Online shopping is a major retail channel, but the headline 2026 global sales figure is a forecast—not a final tally. The figures below separate forecasts from official estimates and survey findings, and keep their geography, time period, and population in view. The available sources support a useful snapshot of scale and trends, but not 40 independently verified statistics, so this article does not pad the count.
How much do people spend shopping online?
EMARKETER’s February 2025 forecast, reproduced by Shopify, put worldwide retail ecommerce sales at $6.880 trillion in 2026. It forecast $6.419 trillion for 2025 and $7.886 trillion for 2028, with 2026 year-over-year growth of 7.2%. These are forecast values, not final measured sales. See the forecast table.
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The International Trade Administration page also cites a forecast of a $36 trillion global B2B ecommerce market by 2026. Its reviewed text does not give a clear forecast vintage or methodology, so treat it as a cited projection rather than a verified current market measurement. The same page forecasts $5.5 trillion in global B2C ecommerce revenue by 2027 and a 14.4% compound annual growth rate; it likewise does not provide detailed methodology or a forecast vintage in the reviewed text. These figures describe different market categories and should not be substituted for the retail ecommerce forecast above. International Trade Administration ecommerce overview.
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EMARKETER forecast ecommerce would account for 21.1% of total retail sales worldwide in 2026. This is the projected share of retail sales, not a measured result, and it uses the same February 2025 forecast vintage as its global sales estimate. Shopify’s reproduction of the EMARKETER forecast.
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For the United States, the Census Bureau estimated $340.2 billion in seasonally adjusted retail ecommerce sales in Q2 2026. That estimate was up 12.2% from Q2 2025 and 3.8% from Q1 2026; ecommerce represented 17.1% of total US retail sales. The figures are not adjusted for price changes, so the year-over-year increase is not a measure of inflation-adjusted growth. This is a quarterly official estimate for the United States, not a global forecast. US Census Bureau retail ecommerce estimates.
How many people shop online?
Eurostat’s 2026 edition reports that 78% of people in the EU bought or ordered goods or services online in 2025, up from 62% in 2015. These are reported adoption rates, not the share of retail spending conducted online. Eurostat, Digitalisation in Europe 2026.
Adoption differs across EU countries and age groups
- Among EU internet users, the share who bought online in the preceding 12 months ranged from 57% in Bulgaria to 95% in Ireland in 2025.
- In 2025, 84% of EU residents aged 16–24 and 55% of residents aged 65–74 shopped online.
The country comparison uses internet users as its denominator; the age figures describe residents in the specified age groups. They are not interchangeable populations.
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How widely do businesses sell online?
Eurostat reports that 24% of EU businesses conducted e-sales in 2025, compared with 19% in 2015. Adoption varied with business size: 48% of large businesses and 23% of SMEs conducted e-sales. “Conducted e-sales” describes whether businesses sold electronically; it does not mean those sales made up the same percentage of turnover. Eurostat, Digitalisation in Europe 2026.
E-sales accounted for 19% of EU business turnover in 2025. The share was 24% for large businesses and 12% for SMEs. This is a turnover measure, distinct from the percentage of businesses that made any e-sales.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What are the biggest ecommerce trends in 2026?
DHL eCommerce’s 2026 E-Commerce Trends Report draws on surveys of 29,000 online shoppers and 5,800 ecommerce businesses across 29 countries. The report page says fieldwork ran from December 15, 2025, to February 11, 2026. Its results describe surveyed shoppers and businesses, not every shopper or merchant worldwide. DHL 2026 E-Commerce Trends Report.
Cross-border shopping and delivery are important
- 70% of surveyed shoppers said they bought internationally, up from 60% in the 2025 survey; 45% said they bought across borders more than once a month.
- The report says more than 3 in 10 orders were being sent internationally. Separately, 25% of surveyed businesses not yet shipping across borders said they prioritized cross-border delivery capabilities for the next 12 months.
- 67% of surveyed shoppers said they had abandoned a cart because of the delivery offering. 52% of surveyed businesses identified the delivery offering as a reason for customer drop-off.
The shopper and business results are separate survey responses, not a measured causal rate linking delivery options to lost sales.
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Social commerce is present on both sides of the transaction
In the DHL survey, 63% of businesses said they sold on social channels, while 45% of shoppers said they bought through social commerce channels. These are distinct merchant and shopper measures; their difference is not a conversion rate.
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Marketplaces support discovery and resale
DHL reports that 59% of surveyed global shoppers had sold something on marketplaces. Among Europeans selling items, 68% were sending them via out-of-home locations, such as collection or drop-off points, according to the report.
Separately, an International Trade Administration summary of survey data says that in 2023 roughly three in ten online shoppers started product searches on ecommerce marketplaces. In-store browsing was cited by 18%, while search engines and brand websites were each cited by 14%. These are 2023 discovery responses, not 2026 behavior or sales shares. International Trade Administration ecommerce overview.
Quick Recap
How to interpret these online shopping statistics
- Check whether a figure is forecast or observed. The global 2026 totals and shares above are forecasts; the US Census Bureau’s Q2 estimate is an official quarterly estimate.
- Keep the denominator attached. A share of EU internet users, a share of all residents in an age group, and a share of businesses answer different questions.
- Separate sales value from adoption. How many businesses sell online is not the same as how much of their turnover comes from online sales.
- Read survey findings as survey findings. DHL’s results are responses from its surveyed shoppers and businesses, not a census of all ecommerce activity.
- Keep geography and dates visible. US quarterly sales, EU 2025 adoption, a 2023 product-search survey, and worldwide forecasts cannot be compared as if they measured the same market at the same time.
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