China tops the list when it comes to ecommerce opportunities in retail bursting to an estimated $271 billion in the next five years. This result comes from a recent study by A.T. Kearney, a global consultant and managing firm that reported the results of the Global Retail E-Commerce Index rankings today, November 18, 2013.
From a youth culture perspective, the comparison in results are also interesting because while the A.T. Kearney study reports on a country’s online commerce activities as a whole, it’s usually youth culture markets that lead trends. Once again, this proves the importance of knowing where young people are shopping online mostly, and why.
According to WWD’s report on the Global Retail E-Commerce Index, other countries in the top ranking include Japan, the U.S., the U.K, and South Korea. Other countries in the rankings to consider also include Russia and Brazil. The index also looks at aspects such as the country’s technology innovation and consumer behavior for determining various rankings. For example, in Russia, where only one in three households has a credit card, ecommerce platforms are looking at “cash and carry” methods. In France, online shopping has the reputation for discovering best deals, which is a motivating factor. What we discovered in our China Youth Culture Studies is that there’s a greater fear of fraud among online shoppers in China than in the United States, although this pattern is changing rapidly. (See also our stories, “The People’s Republic of Converse,” and “How China’s Youth Culture May be America’s Best New Fashion Market -Excerpts and Data from Label Networks’ China Youth Culture Study.”)
Japan has $52 billion in online sales, according to the report, and because it ranks high in terms of technology innovations, is considered a prime location for growth. This is similar to the U.S. A.T. Kearney estimates the online retail market in the U.S. is $177 billion and will double by 2017. The majority of the online market comes from Amazon, eBay, Apple, Wal-Mart, Sears, Best Buy, and Macy’s.
Let’s compare these results to various factors when it comes to our research on youth culture markets. (Subscribers only.)
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