Is U.S. E-Commerce Ready to Take on the World?

As the statistics compiled by Edgar, Dunn & Company show, the global e-commerce market outside the United States’ borders is huge and growing fast. More people come online every day and millions of them are eager to shop. The U.S. has some of the world’s most loved consumer and retail brands. This puts U.S. merchants in a strong position to reach and be accepted by global consumers.

But right now, except for a few well known U.S. e-commerce giants, American merchants are not making the most of these opportunities. The dollars that U.S. merchants leave on the table are eagerly picked up by rivals from Asia and Europe. If American e-commerce doesn’t expand into the global market now, at the point when millions of new consumers are coming online every year, then it effectively cedes those markets to its competitors. And once competitors are established and those markets mature, entry will be far harder.