E-commerce Statistics for 2021 - Print on Demand, Dropshipping
Retail ecommerce sales surpassed 3.5 trillion US dollars worldwide in 2019, according to Statista, with quarter of online sellers using dropshipping model. And these numbers are going to grow even more in the upcoming years.
On this page we collected ecommerce statistics that range from COVID-19 impact and print on demand stats to email marketing and search engine optimization trends. The compilation of statistics below is listed in an easy-to-digest format and is a mix of our own proprietary data, survey results, original research, as well as stats found online.
Our findings on these numbers will provide you with a deeper understanding of what is happening in the ecommerce industry in general and print on demand in particular.
COVID-19 Impact
- Fabric face mask accounted for 11.14% of all goods sold through Printify in September 2020. (Printify)
- A 2020 survey revealed that about 96% of millennials and Gen Z have concerns about how the ongoing pandemic will impact the economy. (BigCommerce)
- With more people staying at home and focusing on home improvement projects, the Home & Living category is on the rise, with the first 6 months of 2020 seeing a 243.77% growth. Both canvas gallery wraps (2.19%) and premium vertical posters (1.35%) are in TOP15 products sold by Printify merchants. (Printify)
- According to Merkle’s report in 2020, roughly 79% of consumers plan to be more conservative with how much they will spend shopping online during the pandemic. (Merkle)
- In the first 6 months of 2020, Printify monthly active users have grown by 69%, with registrations up 39%. (Printify)
- 62% of sellers in the United Kingdom changed their marketing plan because of the pandemic. Moreover, only 14 percent of businesses have decided to stick with their original marketing strategy for 2020. (Statista)
- In a survey conducted in July 2020 among 277 respondents, when asked about their use of Printify, almost 25% replied that right now it's their primary source of income. (Printify)
- In the same survey, 10% of the respondents said that they are using Printify because they started their own business after losing their job as a result of COVID-19. Another 6% stated that they are using Printify simply because they have too much time on their hands. (Printify)
- In a study carried out by Printify in 2020, as much as 45% of respondents replied that they do not plan to return to a "normal" 9-5 job post-COVID-19. (Printify)
Print on Demand & Dropshipping Statistics
- In June 2020 alone, the amount of orders Printify stores have received was more than 400,000, which is a growth of 311% compared to the same period last year. (Printify)
- In 2019, the top 10% of eBay dropshippers made on average $7,731/month profit – that’s a whopping $92,772/year. (Torchbankz)
- As of 2020, third-party sellers make about 50% of all sales on Amazon Marketplace. (Bigcommerce)
- The custom t-shirt market worldwide is expected to cross 10 billion dollars by 2025. (CredenceResearch)
- MerchReadyDesigns published an infographic in 2018, which revealed that more than 10 thousand Shopify stores have integrated a print on demand shop. (MerchReadyDesigns)
- Around 27% of global online retailers have adopted dropshipping by February, 2018. (TNS)
- In 2017 alone, 23% of all online sales globally were fulfilled through the dropshipping model, which is equal to roughly $85 billion dollars per year. (Volusion)
The Best-Selling Printify Products (September 2021)
- The best-selling product group in September 2021 was apparel. It accounted for 62.38% of all items sold. (Printify)
- The non-apparel products – during the same time – accounted for a total of 12.13% of all goods sold. (Printify)
- From the TOP 15 items sold in September 2021, five are different kinds of t-shirts, accounting for 52.19% of all items sold, and two are sweatshirts, which account for 9.25% of all items sold. (Printify)
- The most popular product in September 2021 was Unisex Jersey Short Sleeve Tee. It accounted for 25.32% of all items sold, from which black – 18% – was the most popular color choice. (Printify)
- Unisex Heavy Blend™ Crewneck Sweatshirt is one of the top selling items in Sweatshirt category, accounting for 5.84% of all items sold. (Printify)
- The most popular non-apparel product sold in September 2021 by Printify merchants was Kiss-Cut Stickers, making up 3.76% of total items sold. (Printify)
