E-Commerce World Tour: Focus on E-tail Powerhouses

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The the US and the UK might have claimed all the e-commerce clout to date, but Brazil and China are set to send waves across the global e-tail landscape.

When it comes to global e-commerce, you could be forgiven for thinking that the US and the UK own the game. After all, these markets boast high levels of industry investment, superstar brands and a tech-savvy and engaged consumer base. But according to a panel of experts speaking at Retail’s BIG Show, the pulse points for online retail are not where you first might think. A panel session titled Global E-Commerce 2012 found that China was the world’s biggest e-commerce market with 369 million online users, followed by the US (253 million), India (133 million), Japan (104 million) and Brazil (91 million). And more significantly, global online retail is yet to hit its full potential – Forrester Research predicts that e-commerce sales will stem from all these markets, spurred by compound annual growth rates that range from 22% in China and 18% in Brazil to 20% in Mexico and 53% in India.

So, why all the interest in China and Brazil? In the Asia-Pacific region, 41% of all online users live in China and in Latin America, 41% reside in Brazil. CNN Money ranks China and Brazil the world’s two biggest emerging economies in terms of GDP. This has direct implications for e-commerce – Forrester predicts that the Chinese online retail market will jump from $US94.6 billion to $159.4 billion in 2015 and tips that e-tail in Brazil will be worth $US22 billion by 2016. Online shopping is popular with customers of all age groups across both countries, and although m-commerce has yet to take off, the high rate of mobile penetration is a sign of things to come.

A word of caution to international retailers looking to crack these markets – Brazilian and Chinese customers are fiercely loyal to domestic merchants and view value-adds such as free shipping as the norm. As far as the local scene goes, global entrants are best advised to pay attention to these players:

Magazine Luiza
Brazil-based Magazine Luiza has been generating plenty of buzz, and it’s not hard to see why. The country’s second largest department store has long been on the vanguard of e-commerce innovation, most recently launching Magazine Você, an online marketplace that allows customers to curate their own personalised storefronts.

E-Closet
Offering high-end local international labels, e-closet has secured a serious following among Brazilian fashion-lovers even if it owes its success more to the country’s appetite for big brands rather than online retail bells and whistles.

Hui She Shang
Luxury Chinese e-tailer Hui She Shang (The Luxury Club) sells beauty products, fashion accessories, watches and jewelry. The company recently joined forces with Tabao Mall, China’s leading business-to-consumer e-commerce platform, which offers global brands access to the country’s largest online distribution channel.

Article by Neha Kale

Neha is a writer and editor for The Media Pad, publisher of Power Retail. She has a background in business, arts and film journalism and an interest in new media and digital strategy. She is looking forward to exploring how retailers are impacted by the online space for Power Retail. Neha is a magazine junkie whose other addictions include coffee, travel and live music. She likes to run but has a long-time allergy to team sports.

2 Comments

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  • Elisabeth Lambert
  • 30th January

  I love hearing about what is coming out of China – it really fascinates me as the internet is so closely monitored in China and I often wonder how this affects people’s entrepreneurial and creative instincts in this field.

  Reply
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  • SELL ON TAOBAO
  • 30th January

  for overseas business, selling to China online is a low cost and minimal risk option, service provider such as cwkcommerce offers one stop solution

  Reply