E-commerce Report 2025: Industry Data & Insights

Iryna Bursuk

June 28, 2024

The e-commerce industry experiences growth in digital payment systems, logistics, and mobile shopping. This report showcases innovations in AI and personalized shopping experiences and explores market dynamics and strategic opportunities for the e-commerce sector.

The 2025 E-commerce Industry Report describes emerging trends, key financial data, and the technologies reshaping how businesses connect with consumers globally. As digital platforms become increasingly integral to retail strategies, the report offers insights into the forces driving growth and innovation in this sector. From advancements in AI-driven personalization to shifts in consumer behavior, it provides coverage designed to equip stakeholders with the knowledge to thrive in this competitive landscape.

The report was last updated in January, 2025.

Also, this e-commerce report serves as a reference for stakeholders within the industry, investors, policymakers, and economic analysts, providing a snapshot of the industry’s health to map its trajectory for innovation and growth in the coming years.

Executive Summary: E-commerce Outlook 2025

  • Industry Growth Overview: The industry includes about 455 000+ companies and experiences an annual growth rate of 10.14%. Global retail e-commerce sales are projected to exceed USD 8 trillion by 2027, representing a 39% growth over this period.
  • Manpower & Employment Growth: The industry maintains a workforce with 371 thousand employees, and a growth evidenced by an addition of 26 thousand new employees over the last year. 
  • Patents & Grants: The E-commerce sector recorded over 800 patents and secured more than 70 grants.
  • Global Footprint: The sector’s global influence spreads across key international hubs including the USA, India, the UK, Germany, and France. The U.S. ecommerce market is forecast to reach USD 1.72 trillion by 2027, accounting for about 22.6% of total U.S. retail sales. Major city hubs like London, New York City, Bangalore, Singapore, and Sydney cater to the industry’s global operations and growth.
  • Investment Landscape: The industry witnessed investment activities with more than 960 funding rounds, involving over 520 investors, and an average investment value of USD 30 million per round. 
  • Top Investors: Leading investors include SoftBank Vision Fund, HSBC Bank, and Barclays Corporate Banking. The combined investment of top investors amounts to 18 million.
  • Startup Ecosystem: The leading startups in this sector include Altosight (minimum advertised price (MAP) monitoring), Molin (AI chatbot), Luminous (inventory management), Inferendo (visual search and product recommendation), and Mowico (no-code app building solution). 

 

E-commerce Report 2025 | StartUs Insights

 

Methodology: How we created this eCommerce Report

This report is based on proprietary data from our AI-powered Discovery Platform, which tracks 25 million global companies, 20K+ technologies and trends as well as 110M patents and business reports. Our data includes detailed firmographic insights into approximately 5 million startups, scaleups, and tech companies. Leveraging this extensive database, we provide actionable insights on innovation, emerging technologies and market trends.

For this report, we focused on the evolution of ecommerce over the past 5 years, utilizing our platform’s trend intelligence feature. Key data points analyzed include:

  • Total Companies working on the trend
  • News Coverage and Annual Growth
  • Market Maturity and Patents
  • Global Search Volume & Growth
  • Funding Activity and Top Countries
  • Subtrends within ecommerce sector

Our data is refreshed regularly, enabling trend comparisons for deeper insights into their relative impact and importance.

Additionally, we reviewed trusted external resources to supplement our findings with broader market data and predictions, ensuring a reliable and comprehensive overview of the ecommerce market.

What data is used to create this eCommerce industry report?

Based on the data provided by our Discovery Platform, we observe that the E-commerce industry ranks among the top 5% in the following categories relative to all 20K topics in our database. These categories provide a comprehensive overview of the industry’s key metrics and inform the short-term future direction of the industry.

  • News Coverage & Publications: More than 11K news articles are published about the E-commerce industry.
  • Funding Rounds: The industry closed about 960 funding rounds.
  • Manpower: Manpower in the e-commerce industry involves over 371 thousand workers, and added more than 26 thousand new employees in the past year.
  • Patents: The industry also excels in innovation, holding over 800 patents.
  • Grants: In terms of grants, the e-commerce industry secured over 70 grants.
  • Yearly Global Search Growth: The e-commerce industry also demonstrates online presence and engagement, with a yearly global search growth rate of 13.1%.

Explore the Data-driven E-commerce Industry Outlook for 2025

Our data showcases about 13 480+ startups and more than 454 980 companies, showing an industry growth of 10.14% per annum. The innovation within this sector is further highlighted by the number of patents and grants recorded—over 800 and 70 respectively.

The workforce in the sector exceeds 371 000 employees with an increase of over 26 000 employees in the last year alone.

The global ecommerce market is set to reach USD 75.12 trillion at a CAGR of 14.9%.

 

 

This global workforce concentrates around key country hubs in the USA, India, the UK, Germany, and France, and leading city hubs include London, New York City, Bangalore, Singapore, and Sydney. Additionally, the African e-commerce market reached USD 277.1 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow to USD 939.8 billion by 2032, with a CAGR of 14.4%.

