Economics: E-commerce - Why Is The US So Far Behind?

 

 (Drivebycuriosity) - There is a lot ado about e-commerce. Many complain that online shopping is growing too fast. They claim that e-commerce is eating the cake of the brick and mortar retailers and they accuse Amazon to be a monopolist.

Here are the facts: In the US e-commerce is just 16% of the retail (bilello.blog ). I think this number is disappointing after almost 30 years growth.

 

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It is interesting that e-commerce does better in the UK. Online sales are there about 27% of retail.

Now I am wondering, why does e-commerce so much better in the UK than in the US? I guess the difference is caused by different density. 

A high percentage of the British lives in London or near the capital. There are short ways from the fulfillment centers to the customers, meaning relative low costs and short delivery times.

The US - in the opposite - is widely spread. States like Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada & Utah are almost empty. That means high costs and slow deliveries. It is not surprising that fewer American buy online. 

In the recent 10 years e-commerce gained on average annually just 1 percentage point, from about 6% to 16% of the whole retail. If this trend continues, e-commerce would need about 40% years to be more than half of retail. Maybe in the year 2100 the fast growing Chinese Amazon challenger Temu will become a monopolist.