China continues to lead the world in all things ecommerce, including innovation. Social commerce livestreaming is just one of many new stories for 2021 and beyond.

The pandemic was disastrous for many retailers; we estimate that total retail sales worldwide plunged 2.8% in 2020. Though, while many physical stores were shuttered, digital retail sales soared by over 25% in a single year.

The pandemic has been a boon for digital grocery adoption. In 2020, the number of digital grocery buyers increased by more than 39 million. While growth won’t be as significant in 2021, it will still be a landmark year, as digital grocery buyers will surpass 142 million, amounting to more than half the US population (51.5%) for the first time.

The consumer packaged goods (CPG) and grocery sector is years beyond where it was expected to be in terms of consumer adoption of ecommerce. Watch Industry Voices: Spotlight on D2C with The Clorox Company’s Jackson Jeyanayagam to hear how the cleaning products company's brand portfolio is responding to evolving behavior and encouraging consumers of all ages to buy products online.

Mobile proximity and peer-to-peer (P2P) payments have hit the mainstream, thanks to a pandemic-driven upswing in digital payments that is set to last. This trend is leading providers to diversify their offerings and compete for share of the market.

Single’s Day—China’s annual shopping extravaganza in November—is the world’s biggest shopping event, with an estimated RMB 965.1 billion ($139.83 billion) in sales in 2021, according to the China e-Business Research Center. It is also changing the way consumers shop by showcasing new retail concepts such as the metaverse, nonfungible tokens, sustainability, and agile commerce.

Gorillas’ $1 billion raise underscores the market opportunity for last-mile and fast grocery services: The US and EU markets are both heating up, putting pressure on Amazon and Instacart—but is the category sustainable?

In this Meet the Analyst Webinar, Suzy Davidkhanian, eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, revealed our new retail ecommerce sales estimates for 2022 and beyond

The total number of click-and-collect grocery buyers will grow a little more quickly than overall click-and-collect buyers. This dovetails with the trends illustrated above, wherein the click-and-collect option for digital grocery shopping is thriving more than for nongrocery.