- In September 2021, fabric face masks accounted for 1.9% of all goods sold through Printify, 9.24% less than in September 2020. (Printify)
- In the same Top 15 list, Home & Living category products – Premium Matte Vertical Posters and Canvas Gallery Wraps – accounted for a combined total of 3.04% of all items sold. (Printify)
- Among the Top 15 best-selling Printify products in September 2021, 3.43% of all items solds accounted for mugs. (Printify)
Product Name
% Of Item Quantity (Sold)
Unisex Jersey Short Sleeve Tee
25.32%
Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee
20.55%
Unisex Heavy Blend™ Crewneck Sweatshirt
5.84%
Kiss-Cut Stickers
3.76%
Unisex Heavy Blend™ Hooded Sweatshirt
3.41%
Unisex Softstyle T-Shirt
2.54%
Men's Cotton Crew Tee
1.99%
Fabric Face Mask
1.90%
Premium Matte vertical posters
1.83%
Unisex Ultra Cotton Tee
1.79%
Mug 11oz
1.23%
Ceramic Mug 11oz
1.21%
Canvas Gallery Wraps
1.21%
White Ceramic Mug
0.99%
Women's Ideal Racerback Tank
0.94%
Ecommerce Statistics
- Cart abandonment rate is on the rise from 59.80% in 2006 to 88.05% in 2020. (Multiple sources)
- Almost 79% of mobile device users have made a purchase online using their devices in the first six months of 2018. (Outerboxdesign)
- In 2020, 44% of shoppers used their smartphones to shop or research while in stores. (ThinkWithGoogle)
- ThinkWithGoogle reports that in 2020, shoppers made 51% of their online holiday purchases on mobile. (ThinkWithGoogle)
- According to a poll done by National Public Radio (NPR) in 2018, 69% of Americans shopped online, while Statista estimates that number to be 88%. However, Statista’s definition of online shopper is quite broad, as they include “browsed products, compared prices” as qualifying criteria to become an online shopper. (National Public Radio)
- PipeCandy says that there are between 2 million and 3 million ecommerce companies in the world (excluding China) in 2020, with 1.3 million in North America (US+Canada). The popular 12 to 24 million ecommerce websites figure is based on the presence of a particular snippet in the code of the website. Many of these sites actually don't sell anything, are Chinese or Russian spam farms or are inactive. (PipeCandy)
- In 2018, mobile ecommerce revenue accounted for 50% of total U.S. ecommerce revenue. (Outerboxdesign)
- 2.05 billion people have made at least one purchase online in 2020. (Statista)
- 71% of shoppers believe they will get a better deal online than in stores, reports Selz in their 2020 eCommerce stats report. (Selz)
- In 2021, over 2.14 billion people worldwide are expected to buy goods and services online. (Statista)
- Shopping is one of the most popular pastimes on the internet. Americans spent about $353.7 billion shopping online in 2017. (Statista)
- 60% of millennials (ages 22 to 37) in 2019 preferred to shop online. The number has grown from 54% in 2017. (Couponfollow)
- Even in 2020, 53% of worldwide transactions are completed using a credit card. Digital payment systems account for 43% of transactions, and debit cards – 38%. (Kinsta)
- According to a 2020 survey by Funnel Overload, about 68% of small businesses lack a proper conversion rate optimization plan. (Funnel Overload)
- In 2016, Bigcommerce predicted that 69% of B2B businesses will stop printing catalogs by 2021. (Bigcommerce)
- Walker Sands stated in their 2018 report that about 2 in 5 US consumers (41%) order from Amazon once or twice every week. The percentage increases to 50% among 18 to 25-year-olds, and to 57% among 26 to 35-year-olds. (Walker Sands)
- Only 16.1% of global retail sales came from ecommerce in 2020. (Shopify)
- Based on a 2014 survey, 75% of consumers favor online stores in their native tongue, and 92.2% prefer to buy products on websites that offer prices in their local currency. (Common Sense Advisory)
- At least 2 decision makers are involved in 70% of B2B purchases, and more than 5 decision makers are involved in 30% of B2B transactions, according to a 2020 report. (B2x Partners)
- As much as 26% of Americans used ad blockers on their computers or mobile devices in 2020. (Absolunet)
- A 2020 survey of 1,888 shoppers, discovered that 77% prefer to pick up their purchase at a store, whereas 13% would rather use an Amazon locker. (JC Media House)
Holiday Purchasing Statistics
- On average, Americans bought 15 gifts during a holiday season in 2019. November and December generate 30 percent more sales than other months. (Statista)
