chances are you haven’t heard the name Michael Aldrich nor have you shopped from platforms such as NetMarket and Internet Shopping Network. Aldrich is credited to have been the inventor of online shopping and conceived TV-based e-commerce back in 1979 while NetMarket and ISN were the earliest online stores. While they may be forgotten names now they laid the seeds of an industry which is estimated around $25 Trillion globally. There are more than 1.3 million e-commerce companies in the world and the number of growing at a staggering rate. Here we take a look at the top five commerce companies in the world –
Also Read: Why e-Commerce Business more Profitable?
- Amazon Inc. – No prizes for guessing the largest e-commerce company in the world. Amazon is a household name in the world of online shopping. Founded by the legendary Jeff Bezos it has as many as 13 countries specific sites with annual revenue of close to $180 billion. Starting as an online bookstore in 1994 it has grown on to become the synonym of online shopping selling products across hundreds of categories and setting new trends in an ecommerce business.
- Jingdong – Starting in the B2C market in 2004 Jingdong based out of Beijing it has gone through many reincarnations from jdlaser.com to 360buy.com to finally JD.com. It is the largest e-commerce store in China with revenues in excess of $52 billion. From electronics to fashion it deals in almost everything that Chinese buy online and has been constantly at the forefront of technological innovation. It has more than 170 million users and is constantly growing.
- Alibaba – Founded by Jack Ma it is the most recognizable Chinese brand around the world. It operates both in the B2B and B2C spaces with annual revenue in excess of $35 billion. It operates in more than 200 countries which put it in a different league and has made investments in e-commerce companies around the world. The company has held its fort in China strong and is constantly looking to expand into new markets.
- EBay Inc. – Founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 eBay set new rules in the e-commerce industry. It allows consumer-to-consumer sale apart from the conventional B2C selling making it one its kind online store. EBay popularized online commerce much before Amazon became a giant in this field and was one of the few companies that survived the dot-com bubble. It has 23 country-specific sites and operates in more than 100 countries with annual revenue of close to $10 billion.
- Rakuten Inc. – Founded as buy.com in the United States it was bought by Japan-based Rakuten and rebranded as Rakuten.com and has become the biggest online store in Japan with annual revenue of close to $7 billion. With more than one billion users across the globe, it has a presence in 29 countries and is constantly expanding its operations.
Many new e-commerce companies are emerging as space is growing at an impressive rate. Experts believe we have so far seen only the tip of the iceberg as far as e-commerce industry is concerned as it is going through a fast evolutionary phase.
Summary – In this write-up, we take a look at the top five commerce companies in the world that account for the bulk of this market across the globe.
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