E-commerce growth rate global tracks the year-over-year change in online retail sales across markets. This page provides directional benchmark ranges and explains why growth rates differ by scope, region, marketplace mix and retail category.
Back to the hub: E-commerce Statistics.
This page belongs to the Market Size & Growth silo. For market context, compare it with
global e-commerce market size,
e-commerce share of retail sales,
category mix in e-commerce sales,
gross margin benchmarks
and MER benchmarks.
Use it with global market size and ecommerce share of retail to understand whether growth is coming from market expansion, share shift or category mix.
Benchmarks
Global ecommerce growth rate: benchmark signals
The same phrase can describe retail ecommerce sales, B2C product ecommerce revenue, marketplace GMV or platform transaction volume. Always compare the definition before comparing growth rates.
$6.42T in 2025
Shopify summarizes widely cited forecasts that place worldwide ecommerce sales around $6.42 trillion in 2025 and $7.89 trillion by 2028.
Mid-single to high-single digits
Mature ecommerce markets often grow more slowly than emerging markets, but the absolute dollar growth can still be very large.
2026 rebound expected
eMarketer noted that worldwide retail ecommerce growth was expected to decelerate in 2025, with stronger growth projected for 2026.
Growth table
Directional ecommerce growth rate benchmarks
Use this table to frame whether a market is mature, recovering, scaling or still structurally underpenetrated.
| Market type | Typical growth pattern | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| Mature retail ecommerce markets | Low to mid-single-digit growth can still be meaningful | Large markets such as the United States and Western Europe may grow slower in percentage terms but add large absolute online sales volume. |
| Fast-growing emerging markets | Double-digit growth is more common | Growth can be driven by first-time online buyers, mobile payments, marketplaces, quick commerce and logistics coverage. |
| Category-led acceleration | Growth can exceed the market average | Food, beauty, health, pet care, home and marketplace-led value retail can outperform broad ecommerce depending on the year. |
| Post-pandemic normalization | Growth may look slower than 2020-2021 | Do not compare today directly with lockdown years without a normalization note. |
| Currency-sensitive forecasts | Nominal growth can differ from real growth | Exchange rates, inflation and VAT inclusion can change reported market size even when order volume is stable. |
Regions
Regional context for ecommerce growth
| Region or market group | Growth signal | Benchmark note |
|---|---|---|
| Global | Retail ecommerce continues to gain share of retail | Use global figures for top-down market sizing, not for store-level performance targets. |
| Europe | ECDB/Sellify data shows European ecommerce revenue rising from $709B in 2024 to forecast $760B in 2025 | This scope covers B2C physical goods including VAT, so it is not identical to every retail ecommerce definition. |
| United States | Growth is more seasonal and category-dependent | Holiday, Cyber Week and mobile shopping can move annual ecommerce performance. |
| Asia-Pacific | China remains a massive ecommerce market | Large marketplace ecosystems and social/value commerce affect growth and channel structure. |
| Emerging markets | Growth can be faster but more volatile | Payment adoption, trust, logistics reliability and marketplace investment are key constraints. |
Usage
How to use global ecommerce growth benchmarks
Use global growth rate benchmarks to set context, not to judge a single store in isolation. A niche store can grow faster or slower than the market because of category demand, pricing power, channel mix, product launches, stock availability, paid media pressure and retention performance.
| Use case | What to compare | Recommended action |
|---|---|---|
| Market sizing | Growth rate plus market size | Use both percentage growth and absolute dollar growth to avoid overrating small markets. |
| Forecasting | Historical growth vs forecast CAGR | Build low, base and high cases rather than one fixed growth assumption. |
| SEO content planning | Growing categories and rising markets | Prioritize topics where demand is expanding and data can be refreshed annually. |
| Investor or board reporting | Company growth vs category growth | Separate market tailwind from execution-driven growth. |
Methodology
Methodology note
Global ecommerce growth rate is usually calculated as current-period online sales divided by prior-period online sales minus one. Benchmark differences often come from scope: retail ecommerce vs B2C product ecommerce, GMV vs net revenue, VAT inclusion, returns, discounts, currency and whether marketplaces are counted as third-party GMV or platform revenue.
Sources
Sources and notes
Use these sources as directional benchmark references. Normalize by market definition, scope, currency, category mix, channel mix and measurement year before applying them to a specific store or investor model.
E-commerce Growth Rate Global. Best For Ecommerce. Updated 2026-05-31. Available at: https://bestforecommerce.com/ecommerce-statistics/market-size-growth/ecommerce-growth-rate-global/