E-commerce has transformed the retail landscape, with online shopping becoming a dominant force around the globe. As per eMarketer‘s estimates, retail e-commerce sales worldwide crossed $5 trillion in 2021, a number projected to grow to over $7 trillion by 2025. Driving this exponential growth are some of the world‘s largest e-commerce companies that have leveraged technology to revolutionize shopping.
In this comprehensive guide, we profile the top 15 e-commerce companies globally by market capitalization and assess their business models, financials, innovations, and future prospects.
1. Amazon
Market Cap: $1.65 trillion (As of Jan 2022)
Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Seattle, Amazon began as an online bookstore but has since become the world‘s biggest e-retailer selling virtually every consumer product.
- 2021 Revenue: $469.8 billion, up 22% YoY
- Net Income 2021: $33.4 billion, up from $21.3 billion in 2020
- Monthly Visitors (May 2022): 2.4 billion (desktop and mobile)
- Avg. Time Spent per Visit: 7 minutes
- No. of Pages Viewed per Visit: 8.58
Amazon has expanded into cloud computing, streaming entertainment, AI-powered devices, cashierless retail stores, and more. With a laser focus on customer obsession and constant innovation, the company continues its relentless growth. Analysts predict Amazon‘s market cap to top $2 trillion soon.
2. Walmart
Market Cap: $361 billion
The world‘s largest retailer Walmart began boosting its e-commerce presence since the 2000s, accelerating growth especially after its Flipkart acquisition.
- 2021 US Ecommerce Revenue: $47.8 billion, up 11% YoY
- Monthly Visitors (2021): 410 million
- Avg. Time Spent per Visit: 4 minutes
- No. of Pages Viewed per Visit: 5
From curbside pickup to delivery partnerships with Instacart and DoorDash, Walmart has significantly bolstered its online business. Its global e-commerce sales are forecast to touch $72 billion in 2024.
3. Alibaba
Market Cap: $246 billion
Founded in 1999, Alibaba is the dominant player in China‘s booming e-commerce space. Its core businesses include marketplaces Tmall and Taobao, cross-border marketplace AliExpress, payment platform Alipay, and more.
- 2022 Revenue: $134+ billion, up 23% YoY
- 2021 Sales: $109 billion, up 52% YoY
- 2020 Sales: $72 billion, up 28% YoY
Despite China‘s economic slowdown, Alibaba continues to grow strongly. However, crackdowns by Chinese regulators have impacted operations over the past year. The company also faces fierce competition from rivals like JD.com and Pinduoduo.
4. Meituan
Market Cap: $137 billion
Meituan is China’s largest online platform for locally sourced food delivery and other services like hotel booking and bike sharing.
- Q2 2022 Revenue: $7.13 billion, up 16.4% YoY
- Q2 2021 Revenue: $6.16 billion
- Annual Active Consumers 2021: 130+ million
Despite China’s consumer slowdown, Meituan’s food delivery and in-store, hotel & travel businesses have shown resilience with 9.2% revenue growth in Q2 2022. Operating margins also expanded by 22.5% demonstrating robust profitability.
5. Pinduoduo
Market Cap: $89 billion
Founded in 2015, Pinduoduo pioneered China‘s social commerce by leveraging interactive group-buying.
- Monthly Active Users (2021): 867 million
- 2021 Revenue: $4.7 billion, up 36% YoY
- Q2 2022 Net Income: $1.7 billion, up 268% YoY
Pinduoduo provides value-for-money merchandise tailored to China‘s low-tier cities. Despite recent revenue declines amidst China’s slowdown, the long-term growth runaway remains intact with analyst consensus revenue forecast of over $30 billion by 2025.
6. JD.com
Market Cap: $87 billion
JD.com, also known as Jingdong Mall, is a leading Chinese e-commerce company that competes fiercely with Alibaba‘s Tmall.
- Net Revenues Q3 2020: $5.1 billion
- Monthly Active Users (2021): 552 million
- 2021 Total Net Revenues: $33.9 billion, up 43.3% YoY
With strengths in supply chain technology and logistics, JD.com has China‘s largest fulfillment infrastructure including unmanned delivery drones and robots. The company is also expanding into supermarkets, convenience stores, and overseas ventures.
7. Shopify
Market Cap: $42 billion
Founded in 2004, Shopify provides an operating system for e-commerce including payment, shipping, and marketing tools to sellers of all sizes.
- Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) Q2 2022: $107.2 million, up 13% YoY
- Merchants on Platform: Over 2 million businesses
- Q2 2021 Revenue: $1.2 billion, up 57% YoY
The COVID-induced surge of online shopping provided a major boost to Shopify as more small businesses moved to digital channels. However, Shopify has more recently seen some slowdown although the long-term growth story remains intact.
