The Growth of E-commerce [Infographic]

E-commerce has become a $220 billion industry, growing at almost 20 percent per year. According to Americommerce, e-commerce is on track to outpace brick-and-mortar growth within the next five years. Americommerce uses the same data to predict the growth of e-commerce in the U.S. and overseas, which shows the impact of social networks and search on shopping habits and how important retaining customers is for the bottom line.

Currently, online sales are a $220 billion industry, and could grow to $370 billion by 2017. In Western Europe, where the e-commerce market is slightly more mature than the U.S., there’s a growth rate of 11 percent, compared to nine percent for the same five-year period for the U.S. As a result, e-commerce could account for up to 15 percent of the U.K. economy by 2017.

Search is hugely important for e-commerce, with 61 percent of global Internet users researching products online before a purchase. Forty-four percent of online shoppers begin that research with a search engine. In fact, search engines beat social networks by 300 percent in terms of driving traffic. However, user data from social is more telling than that from search: Half of social media purchasing happens within one week of tweeting, sharing, liking or favoriting a product.

It may be more worthwhile to market to existing customers, as repeat customers spend three times as much as new customers. Boosting retention rates by a mere five percent can increase profits between 25 and a staggering 95 percent. In fact, a 10 percent improvement in customer retention could increase the overall value of a company by 30 percent.

For more great information on the impact of coupons, drop shipping and mobile conversion rates, view the infographic below: [click to enlarge]

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The Growth of E-commerce [Infographic]