The Future of Ecommerce is Now: Industry Insights for 2023 and Beyond

Semrush’s report, The Future of Ecommerce is Now: Industry Insights for 2023 and Beyond, unveils the most recent trends and developments in eCommerce. Using ecommerce industry traffic data from Semrush Open .Trends and Semrush .Trends, and Amazon-focused data from Semrush’s Keyword Wizard for Amazon tool, we’ve identified these seven top trends and takeaways that you need to shape a smarter, insight-driven digital marketing strategy for your ecommerce business. 

Spending on advertising in the US has nearly tripled since 2019, skyrocketing from $12.5B in 2019 to an estimated $38.4B by 2024. 

Companies have responded to consumers’ online shopping habits by increasing their ad spend to reach as many consumers as possible and popularize the remarkable range of products and services that are only a few clicks away. 

Typical US heavy hitters sit at or near the top of the global spending list: amazon.com, ebay.com, and walmart.com. These companies continue to lead an evolving international field that’s looking to take advantage of the meteoric rise in ecommerce.

Undaunted by the recent slowdown, data from Semrush’s AdClarity App shows that amazon.com continues to outpace its competitors in ad spending – and it’s not even close.

In total, industry leaders spent $3.5B in advertising, with a massive range of spends anywhere from $41.3M to $1.7B. 

Where does amazon.com fall in that list? Their whopping $1.7 billion in ad spend is 4x that of the second-placed company, walmart.com, and 5000x that of aliexpress.com.

But strategy matters just as much as spending. Our data suggests that brand recognition and other factors may play a more important role than ad spend alone in driving traffic. Ebay.com is a great example: its ad spend is lower than homedepot.com and target.com but the company ranks ahead of both in traffic.

China-based aliexpress.com continues to make inroads toward Amazon.com’s industry dominance.

Aliexpress.com also saw the largest year-over-year growth with a huge 44% increase. It’s also experienced year-over-year gains of 33% so far in 2023. This data parallels a drop in US ecommerce rates, where downward trends indicate the increased competition of brands focused on ecommerce. US ecommerce is down 19% from 2022 to 2023, but that fall hasn’t been shared equally among all companies. 

Who are some of the current winners and losers? So far, amazon.com’s nearly 2B total traffic in the US has declined by 9% in 2023. On the flip side, walmart.com saw nearly 40% in gains. This indicates that walmart.com’s ecommerce strategy has really been a success story, as both companies had similar growth rates in 2022.

The pandemic changed how consumers shop. In 2020, it was a coin flip whether the average consumer used their desktop or their phone to make an online purchase. By 2022, consumer shopping had radically transformed. Now, it’s mobile traffic that dominates: upwards of 70% of online shoppers do so on their phones.

Summer 2022 witnessed a significant drop in mobile traffic and some thought the mobile trend was about to backslide. More likely, this drop simply mirrored the overall decrease in ecommerce due to growing concerns about an oncoming recession and decreasing purchasing power among consumers as pandemic stimulus ran dry. 

Our data indicates good news for the ecommerce industry: mobile traffic is back on the rise. Rates are back to early 2022 levels and 2023 looks to further the upward trend.

China is leading the way when it comes to the boom in mobile shopping dominating the market for online shopping apps. For H1 2022, the apps Meesho, Shopee, and SHEIN had 127 million, 118 million, and 117 million downloads, respectively. All of these apps are owned by companies based in China and primarily serve users throughout markets across Asia.

Amazon came in fourth with 81M downloads, but it did top the market in terms of total traffic volume. And, while brands like Walmart and Aliexpress remain chart toppers when we consider traffic volume, they don’t even make the list of top 10 shopping apps in terms of downloads. 

This data makes it clear: a mobile app strategy is a vital component of any successful ecommerce strategy. Brands without a strong mobile app will undoubtedly lose out.

From the finance industry to customer service chatbots, to education, the possibilities for AI applications seem endless. It holds the opportunity to change the way we learn, strategize, make decisions, and use and analyze data.

Overall, our data shows that the sheer growth in search trends for AI reflects the massive impact it’s having across the globe. Keyword searches went from 10 monthly searches in November 2022 to 101M monthly searches by March 2023.

We’ve all been there, clicking an ad on our phone, going to the product page, and deciding then and there that we really need that sweater. That moment of deliberation, when you linger before hitting “buy,” is key. Amazon.com, with a staggering 37.8% market share as of 2022, is the master of this moment.

For most online retailers, estimates place the average ecommerce conversion rate between 2-3% in 2022. That means there’s a 2-3% chance you get that sweater.

For amazon.com, that rate is closer to 13%. This is an enormously impressive number considering the average for its competitors.

Additionally, our data shows that when people visit amazon.com, 67% of them check out a product page. 12% of those visits result in the consumer adding at least one item to their cart, and 8% go ahead and complete the purchase immediately afterwards.

This data illuminates the value of partnering with the behemoth to grow their ecommerce businesses and helps make clear the challenge for those companies looking to carve away their piece of the market.

As these trends indicate, ecommerce continues to develop in new directions in a post-COVID-19 world. New challenges and opportunities abound, as US markets fluctuate, Asian markets are on the rise, and domestic and international competitors look to take a bite out of Amazon.com’s overall market dominance.

Shifting media landscapes and advancements in technology–in particular the rapid rise of AI and machine learning–make clear that the future is exciting but uncertain. What is certain, however, is that companies that stay on top of the most recent trends are in a strong position to flourish in the future.

Check out the rest of our report, The Future of Ecommerce is Now: Industry Insights for 2023 and Beyond for more trends and insights to help inform your own growth strategy.