1 minute in the E-Commerce world: what happens?

1 min ecommerce world

E-commerce seems unstoppable. The technological development that we witness and the increasing access to online services in the world contribute to the development and popularization of major players in online selling.

The sale of goods and services on the Internet implies a certain amount of foundations, like traditional commerce. These foundations of E-commerce are referred to as the various services used to attract, convert and retain consumers. We are talking about marketing, logistics or means of payment, all part of the E-commerce machinery.

To provide you with the tools necessary for a good understanding of E-commerce, we offer you this article, accompanied by data, put together in an infographic. This infographic summarizes what happens in 1 minute in the E-commerce world.

The state of E-commerce

To begin with, it has been estimated that E-commerce generated an estimated USD 9,305,555.56 every minute, in 2021. This amount is notably justified by the gain in popularity of online sales, influenced by the pandemic. The pandemic has effectively pushed more consumers onto the Internet. This growth is such that 9,512,937 visits are generated on online stores, every minute.

In 2020, it is the giants that have taken advantage of this. In particular, the Amazon marketplace has been able to take advantage of the situation with USD 734,398.78 of sales per minute. Marketplaces are not the only ones that have been able to grow their business. 

Indeed, it was necessary to respond to a growing demand among merchants, wishing to move towards online sales. For that, CMS have put the effort in double. In particular, we can mention Shopify and Magento, which have gained in popularity in recent years. Stores hosted on Shopify generated a GMV of USD 222,549.37 over 2020, and stores on Magento (Adobe Commerce) generated a GMV of USD 426,179.60, every minute.

Logistics

Every minute, around the world, nearly 250,000 packages are sent. This data is taken from the Pitney Bowes index of shipments in 13 major global markets, up to 31.5kg.

The major players in logistics have not been left behind in recent years. They are indeed adapting more and more to provide quality services to e-retailers. In 2017, every minute, the major players generated :

  • DHL: USD 25,514.12
  • UPS : USD 18,664.38
  • FedEx: USD 13,489.35

Payment

Digital payments are very important for the success of an e-commerce website. It is indeed necessary to know how to adapt to the habits and customs of a market. For this, studies must be conducted and payment solutions must be chosen accordingly. The European E-commerce market is no exception to the rule, constituting a cultural melting pot. This has not stopped its consumers from spending USD 1,527,144.52 per minute on the Internet in 2020.

Globally, payment giant Paypal processed 29,299,847 transactions each minute, representing USD 1,780,936.07. Stripe, meanwhile, processed USD 665,905.63.

Webmarketing

Webmarketing is a broad topic. In order to gather the most relevant data, we focused on ads, content marketing, and social media usage.

Ads

Ads is an almost compulsory step for e-merchants who want to appear above the organic results of the competition. This need is such that, every minute, in 2020 :

  • USD 433,409.43 are spent in the US
  • USD 227,207 are spent in China
  • USD 73,059.36 is spent in Japan
  • 46,613.39 is spent in the UK

In 2021, it is estimated that USD 713,740.32 was spent on ads per minute. 

Content marketing

Content marketing is a very interesting strategy to implement inbound. It helps to generate passive acquisition on its website, and to convert the consumers attracted to the store.

The most popular platform to publish content is WordPress. Its popularity is such that in 2020, 133 new publications and 146 new comments are published every minute, for 462,492 page views.

A content strategy also allows you to optimize your organic referencing, especially on Google. Alphabet’s search engine is the most popular in the world, so much so that 4,860,000 searches are performed every 60 seconds. The video platform Youtube, for its part, allows 694,444.44 hours of video to be viewed at the same time. 

Social media

To repeat a principle mentioned earlier, USD 81,811.26 is spent, per minute in 2020, on ads on social media (USD 58,980.21 on Meta networks alone, in the United States). Social media, like search engines, offer ad networks to showcase your products and services.

The new publication formats are influenced by the newcomers. TikTok, attracting 22,401 users per minute in 2021, has particularly popularized the short, vertical video format. This has been taken up by Meta and its social media, notably on the principle of stories, which are viewed by 347,222 users, every minute in 2021, on Instagram. On Facebook, 694,444 stories are published.

Pinterest, the visual social network offers its tool called Lens, since the late 2010s. The tool has gained so much popularity that it is used by 13,440 people per minute, to perform visual searches.

Finally, the professional social network LinkedIn continues its growth. Every minute, 3 new users sign up on the platform, and 892,857 impressions are made.

Infographic

To take all this data and show you our sources, we have compiled them on an infographic, which you can find here :

1 min ecommerce world

Thibault Herpin
Hi, my name is Thibault Herpin. I'm in charge of strategic content for E-commerce Nation. I'm happy to share my experience in the fields of digital marketing and E-commerce through my content. Do not hesitate to contact me !