Online shopping to accelerate, forecasts Goldman Sachs

Forecasts by global investment group Goldman Sachs show e-commerce will expand by 19 percent over the next three years, an increase of 3 percent comparison to a previous forecast of 16 percent.

The company said the growth of online shopping is fuelled by the U.S., Brazil, Western Europe and APAC according to a report released earlier this month.

“At an enterprise level, we’ve seen an acceleration in innovation over the course of the crisis as companies have rolled out curbside pick up programs, contactless checkout, personalized consignment deliveries, and retailers and marketplaces have adapted to reflect the shifting needs of consumers focused on the new essentials,” the firm said in the report.

Goldman Sachs also noted that e-commerce penetration rose to more than 40 percent in May from 16 percent of retail spending domestically in the first quarter of 2019. The firm noted that “traditional retailers” such as Kroger and Target notched “triple digit growth” in online shopping revenues and e-commerce platforms such as Etsy and Alibaba saw “surging demand.”

In the UK the surge in online shopping caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to add 5.3bn pounds to e-commerce sales this year to make a total of 78.9bn pounds. This is according to analysts at Edge Retail Insight, the global trend forecasting arm of retail insights firm Edge by Ascential, who have updated all pre-existing forecasts to account for the significant long-term impact of Covid-19 on consumer shopping behaviours and preferences.

Amazon is expected to benefit the most from this surge in demand for online retail, adding an extra 2bn pounds in UK sales, totalling 31.1bn pounds by the end of 2020, up from analysts’ initial 29.1bn pounds prediction prior to the pandemic.

Xian Wang, Senior Director of Product and Content at Edge by Ascential, said in a press release: “The Covid-19 pandemic has almost certainly had a lasting impact on the retail sector, reshaping consumer shopping habits, and the priorities for retailers and brands. Most prominently, we’re seeing a significant shift to online, as consumers have become reliant on this, following the swathe of store closures globally.

Article source: PYMNTS