U.S. Tops A.T. Kearney Global Retail E-Commerce Index

The United States takes over the top spot in the A.T. Kearney Global Retail E-Commerce Index after placing second to China in 2013. The study is designed to help retailers devise successful global online retail strategies and identify market investment opportunities while understanding the tradeoffs and barriers to success.

The Global Retail E-commerce Index is a ranking of the top 30 countries based on nine variables, including select macroeconomic factors as well as those that examine consumer adoption of technology, shopping behaviors, infrastructure and retail-specific activities. The index balances current online retail market indicators with those that predict the potential for future growth.

U.S. e-commerce growth in 2014 rose by 15 percent due to continued growth, an improving economy and higher consumer confidence.

The 2015 Global Retail E-Commerce Index highlights the big and the small markets: the countries that are always going to be e-commerce behemoths because of their size, and the smaller yet still-promising markets where potential matters more than size.

The top 10 in order are: United States, China, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France, South Korea, Russia, Belgium and Australia.

Mike Moriarty, co-author of the study and partner at consultancy A.T. Kearney, said, “The boom in ecommerce has brought challenges—both brick-and-mortar leaders and major pure-play online retailers are learning that the future of the industry is not merely online, but rather in creative omni-channel offerings that link online and physical shopping.”