It's no secret that the eCommerce sector has experienced massive growth in 2020 due to the pandemic. PingPong documented a record-breaking 140 percent year-on-year growth during our peak season.
With Covid-19 permanently shifting consumer spending patterns offline to online, PingPong is capping off the year with further increased global growth that follows a wave of international eCommerce boom - expected to see $3.914 trillion in overall 2020 sales. Worldwide eCommerce sales have seen strong growth, with an average increase of 11 percent across all markets compared to the same period last year. We're excited to close out the year with a current 1.5B USD valuation.
The average annual growth rate in the U.S. eCommerce market is 15 percent - one maintained during Q1 of 2020. However, official U.S. Q2 data shows that eCommerce sales volume spiked a staggering 44.4 percent compared with the same period in 2019.
PingPong's Amazon seller data similarly reveals the first 2020 eCommerce sales peaking in June, July, and August, with an average of over 140 percent year-on-year growth likely due to strict lockdown policies worldwide, China's economic recovery, and effective customer eCommerce cultivation. For 2019, a similar eCommerce peak clustered in October, November, and December.
"During a year that saw many businesses grind to a halt, PingPong has been able to successfully tap into the robust eCommerce market and achieve global growth, riding the waves of disruption to service a growing customer base. While it is important to keep in mind that Q2's eCommerce peak is considered a one-off due to stringent lockdowns, we will certainly see online shopping's popularity continue due to long-term shifts in consumer spending habits. Alongside this, it has become far cheaper and easier to become a cross-border seller than ever before – intensifying competition," says PingPong Cofounder and Chief Business Officer, Ning Wang.
However, our own Amazon merchant data interestingly reveals that on Black Friday, new stores had a lower-than-expected (still an average 153 percent) increase in sales, with existing stores – defined as those in business for more than 12 months – recording a 108 percent increase. While this year's results were strong, 2019's saw average orders reach 271.1 percent growth, and existing stores hit 163.7 percent.
"This data may indicate that despite a lift from shifting consumer spending habits, there were significant challenges for new marketplace entrants this year. We believe this may represent temporary changes in business trends due to Covid related challenges such as labor shortages, logistics, and supply chain issues. It is also apparent that consumers are shifting their spending away from single sales events perhaps more permanently, potentially compounded by the difficulties faced by new stores in attracting preferred traffic on Amazon," he says.
These increasingly popular new 'virtual malls' present a tremendous growth opportunity for PingPong. Globally, over one million new sellers joined the Amazon marketplace in 2019, and almost half of online shoppers head straight to a large eCommerce marketplace when making a purchase.
"Most notably, we have seen a transformation in retail holidays, with growth focusing less on the traditional sales events of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Amazon Prime Day. This is a trend we expect to continue into the new year.
As a result, merchants should be strengthening their supply chains for year-round sales instead of waiting for the peak seasons. By partnering with the right network of cross-border payment services, e-commerce merchants can instantly collect, convert, and transfer money from all corners of the world, and set their sights on global domination in 2021."
We are proudly the chosen payment provider to one million global eCommerce merchants across 40 major platforms, with marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and WayFair all experiencing record results.
