The eCommerce space is as dynamic as ever. According to estimates, US eCommerce sales will surpass $1 trillion for the first time in 2022—a feat that was accelerated by the pandemic and was thought to be impossible until 2024.
Globally, this number is poised to reach $5 trillion in 2022 and $6 trillion by 2024. The advancements in technology, the evolution of tech-savvy customers, changing end-user expectations and needs, and the unmatched convenience that online shopping provides have fueled this growth.
Additionally, eCommerce B2B sales, too, is demonstrating an upward trend:
Source: insiderintelligence.com
With a good understanding of the current eCommerce landscape, let's take a deep dive to understand the most popular eCommerce websites in the world. We'll also look at the top eCommerce websites by web traffic and gain an understanding of how these eCommerce portals are faring in terms of sales, customer experience, etc.
Let's jump right in.
A Lowdown of the Top Most-Visited eCommerce Websites in the World:
List of the Most Visited eCommerce Websites in the World
1. Amazon.com
Source: amazon.com
Amazon's dominance in the eCommerce space is unparalleled. According to the latest research, Amazon was ranked as the world's most valuable retail brand, with a brand value of around $683.8 billion. In 2021, here's how the brand fared with respect to retail eCommerce sales by category:
Source: insiderintelligence.com
According to research, Amazon's monthly footfall runs up to 5.2 billion monthly with eBay on the second spot, boasting of 1.7 billion visits:
Source: webretailer.com
In terms of country-wise market share, here's a snapshot of the brand's net sales from 2014 to 2021:
Source: statista.com
As per data, the United States was Amazon's biggest market in 2021 with 314 billion US dollars in net sales, whereas Germany ranked second with 37.3 billion US dollars, ahead of the UK with 31.9 billion.
Nearly 40% of all US eCommerce sales have been attributed to Amazon. Established in 1994, Amazon has emerged as one of the biggest eCommerce marketplaces. Further research suggests that Amazon's fastest-growing category will be food and beverage, slated to grow by nearly 25% in eCommerce sales year-over-year (YoY).
2. ebay.com:
Source: ebay.com
eBay is the second-biggest online marketplace and eCommerce giant in the world, established in 1995 in California by Pierre Omidyar.
It has a brand presence across 190 markets, and 59% of its revenue comes from international operations. What started out as an auction website (where sellers listed items for buyers to bid on) has now transformed into a direct purchasing portal.
According to estimates, the brand boasts of an active buyer base of 187 million buyers globally, which grew by 7%. Data further suggest that its annual active sellers grew by 8% for a total of 20 million global active sellers.
Research by Statista claims that eBay is the second most visited eCommerce site in the US, with more than 885 million visits per month.
3. Alibaba Group Holding Limited:
Source: alibaba.com
Alibaba is the largest Chinese eCommerce website offering B2B, B2C, and C2C e-commerce services.
Launched in 1999 as a dedicated B2B eCommerce portal to connect Chinese manufacturers with overseas buyers, the brand is now the leading eCommerce provider in Asia.
The company offers a plethora of marketplaces for different customer segments, such as Alibaba.com (B2B), Taobao (C2C), and Tmall (B2C). Additionally, it offers electronic payment services called Alipay, cloud computing services, and other related services to cater to all its end-to-end eCommerce needs.
The brand's annual revenue has steadily increased over a period of time:
Source: statista.com
Furthermore, its number of active buyers amounted to 882 million in 2021:
Source: statista.com
During the two-week shopping events, popularly known as the Singles' Day shopping festival, Chinese consumers spent $84.54 billion on Alibaba's e-commerce platforms.
4. Rakuten:
Source: rakuten.com
Rakuten is based out of London, U.K., and was launched in 1997. This eCommerce website deals with coupons and rebates and boasts of revenues of $5 million to $10 million.
The total website visits for January 2022 amounted to 45.2 million, where users spent 2:48 seconds on average and visited 2.97 pages per visit.
5. Walmart:
Source: walmart.com
Founded in 1962 in Arkansas, Walmart is an eCommerce marketplace that boasts annual revenues of $1 billion. It is undoubtedly one of the most well-known and valuable brands in the world.
As per data, Walmart is the sixth most valuable brand in the world (as of 2021):
Source: statista.com
The brand's total website visitors amounted to 466.2 million in January 2022. Visitors visited 5.2 pages on average and spent 4:35 seconds per visit.
According to research, 94.55% of Walmart's traffic comes from the United States, 1.06% from Canada, and 0.31% from India.
6. Etsy:
Source: etsy.com
Etsy is a global online marketplace, which allows sellers and buyers access to unique and creative products. It was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in New York, United States.
The brand's revenues have been increasing year on year as per data by Statista:
Source: statista.com
The brand's revenues shot up by more than 100% between 2019 and 2020. In 2019, the company's market capitalization was $7.46 billion.
The company is known to generate revenues from three sources: seller service revenues, marketplace revenues such as fees for sales transactions and listings, and other revenues such as third-party payment processor fees.
The brand's mobile app accounted for 61% of the brand's gross merchandise volume in 2020:
Source: statista.com
7. PinDuoDuo:
Source: pinduoduo.com
PinDuoDuo is an eCommerce unicorn whose global eCommerce market share is 6%. The company's annual revenue amounts to 59.49 billion CNY, and its annual GMV is 1.67 trillion CNY.
The company is the largest agriculture-focused technology platform in China and helps farmers and distributors connect with consumers directly through an interactive shopping experience.
8. Costco Wholesale Corporation:
Source: costco.com
Costco was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Washington. Essentially, it is a chain of big-box stores that sells diverse wholesale products, from furniture and electronics to appliances and outdoor living items.
The factors that work the most in the brand's favor include low pricing, a no-frills warehouse layout, free food samples, and bulk packaging.
According to data, Costco has been named the sixth most valuable retail brand in the world, with a brand value of over $28 billion.
9. Target:
Source: target.com
Target is one of the oldest and largest discount retailers in the United States. The brand was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1902.
Operating a chain of general merchandising stores, it runs nearly 1900 stores in the United States (as of 2020):
Source: statista.com
The brand's global retail sales amount to $26.7 trillion, and its website experienced a footfall of 199.5 million in January 2022.
Not surprisingly, the majority (96.49%) of the brand's customers are from the United States, followed by Australia (0.63%) and Canada (0.36%).
10. BestBuy:
Source: bestbuy.com
BestBuy was founded in 1966 and operates out of Minnesota, United States. Its annual revenues amount to $1 billion.
The brand primarily fares in the consumer electronics category. Data predicts that the total visits in January 2022 were 138.4 million and around 91.15% of its consumers hail from the United States.
11. Shopify:
Source: shopify.com
Shopify is an Ottawa-based eCommerce platform founded in 2004.
Statista estimates that its brand value stood at 828 billion Canadian dollars in 2021, having skyrocketed an overwhelming 113% compared to its brand value in 2020. In terms of annual revenues, the brand's annual revenues are expected to be around $1 billion.
12. Flipkart:
Source: flipkart.com
Flipkart is one of India's biggest eCommerce shopping platforms, where customers can buy home appliances, groceries, fashion and apparel, electronics, etc.
Founded in 2007, it boasts annual revenues of $1 billion. Its monthly visits for January 2022 amounted to 212.2 million. Users typically spend 4:45 seconds on the website and browse through an average of 6.21 pages.
Around 95.67% of its website visitors are from India, followed by the US (1.06%), and the UK (0.28%).
13. Allegro:
Source: about.allegro.eu
Allegro is one of the largest online shopping eCommerce brands in Poland. It was launched in 1999 and enjoys a loyal target base.
As per Statista, as of March 2021, Allegro recorded over 197 million visits per month. This places the eCommerce platform in 9th place among global leaders in online sales such as Amazon and eBay.
14. Taobao:
Source: ecommercechinaagency.com
Taobao is a C2C eCommerce marketplace that was launched in 2003 in the Yuhang District of China.
The brand, one of the largest in China, boasts of annual revenues of $200 million–$1 billion. With 324.2 million visitors in January 2022, users ended up browsing through 5.54 pages on average and spent 5:53 seconds per page per visit.
Research by Statista claims that TaoBao is in the 18th position for the top 25 most valuable brands in the world:
Source: statista.com
15. Avito.ru:
Source: avito.ru
Avito AB is a Moscow-based classifieds company that was founded in 2007.
The average total visits for the eCommerce website for January 2022 stood at 291.3 million, with users visiting 11.87 pages per visit. The brand has the most customers in Russia (no surprises there), with most of them accessing the website via a desktop.
16. Zalando:
Source: zalando.co.uk
Zalando is an eCommerce website for buying fashion and apparel online from top brands. Headquartered in Italy, the brand's annual revenues touch €1.0 billion.
The total number of website visitors for January 2022 was around 15.9 million. According to data, users based in Germany have been spending the most amount of time on the website.
17. Tmall:
Source: jingdaily.com
Tmall is a B2C online commerce platform that was founded in 2008 in Hangzhou, China. This brand is an online marketplace with revenues of $50-$75 million.
Boasting 101 million visitors in January 2022, the website has an average bounce rate of 28.94%, with users visiting an astounding 19.43 pages per visit and spending an average time of 7:17 seconds per visit. Compared to December 2021, the website's traffic has increased by 4.47%.
18. Zappos:
Source: zappos.com
Founded in 1999, Zappos is based in Nevada, Las Vegas. The brand is known for its legendary 365-day return policy and round-the-clock customer service.
According to estimates, the brand's revenues amount to $1 billion. Its monthly visitor count for January was over 19.4 million, with users visiting 5.5 pages on average and having an average visit duration of 3:47 seconds.
The target audience is most interested in the lifestyle (fashion and apparel) section on the website.
19. Craigslist:
Source: mumbai.craigslist.org
Founded in 1995 and headquartered in San Francisco, Craigslist is an American classified advertisements website that offers local classifieds and forums for jobs, housing, services, local communities, and events.
The company employs 200 people and earns an annual revenue of $1 billion. According to research, the brand's total website visits for January 2022 amounted to 287.8 million. Users typically visit 10 pages on average, and the average visit duration is 7:58 seconds.
According to data, the brand's audience is most interested in news and media.
20. AliExpress:
Source: shopify.com
Owned by the Alibaba Group, AliExpress is an online retail marketing place that aims to bridge the gap between third-party sellers and customers globally.
In the first half of 2021, the brand witnessed 546 million visitors. According to research, visitors visit around seven pages and end up spending six minutes on average per page per session.
This is remarkable as the average session for websites is a mere 1.18 seconds, according to data:
Source: databox.com
According to the Beijing Review, the brand aims to increase its number of consumers to 30 million globally by 2030.
The brand possesses over 13 product categories, from fashion and jewelry to home improvement and beauty.
AliExpress' Spain division is a big market that was predicted to drive $40 billion by 2023. Furthermore, the brand's mobile app is the number one shopping app in Russia.
Tying it All Together
The eCommerce landscape is a highly-competitive space—one that's constantly evolving in real-time. Numerous eCommerce brands rise and fall, depending on how well they're able to meet the customer's needs, wants, and desires.
Whether by investing in technology or devising new customer experience plans, eCommerce brands need to keep their finger on the pulse and leverage actionable insights for a winning eCommerce strategy. What do you think?