A Snapshot of the Global E-commerce Industry

The data provided offers an overview of the current state and growth trajectory of the industry under review. The industry employs a workforce of 371 000 individuals, highlighting its role as an employer in the economic landscape. Online vendors in India generated 15.8 million jobs, including 3.5 million for women. Over the past year, the sector experienced an increase in employment, with 26K new jobs created. 

With 455 000 companies active within the sector, the industry demonstrates a diverse corporate ecosystem. This large number of entities indicates a market with a mix of established firms and emerging players.

Explore the Funding Landscape of the E-commerce Industry

Investment activity in this industry shows an average investment value of USD 30 million per funding round. This figure suggests that the sector attracts financial backing for scaling operations and driving innovation. The total number of investors engaged with the industry exceeds 520. This investor base supports ventures, from startups to well-established companies, and showcases continual growth. 

 

E-commerce Report 2025 | StartUs Insights

 

More than 960 funding rounds were closed demonstrating the industry’s capacity to secure capital consistently. Additionally, more than 340 companies received investments to underscore the sector’s recognition by the investment community.

Who is Investing in E-commerce sector?

The collective investment of the top investors exceeded USD 18 million. This capital inflow underpins the financial interest these financial players hold in the sector. Here’s a breakdown of the contributions made by each top investor:

 

E-commerce Report 2025 | StartUs Insights

 

Explore the firmographic details of the ecommerce trends:

 

E-commerce Report 2025 | StartUs Insights

 

  • Inventory Management includes 396 firms identified as active in this space. The sector employs over 16 900 individuals, with an addition of 1400 new employees over the past year. Despite an annual trend growth rate of 11.96%, the ongoing expansion of this trend underlines optimization efforts by companies to streamline supply chains and improve operational efficiencies.
  • The Recommendation Engine trend, though smaller, showcases growth with about 881 companies. It employs more than 37 700 people and saw an increase of 5600 new employees in the last year alone, which corresponds to an annual trend growth rate of 8.68%
  • Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) enhances online business results, as evidenced by the 6000+ companies focusing on this area. With a workforce of 175 000 employees and an addition of 18 200 new hires last year, the trend’s annual growth rate of 7.45% reflects its impact. 

5 Top Examples from 13 480+ Innovative E-commerce Startups

The five innovative startups showcased below are picked based on data including the trend they operate within and their relevance, founding year, funding status, and more. Get in touch with us to find promising startups, emerging trends, or industry data specific to your company’s needs and objectives.

Altosight monitors the Minimum Advertised Price (MAP)

Greek startup Altosight monitors competitors’ prices and ensures minimum advertised price (MAP) compliance daily for e-commerce stores and E-retailers. The startup’s AI competitor price monitoring, repricing, and product matching platform maximize profits with Smart Repricer and custom strategies.

It tracks competitors’ prices multiple times a day across various retailers, marketplaces, and currencies. The Dynamic Repricer automatically adjusts prices in any shopping cart based on Smart Repricer or custom rules. The platform also assists with product assortment and stock availability tracking.

Molin offers an AI Chatbot

UK-based startup Molin provides an AI chatbot for e-commerce businesses. Molin, the startup’s advanced AI language model, solves complex problems and responds. Molin integrates into various E-commerce platforms and websites and offers multilingual support.

 

 

It performs actions like collecting emails, modifying orders, and initiating refunds to streamline support. Moreover, it generates product descriptions in the brand’s voice and syncs with website data, help centers, and live chat conversations.

Luminous provides Inventory Management

US-based startup Luminous offers a lite enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, Luminous. It performs e-commerce operations and inventory management, ensures stock availability for stock-keeping units (SKUs), and manages third-party logistics (3PL) warehouses.

 

 

The platform eliminates manual electronic data interchange (EDI) processes, facilitates wholesale flows, and integrates E-commerce, shipping, and accounting platforms.

Inferendo allows Visual Search and Product Recommendation

Italian startup Inferendo simplifies and enhances the E-commerce shopping experience with its Visual Search and Product Recommendations plugin. The plugin allows finding products with a photograph.

 

 

Its AI-powered Visual Recommendations feature identifies similar products automatically and eliminates manual cross-selling tags. Finally, the company’s Product Recommendations feature provides personalized item suggestions and increases engagement and revenue. 

Mowico builds No-Code App Building Solution

Turkish startup Mowico offers a no-code platform-building solution for e-commerce. It creates the platform with a few clicks, and its drag-and-drop designer allows customization of app components.

 

 

Mowico supports push notifications and in-app messaging to keep customers engaged and coming back. The platform also builds multilingual apps and integrates payment methods.

Gain Comprehensive Insights into eCommerce Trends, Startups, or Technologies

The 2025 e-commerce industry report shows an industry seeing rapid advancements in technology and shifts in consumer expectations. The adoption of analytics, AI, and enhanced customer engagement strategies expand the sector. Moving forward, analyzing these trends will be crucial for companies leveraging the opportunities within the ever-expanding e-commerce landscape. Contact us to explore all 13480+ startups and scaleups, as well as all industry trends impacting E-commerce companies.

 

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