By Nadine Koutsou-Wehling, Data Journalist at ECDB
If you regularly buy products online, chances are you have participated in cross-border eCommerce at one time or another. Cross-border eCommerce basically describes the purchase and sale of products across national borders. It expands the pool of potential customers for businesses and offers consumers a wider variety of products to choose from, including the ability to compare prices.
Despite its common adoption, accurate data points on cross-border eCommerce are hard to come by. Here at ECDB, providing data on eCommerce exchanges between countries is part of our specialty. Below is a snippet of our expertise.
Global cross-border eCommerce revenues surpassed US$1 trillion in 2023
How big is the global cross-border eCommerce market? In 2024, cross-border eCommerce generated just over US$1 trillion all over the world. The sector is growing step in step with the global economy, and its progress is fueled by the increase of global players and improvements in infrastructure that enable the quicker delivery of products from abroad.
From just a few years ago, it is clear that cross-border eCommerce took the biggest leap during the pandemic years, after which it slowed down just before resuming growth in 2023. It’s a typical pattern that is observable across markets and companies, with a few exceptions.
2023 was when the world market recovered from the post-pandemic slump and when it surpassed the US$1 trillion mark. ECDB projections for 2024 and 2025 suggest that growth is continuing steadily, to reach global revenues of US$1.1 trillion.
Given the current emphasis on growth markets and the structural development of fringe markets, one might assume that these would be the ones generating most of the revenue, right? Not quite.
Europe contributes most revenue, Asia grows fastest
There are two aspects to consider: Total revenue contribution and growth. Naturally, Europe stands out as a major generator of global cross-border eCommerce revenues. In both 2019 and 2023, it is the region with the highest cross-border revenues.
And it really figures: With so many markets on the European continent buying and selling not only outside of Europe, but most importantly to each other, it explains why the region is so strong in cross-border eCommerce.
The Covid-19 pandemic changed the tone a bit, however. Driven by the need for online solutions, markets where eCommerce was not as developed began to expand the infrastructure and technology to serve more customers. This includes going abroad, even to a neighboring country.
This trend is most pronounced in Asia. The Americas have a similar growth rate of 92% from 2019 to 2023, but Asia is a little higher with 96%. It is also at a higher level than the Americas in 2019, with cross-border revenues of US$153 billion. China in particular is responsible for this figure, but other countries are jumping the bandwagon and contributing to the growing importance of Asian eCommerce for overseas audiences.
Does this translate to the national level? Particularly Europe’s significance is evident in a granular depiction.
UK, Japan and Germany lead import revenues in cross-border eCommerce
The United Kingdom and Germany stand out with import revenues that place them in the top 3 destination countries for cross-border eCommerce. Japan ranks second with US$92.1 billion worth of products that consumers bought from foreign eCommerce platforms.
Other European countries like France, Italy and Spain are also in the top 10. It underlines how common cross-border eCommerce is in Europe, as European markets conduct online trade amongst each other but also across extra-European borders.
India is the other Asian country next to Japan that ranks in the top 10 import countries of cross-border eCommerce. As can be seen in the section below, Asian countries are more commonly represented on the export equation of cross-border eCommerce.
Notable on fourth place is Canada, which stands far before the fifth place France, with import revenues of US$87.1 billion in 2023. Given its close proximity to the United States, one might guess who its number one trading partner is.
The United States is the number one eCommerce export market
Towering above all other markets is the United States, where sellers and stores distributed US$605.4 billion worth of products to consumers abroad in 2023. One reason for the dominance is the large number of leading companies that are based in the U.S. and that is consequently where they generate the main share of revenues.
A major player accounting for this dominance is Amazon, the eCommerce leader which is active in so many countries worldwide, and for which cross-border activities are a core component of revenues.
Even though China has quite a substantial number of eCommerce platforms of large size that together sell much more than Amazon alone, China is still far behind the United States in the cross-border export ranking.
That is because cross-border activities of the largest players in the country like Alibaba, PDD Holdings and JD.com do exist, but mainly in a different corporate structure that has a Western base and is therefore not, strictly speaking, a Chinese-based venture. The separate corporate structure was created largely because companies like AliExpress or Temu benefit from legal regulations by being based close to the markets they primarily sell to. This dilutes the impact of Chinese companies on cross-border revenues in a global sense.
Other Asian countries are more represented in the export top 10 than in the previous ranking, as seen by Singapore in third place and South Korea in 10th.
Europe again is present in the top 10 with many smaller markets. It shows how in general the import power of European markets tends to be more prevalent than the other way around.
Case in point, Amazon, a major influence in Europe and core contributor to cross-border eCommerce revenues.
Amazon outperforms all other platforms in cross-border eCommerce
The U.S. dominance in cross-border exports has its roots in the high prevalence of key eCommerce platforms in the country. Amazon is certainly the company that contributes most to the United States’ lead in cross-border exports. It correspondingly also ranks far ahead of the other marketplaces in the top 10, with a cross-border GMV of US$360.4 billion in 2023.
Note that AliExpress and Temu, arguably not generally seen as U.S. companies, are counted as such due to the administrative and business focus of their approach.
China, in turn, is represented by Taobao and Tmall, which have comparatively low cross-border transactions when considering their immense eCommerce revenues otherwise. Still, companies based in Asia have a notable presence in the cross-border marketplace ranking, such as Shopee, which is based in Indonesia, and Lazada, based in the Philippines but a subsidiary of Alibaba.
Apparently, China’s impact is special, as it is not always immediately clear from the company structure itself where the company is based or where its most important ties lie. Nonetheless, China is an important cross-border exporter, just not yet in Europe.
China’s cross-border impact is biggest in Southeast Asia
From a Chinese perspective, Southeast Asia remains the most important customer in cross-border eCommerce. Apart from the USA and Turkey on respective third and fourth places, each market in the top 10 destinations is Asian.
Southeast Asia is a strategically important region, as it is currently in a phase of development that suggests a future potential for influence when markets have become globally significant. China’s cross-border prevalence in Southeast Asia is indicative of that.
France, Germany and the UK follow in the 11th, 12th and 13th places, with shares of China’s total cross-border activity between 2% and 3%. For them, in turn, the USA remains the most significant country for cross-border eCommerce, as Amazon is the number one eCommerce platform in all three markets.
It should be noted, however, that China’s actual cross-border destinations are larger if you include players such as AliExpress, Lazada or Temu, which are subsidiaries of major players in the market but exist under a different corporate structure.
Rounding out with a few takeaways.
The global playing field of cross-border eCommerce
Cross-border eCommerce has long been concentrated in Europe, and now Asia is closing the gap. Europe’s regional structure facilitates cross-border eCommerce due to the close proximity and economic ties of countries on the continent, but activity goes beyond European borders as well.
In particular Amazon is the number one cross-border eCommerce company. It contributes substantially to the U.S. dominance in cross-border exports, given Amazon’s ubiquity in international markets and cross-border trade. Compared to the U.S., China is behind in cross-border exports. Its impact is diluted, however, by the different corporate structures of de facto Chinese firms, like AliExpress or Temu, which are counted as U.S. businesses in a purely administrative sense.
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