While ecommerce has grown worldwide across the pandemic, data suggests that the UK registered the highest percentage of consumers shopping online at 29.6% in 2021.
According to the numbers released by MasterCard, the share of online shopping in retail has decreased in 2021 as compared to 2020. However, the ecommerce industry is still doing significantly better than pre-pandemic levels.
The UK registered the highest numbers during 2021. In March, 29.8% of retail shopping was done online in the country. Up until September, the level stayed above 26.6%
Singapore registered the second-highest numbers during the past year. The Asian country had witnessed a huge spike in online shopping in 2020 with numbers reaching up to 35.6%. However, the levels have dropped in 2021 with the highest share registered at 26.6%.
It is interesting to note the shopping patterns in the US, where the rate of online shopping during the end of 2021 almost dropped down to the pre-pandemic levels. In 2020, the peak was at 17.4%, and in 2021, it dropped down to 16.3%.
As compared to the US, Canada saw a bigger shift towards e-Commerce during the pandemic. In 2020, at one point, 21.4% of retail shopping was done online. Next year, the peak was at 19.2%.
UAE also saw a huge shift with the share of online shopping almost doubling during the first wave in 2020. The Middle East country saw 12.4% of shopping being done online during April, 2020. In 2021, the share has dropped down to 9% but it is still significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels of 4%-5%.
Among European nations, Germany and Italy registered comparatively lower levels of online shopping. In Germany, 6.9% of shopping was done online in September, 2019. This figure peaked up to 10% in January, 2020. However, the levels were down to 8.7% in September, 2021.
In Italy, we saw the share of online shopping increase from around 4.7%, pre-pandemic, to 8.1% in April, 2020. The figure has gradually come down to 6.6% in September, 2021.
In South America, only Brazil’s numbers were represented in the report. In the country, the share of online shopping was at 4.5% before the pandemic. It peaked to 6.2% in March 2021 and has stayed at this level throughout the year.
