Highlights. Worldwide, there were 26.5 million online stores in 2023.
- In the United States, there were 13.9 million online stores in 2023.
- In 2022, there were 2.56 billion online shoppers worldwide, representing 33.3% of the global population.
- 268 million Americans shopped online in 2022, representing 96.3% of the U.S. population aged 14+.
- In 2022, global online retail sales totaled $5.72 trillion.
Number of Online Stores
Between varying definitions and a constantly changing total, estimates of the number of online stores vary. The statistics provided here are based on totals of all online stores using the most popular online payment technologies.
- There were over 13.9 million online stores in the U.S. in 2023, representing 52.5% of global online stores.
- From 2022 to 2023, the number of online stores in the U.S. grew by 47.2%, from 8.6 million to 13.9 million.
- From 2022 to 2023, the number of online stores in the world grew by 1.1%, from 26.2 million to 26.5 million.
- Although China has the largest number of online shoppers globally, it only hosts 79,900 online stores, or 0.3% of all global online stores.
- After the United States, the United Kingdom hosts the highest number of online stores with 1,239,400, or just 4.7% of all global online stores.
- During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the global number of online store rose from 9.7 million to 19.8 million, an increase of 204% and 10.1 million stores.
Number of Online Stores by Service Provider
While many online stores implement their own payment portals or marketplaces, others use popular eCommerce services like Shopify. The figures in this section were sourced in July 2023.
- Shopify leads with 4,286,692 active sites globally and 2,680,632 in the United States.
- WooCommerce Checkout is the second most popular eCommerce service, with 3,334,178 active sites globally and 1,654,518 in the United States.
- Wix Stores is close behind, with 2,522,501 active sites globally and 1,614,637 in the United States.
- Shopify holds 16.2% of the global eCommerce service market share, and 19.3% of the U.S. eCommerce service market share.
- In comparison to Shopify’s share of the global eCommerce service market, WooCommerce Checkout holds a 12.6% share and Wix Stores holds a 9.5% share.
Number of Online Stores by Industry
Although many online stores do not fit into a specific category, they remain common across nearly every retail industry vertical.
- Health is the most common vertical for online stores as of July 2023, with 464,183 online stores globally and 285,762 in the United States.
- Clothing is the second most common vertical, with 392,752 online stores globally and 254,216 in the United States.
- 294,866 online stores sell food globally, compared to 155,795 in the United States.
- Globally, sports is the 4th most common category with 220,481 online stores; in the United States, home and garden is 4th with 123,303 stores.
Number of Online Shoppers
The convenience of online shopping continues to drive its use, both in the U.S. and globally.
- In 2022, there were 2.56 billion online shoppers worldwide, or 33% of the global population.
- By 2025, the number of global online shoppers is expected to increase by 8.2% to 2.77 billion.
- In 2022, there were 268 million online shoppers in the United States; by 2027, this is predicted to increase by 8.2% to 289.9 million.
- In 2022, 10.5% of online shoppers worldwide were based in the United States.
- China is the largest online market in the world by number of consumers, with 845.3 million online shoppers, or 33% of all online shoppers worldwide.
Online Store Sales Volume
The global volume of sales made through online stores continues to grow, as does the percentage of all sales that are made through online stores.
- In 2022, global online retail sales totaled $5.72 trillion, an increase of 9.7% from 2021 that represented 19.7% of all global retail sales.
- By 2026, global online retail sales are expected to rise 42.5%, reaching $8.15 trillion.
- In 2022, sales via online stores in the U.S. totaled $1.09 trillion, or 19.1% of all global online retail sales.
- In 2022, sales via online stores in China reached $2.88 trillion, or 50.3% of all global online retail sales.
- By 2026, 24% of all global retail sales are expected to take place online.
- 15.1% of all U.S. retail sales in Q1 2023 were made through online stores, compared to 47.2% of all Chinese retail sales.
- In 2023, industry giant Amazon held a 44.6% share of all U.S. visits to eCommerce websites.
Consumers and Online Stores
Consumers who shop online prefer the speed and convenience of online stores.
- 56.6% of U.S. consumers prefer to shop online.
- When asked for the primary reason they prefer to shop online, 18.3% of Americans said 24/7 availability, 17.2% said the ability to shop from home, and 14.9% said easy-to-access discount codes.
- In 2018, 20% of online shoppers worldwide used online stores once a week, 24% once every two weeks, and 31% once a month.
- In 2021, 5.9% of U.S. retail sales were made on mobile devices; by 2025, this is projected to increase to 10.4%.
- Worldwide, consumers shopping online in 2023 spent an average of $2,234 per year.
- In the United States, consumers shopping online in 2023 spent an average of $4,067 per year.
These data and insights were compiled by the Capital One Shopping team based on publicly available data.
Sources
- Markinblog, Study: What Is the Number of eCommerce Sites Worldwide in 2022?
- BuiltWith
- Forbes, E-Commerce Retail Just Passed $1 Trillion For The First Time Ever
- Oberlo, How Many People Shop Online?
- Statista, Industry Overview
- Insider Intelligence
- Raydiant, State of Consumer Behavior 2022
- Marketplace Pulse, U.S. E-Commerce Sales
- U.S. Census Bureau News, Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales