and $33.66 from Twitter.
- Approximately 46% of online users count on social media when making a purchase decision.
- 71% of shoppers believe they’ll get a better deal online than in stores.
- In 2010, Groupon turned down Google‘s $6 billion offer and became an IPO the following year.
- Pizza Hut began offering online ordering on its website in 1994.
- India is home to the fastest growing ecommerce market, and France is home to the slowest ecommerce growth.
- Ecommerce sales are expected to surpass $200 billion in 2012.
- Consumers spend between $1,200 and $1,300 on online shopping per year.
- E-retail will grow to 9% in 2016, up from 7% today.
- Online sales from social networks will grow 93% percent per year within the next four years, according to consulting firm Booz & Company.
- From 2011 to 2016, 15% more people will shop online, taking the number to 192 million in the U.S.
- Analysts say that an explosion in the mobile payments market is just around the corner.
We've been reporting a lot about mobile and mobile search lately, and here's why. A recent report from eMarketer said that in 2012 the U.S. mobile payments market will be worth $640 million, and that by 2016 the total transaction value of mobile payments in the U.S. will hit $62.24 billion.
What do you think? Does any of this information come as a surprise to you?