A new report available on companiesandmarkets.com analyses the global internet retailing markets. Compared to individual countries‟ retail sales, the global internet market would rank in the top 10 and be similar in size to Canada or Russia. The two biggest and fastest growing online retailers Apple and Amazon, a pure player and a multichannel retailer, are evidence that company strategy and execution are more important than model alone.

Following constrained consumer spending, the online channel has benefited within most fast moving industries increasing in 2010 in share of the distribution with wide-ranging products; from apparel to pet care. The top 10 biggest online markets together account for 85% of global internet sales and within those developed markets in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific lead the way. Combined online sales in the EU are US$104 billion in 2010, making it only comparable to the US in size, however it remains a very fragmented market.

Overall sales of media products are undergoing a long-term and structural shift away from physical products to digital music and e-books. M-commerce has come to the forefront in internet retailing in 2010 with the rise of the smartphone and tablet devices, with Japan taking the lead in this form of online sales. While online access will continue to expand in developed markets in double-digit growth terms, the biggest growth will be in Asia Pacific. China is expected to have 700 million online users compared to 280 million in the US by 2020.

Internet retailing sales are concentrated within only a handful of countries. In 2010, the top 10 biggest online markets together accounted for 85% of global internet sales and within those the difference between developed and developing could not be more pronounced. Within the top 10 markets by sales only the three largest BRIC markets, China, Brazil and Russia, are present.

In per capita terms, only the developed markets within Asia, Europe and the US rank at the top, with Canada missing from both rankings highlighting its lower penetration of internet retail. Within the European markets there is also a shift between the biggest and the most developed. Germany is being replaced by some of the smaller but more developed Northern European markets and Switzerland which boast a more developed internet retail.

The top five markets which lead in both actual and per capita sales account for 70% of global internet sales. These markets also offer the best opportunity for immediate expansion due to the established consumer base and sales growth. All the top five markets were impacted by the economic downturn, suffering a slight contraction in 2009, yet in actual terms these markets generated the biggest increase in overall internet sales for 2009-2010. And while developing markets offer rapid growth and promising future potential, actual sales are still limited and relatively small compared to developed markets.

Internet Retailing Blazing Growth Path - Market Report
http://www.companiesandmarkets.com/Market-Report/internet-retailing-blazing-growth-path-market-report-615650.asp