- In 2019, in the 5-day period between Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, the total of retail sales reached 28.5 billion dollars. (Statista)
- Roughly 89% of Americans spent money on gifts in 2019. (Finder)
- Just over 25% of shoppers are done with their holiday shopping before Cyber Week, as reported in a ThinkWithGoogle report from 2019. (Think With Google)
- 52% of shoppers used their savings to pay for gifts in 2019, while 42% used their credit card. (Finder)
- It is expected that the total retail spend during the 2020 holiday season will reach around $1.042 trillion. (eMarketer)
Conversion Rate Optimization Stats
- Businesses that reduce the number of form fields on a landing page to 4 can expect a 120% increase in conversions, according to a 2019 Wordstream study. (Wordstream)
- The same study reports that 61% of businesses stick to 5 or fewer landing page tests every month. (Wordstream)
- In 2019, about 75% of brands failed to hire a competent copywriter who could optimize a landing page copy. (Wordstream)
- In 2019, EyeView Digital shared that video content on a landing page can increase conversion rate by up to 86%. (EyeView Digital)
- Only $1 is spent on trying to convert a customer after a brand spends $92 on acquiring the customer, reports Econsultancy in their 2019 article. (Econsultancy)
- According to Nielsen’s 2012 Global Trust in Advertising report, approximately 92% of shoppers have faith in recommendations that come from their friends and family. (Nielsen)
- The same study states that at most, only 47% of people trust magazine and newspaper ads or TV commercials. (Nielsen)
Email Marketing Statistics
- As of 2020, people are 8 times more likely to open and click on transactional emails over other types of email campaigns. At the same time, transactional emails make 6x the money. (Sleeknote)
- A 2017 survey from Fluentco reports that 64% of people say marketing emails influence their purchase decisions. Including 8% stating it happens “all of the time”, another 8% saying it happens “most of the time” and 23% replying that promotional emails influence their purchasing decision “some of the time”. The rest replied it happened “on a few occasions”. (Fluentco)
- Based on more than 9 million delivered emails, Klaviyo in 2017 calculated that an average of 41.18% cart abandonment emails are opened. With 9.50% emails are clicked on, and the average revenue per recipient is $5.81. (Klaviyo)
- Roughly 86% of consumers wanted to receive monthly promotional offers via email from brands they do business with in 2019. (Statista)
- A survey conducted by Marketing Sherpa in 2015 revealed that 9 out of 10 Americans would like to receive promotional emails. (Marketing Sherpa)
- 54% of consumers would be happy to share their email information if it gets them a discount, shows DMA consumer email tracking study of 2016. (DMA)
- Data from May 2020 indicates that 80% of small and medium-sized business owners in the United States believe they acquire and retain most customers via email marketing campaigns. (EMarketer)
- In 2017, 3 in 4 recipients were more likely to open a segmented email rather than a non-segmented email. (MailChimp)
- A 2020 report by HubSpot states that approximately 78% of recipients unsubscribe from emails when brands start sending emails too often. (HubSpot)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Statistics
- In 2019, Ahrefs revealed that your head term on search engines gets the most traffic only 49% of the time. (Ahrefs)
- According to a 2017 report, among the billions of searches made on Google every day, as many as 15% search queries are completely new and never have been searched for before. (Google)
- Organic Google traffic was the source of about 43% of all ecommerce traffic in 2017. (Wolfgang Digital)
- As of 2020, Google has the lion’s share of all organic search engine traffic, with about 94% of organic traffic coming from Google. (SEO Leads)
- Nearly 80% of search engine users ignored ads in 2018 and paid attention only to organic search results. (MarTech)
- According to a 2019 report, looking and finding a local business via search engine resulted in a purchase 28% of the time. (Think With Google)
- More than 51% of smartphone owners found a new business while using a search engine on their device in 2015.(Think With Google)