44% Of Global eCommerce Is Owned By 4 Chinese Companies

58% of global e-commerce is concentrated in just six companies. And just four Chinese companies account for almost half of global digital sales.

Global e-commerce reached $3.4 trillion last year, according to a new report from Activate Consulting. Thousands of brands and retailers divvy up just 37% share of that, while six giants who are mostly Chinese companies vacuum up more than half of the pie. One key reason: retail in China is simply much more digital than it is in Europe or North America.

The biggest digital commerce companies, with the percentage of the global e-commerce market that they own:

• Taobao.com: 15%

• TMall.com: 14%

• Amazon: 13%

• JD.com: 9%

• Pinduoduo: 4%

• eBay: 3%

Interestingly, most of that revenue is recognized via marketplace sales. In other words, this is not traditional retail where a company stocks a product, sells it, and gives (or ships) it to a customer. Rather, they are marketplaces that connect buyers and sellers, enabling transactions between buyers and sellers for products that the retailers may never physically touch, or if they do, may never actually own.

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