In recent times, online shopping has been the next best thing to buy the stuff you need. The old fashioned way of going to the shopping mall to get the things you want or need is slowly going extinct, and by 2050, online shopping will account for more than 50% of purchases in the US. Currently, e-commerce is expected to reach a whopping 4.2 trillion dollars by the end of 2020. According to statistics, 75% of people in America already shop online at least once a month. At this rate, e-commerce might become the norm in the next few years. There are several online shopping platforms on the internet, and some reach up to 70 countries. Here are 5 of the biggest online shopping sites.
Amazon:
Amazon is easily the biggest online shopping platform globally, with average monthly traffic of 1.87 billion leaving it with a 54.1% traffic share. Established by its current CEO, Jeff Bezos, in 1994, Amazon had gradually evolved from a small scale shopping platform to the biggest online marketplace on the planet. The e-commerce platform sells a variety of stuff like electronics, clothes, gadgets, and even groceries. Formerly called Cadabra inc, Amazon has its headquarters situated in Seattle, USA. Based on its current statistics, it is expected that Amazon's monthly traffic will increase by 15% by the end of 2021.
eBay:
eBay was founded by entrepreneur and former chairman, Pierre Omidyar in 1995. This platform operates quite differently from Amazon. Unlike Amazon, eBay promotes consumer to consumer business. It serves as a middle man for people to trade online. People sometimes advertise their businesses on eBay, and for some, they place their properties for sale. eBay is arguably the second largest online trading platform after Amazon, with average monthly traffic of 817.6 million, a 23.7% traffic share.
Walmart:
Walmart inc was established by American businessman and entrepreneur Sam Walton in 1962. Walmart started as a regular retail business before it grew into what it is today. The company is currently known to be the world's largest corporation by revenue (an astonishing 524 billion dollars) and the world's biggest private employer. Ever since it's founder, Walton, died, it was now under the Walton family's name. Walmart has an average monthly traffic of 339 million, a 9.8% traffic share.
Alibaba:
Alibaba is a multinational company that specializes primarily in e-commerce and tech. It was founded by Jack Ma and other entrepreneurs in 1999 with the initial intention of it being a retail business to help improve the Chinese domestic e-commerce market and to help other enterprises export their products. Like eBay, the company also allows people to engage in business deals with each other. It will enable people to sell their properties online. Alibaba's average monthly traffic is approximately 170 million, 3.8% of the internet traffic share.
Rakuten:
Rakuten Inc, just like its counterparts, is an e-commerce platform. Rakuten was established in 1997 by a Japanese businessman and entrepreneur, Hiroshi Mikitani. The platform is focused more on electronics and online retailing. Known as the biggest e-commerce platform in Japan, Rakuten's average monthly traffic is about 43.96m.
To sum this up, these five big firms have succeeded in making shopping a lot easier. Thanks to their masterminds, you can now buy in the comfort of your home. Your shopping shouldn't just revolve around these four. You can also check out other platforms like Etsy, Target, and Costco to compare prices.
