TMR: Global connected retail market to reach $82.31 billion by 2025

Analysts say the boom in the global connected retail market, which was worth just $19.46 billion in 2017, was driven by the pandemic.

Connected Retail is a sales method that connects online and offline. For example, the e-commerce platform Zalando has a connected retail service that helps physical stores provide services to consumers on the Zalando platform.

According to the report, the global Internet retail market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 19.8% between 2017 and 2025. Of course, there are also some factors that hinder the growth of retailers.

A report from Shopify shows that although the global economy may recover more slowly after the COVID-19 pandemic than after the financial crisis in 2008, the e-commerce industry will reap some benefits as brands and consumers move online. The report said that nearly 150 million people worldwide shopped online for the first time during the pandemic, and the number of e-commerce buyers will only continue to rise.

According to a recent report from Mastercard, approximately 20% to 30% of the global digital transformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to be permanent.

As global e-commerce booms, Middle Eastern e-commerce is also growing rapidly. A report by Wamda and MIT shows that the online retail market in the Gulf region is expected to grow by more than a third to $30 billion.

By the end of 2020, the region's e-commerce market was worth $22 billion, driven by online shoppers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt. According to the study, these three countries account for 80% of the total e-commerce in the Middle East. By 2024, Saudi Arabia's e-commerce market is expected to reach $8.2 billion.

Analysis by Mastercard shows that consumers around the world are shopping on more websites and platforms than ever before, reflecting the expansion of consumer choice.

In an online conference titled "Connected Store of The Future," participants believed that various e-commerce and virtual retail stores catering to different product categories will eventually merge into a larger ecosystem of connected virtual supermarkets or digital marketplaces. Despite digital transformation and the growth of online shopping, physical retail stores will still exist for a longer time.