8. Flipkart
Valuation: $40 billion
Acquired by Walmart in 2018, Flipkart leads India’s rapidly growing e-commerce market along with Amazon India. Flipkart operates leading sites Myntra for fashion and PhonePe for payments.
- Monthly Visitors (2021): Over 176 million
- Year 2021 Revenue Growth: 25% YoY
- Key Drivers: Marketplace, First Party (Direct), Digital Payments
Flipkart remains India’s e-commerce leader although Amazon India has been mounting an aggressive challenge. Flipkart is strong in categories like fashion and mobile while innovating in fintech and supply chain capabilities to maintain its edge.
9. eBay
Market Cap: $28 billion
eBay, one of the earliest e-commerce platforms, still remains a popular marketplace facilitating consumer-to-consumer (C2C) and business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions.
- Monthly Visitors (2021): 1.7 billion
- Market Cap Growth: 41% growth from 2020-2022
- Business Model Change: Shifting closer to Amazon‘s model with structured listings
Formed in 1995 during the early days of the World Wide Web, eBay’s core value proposition lies in connecting buyers and sellers through auctions and fixed-price listings. Although losing ground to tech-savvy rivals, eBay still retains loyalty among many niches of buyers and niche sellers.
10. Sea Limited (Shopee)
Market Cap: $27 billion
Headquartered in Singapore, Sea Limited operates leading online gaming (Garena) and shopping (Shopee) businesses in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Latin America.
- Shopee Q3 2021 Revenue: $1.5 billion, up 134% YoY
- Shopee Q3 2021 Gross Orders: 1.4 billion, up 97% YoY
- Shopee‘s Total Value of Orders (GMV) Q3 2021: $16.8 billion, up 80% YoY
With youthful demographics and fast-climbing mobile/internet adoption in emerging markets, Sea Limited is poised for massive growth as it disrupts traditional incumbents. Its Garena gaming unit strengthens its ecosystem play.
11. Suning Commerce Group
Market Cap: $18 billion
Suning is one of China’s largest omni-channel retailers combining e-commerce with over 1,600 brick-and-mortar stores.
- 2020 Revenue: $36 billion
- Staff Strength: Over 13,000 employees
- Ventures: Entertainment, Real Estate, Financial Services
Despite China’s overall retail slowdown, Suning enjoys dominant presence in electronics, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), cars, baby products, pharmaceuticals and other segments. Suning International also exports products worldwide.
12. Trendyol
Valuation: $16.5 billion
Founded in 2010, Trendyol has emerged as Turkey’s leading online fashion retailer supported by Alibaba.
- Monthly Visitors (2021): 220 million annually
- Avg. Time on Site per Visit: 7 minutes
- Avg. Pages Viewed per Visit: 7
With youthful demographics and low e-commerce penetration, Turkey represents a high-potential market. Trendyol has leveraged high quality customer experience and service levels to gain leadership despite competition from Amazon and other players.
13. Etsy
Market Cap: $13.7 billion
Founded in 2005, Etsy is a leading global marketplace focused on handmade, vintage, and creative goods.
- 2021 Revenue: $2.3 billion, up 35% YoY
- 2020 Revenue: $1.7 billion
Etsy has seen tremendous growth in recent years owing to changing consumer preferences and entrepreneurship trends. To further boost artisanal sellers and differentiate itself from mass-marketplace rivals, Etsy focuses its innovation on enhancing search, improving marketing tools, and streamlining shipping.
14. Allegro
Market Cap: $6 billion
Allegro is Poland’s number 1 e-commerce marketplace controlling over 50% market share.
- Monthly Visitors (2021): 190 million
- 2021 Revenue: $1.35 billion, up 33% YoY
- Q3 2021 GMV Growth: 20% YoY
Allegro connects over 130k merchants with over 13 million active customers in a large yet underpenetrated market. With investments in logistics and classifieds, Allegro aims to strengthen its ecosystem play against competition from Amazon and other platforms.
15. Zalando
Market Cap: $5.6 billion
Headquartered in Berlin, Zalando is Europe’s leading pureplay online fashion retailer serving 17 countries.
- Monthly Visits (2021): Over 134 million
- Revenue Q2 2021: €2.73 billion, up 34% YoY
Focusing solely on fashion, Zalando has established itself as a trusted curator for style discovery and inspiration. Partnering over 5000 brands, the platform is investing heavily in technology to enhance personalization and sustainability.
The e-commerce juggernauts profiled above have collectively disrupted the retail sector through innovations in online shopping experiences, supply chain efficiencies, and data analytics. Riding on massive digital adoption and changing consumer behavior, they continue to chart an exponential growth trajectory.
We can expect to see furious competition and consolidation ahead even as new specialized players emerge across niche categories and markets. Regardless, e-commerce is slated to drive an ever-increasing portion of global retail revenues in the decade ahead.
