Culture

Business websites

.com

Brand protection

Online stores

Hosting

Data privacy

Policy-making

Registrars

Investing & reporting

Internet Basics Series

How to

People

Cybersecurity

Web trends

Tech news

Security

COVID-19

Technology detection

domains

Software

WordPress

TLDs

GDPR

Veronika Vilgis

Although the pandemic might have been the peak for online stores, e-commerce is far from a fading trend. It’s the way we shop online is simply evolving. Influencer-led commerce, live shopping streams on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, and the increasing dominance of online marketplaces have all become powerful engines of digital retail. Major players such as Amazon and Walmart continue to expand their platforms into broader ecosystems, allowing third-party sellers to reach global audiences while capturing a slice of online spending.

To understand where e-commerce stands today, we analyzed global data over the past 10 months, focusing on the number of active e-commerce websites across regions. The overall number of global e-commerce sites has remained relatively stable in the past seven months. Figure 1 shows newly detected online stores (shown in blue) and the number of online stores that disappeared in that month (orange). The dark line shows the overall change—an amount close to zero in most months. But stability at the surface masks important regional shifts that reflect deeper economic, technological, and consumer behavior trends.

The monthly growth in the number of e-commerce websites across continents, measured relative to June 2024, reveals varied regional dynamics (see Figure 2). North America and Europe experienced moderate increases, perhaps reflecting an already mature digital commerce ecosystem.

Asia, on the other hand, showed the most pronounced growth, with figures peaking at nearly 28% above the June baseline, signaling an uptake of online retail infrastructure. This surge highlights the region's accelerating digital adoption, driven by factors such as rising digital payment solutions and the expansion of local logistics networks. Asia is home to over 60% of the global population, and its digital economy is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years, particularly in Southeast Asia and India.

South America's trajectory was more volatile, with some months showing a slight contraction, likely influenced by regional market fluctuations or infrastructural limitations. Oceania maintained relatively consistent gains, gradually increasing by over 11% by March 2025. These trends illustrate how different global regions are engaging with e-commerce at varying speeds, shaped by local economic conditions, digital readiness, and consumer demand.

Next, we take a closer look at the data country by country. In Figure 3, you can see the top 10 countries with the fastest-growing number of e-commerce websites, as well as the lowest 10 countries. The top countries are United Arab Emirates (AE),  Saudi Arabia (SA), Egypt (EG), Philippines (PH), India (IN), Indonesia (ID), Peru (PE), Turkey (TR), Albania (AL), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BA).

Of these top 10, many are emerging or frontier markets where digital commerce is still expanding rapidly. In the Middle East, governments have prioritized digital transformation. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have launched initiatives like Vision 2030, investing in infrastructure, fintech, and logistics to support e-commerce. Egypt has also seen a boom in mobile commerce, supported by improved connectivity and financial inclusion programs.

India and Indonesia, two of Asia’s largest economies, continue to benefit from expanding internet access, youthful populations, and growing digital payment adoption. Platforms like Flipkart, Shopee, and Tokopedia are reshaping shopping habits across the region. Similarly, countries like the Philippines and Turkey are seeing increased digital entrepreneurship, where small businesses are turning to e-commerce platforms to reach both local and international consumers.

Declining e-commerce activity: countries losing ground

Not all countries are seeing a digital retail boom. The countries with the largest relative decline in active e-commerce websites are Ukraine (UA), Singapore (SG), Brazil (BR), the Netherlands (NL), Canada (CA), Argentina (AR), Malaysia (MY), Germany (DE) and Russia (RU). Finland (FI) is among the bottom 10, but actually shows a 1% growth over the past 10 months.

Several factors help explain these downturns. Ukraine continues to face wartime disruptions, making it difficult for small businesses to maintain operations online. Russia has seen tightening internet controls and sanctions, which have affected access to global platforms and payments. 

In countries like Germany and the Netherlands, where large retailers dominate, smaller e-commerce players may struggle with competition and rising operational costs. Argentina and Brazil have experienced macroeconomic challenges, including inflation and currency devaluation, making online retail difficult to sustain for small businesses. 

Malaysia has faced regulatory shifts and increased market saturation, leading to consolidation among online sellers. Singapore, despite being a tech hub, is a small market with limited expansion space, and its e-commerce growth may be stabilizing after years of early adoption. 

E-commerce isn’t going anywhere, but it is changing. While the global number of e-commerce websites has remained stable, growth has clearly shifted toward emerging markets, particularly in Asia and parts of the Middle East. Mature markets like North America and Europe seem to be stagnating, while others are seeing contractions influenced by war, economic instability, or market saturation.

As digital infrastructure continues to improve and consumer behaviors evolve, the shape of global e-commerce will keep adapting. What’s clear is that while the growth of the pandemic may have subsided, the momentum behind online retail remains —just more nuanced and regionally diverse.

Business Information

E-commerce saw explosive growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, with brick-and-mortar stores closing and digital platforms becoming a lifeline for both businesses and consumers. But, as we revealed in a previous analysis, the surge came with a caveat: many of the online stores created in 2020 and 2021 proved to be short-lived. Within just two years, a significant portion of these new digital storefronts had gone offline, unable to sustain operations, customer interest, or both.

Analyzing global e-commerce trends: top growing and declining markets

Eelco Blaauw

A Shopping Cart System (SCS) is e-commerce software that enables users to select products or services online, store them in a virtual cart, and complete their purchase through a secure checkout process. Beyond product selection, modern SCS platforms handle pricing, taxes, shipping options, and payment processing, making them an essential part of a functional online store.

With over 250 different SCS platforms detected across 24 million active websites, our structured web data shows that the market is vast and highly competitive. Each solution caters to different business models, technical preferences, and customer needs, ranging from simple plug-and-play systems for small businesses to fully customizable platforms used by large enterprises.

Despite the wide range of options, the landscape is dominated by just a handful of platforms. As shown in Figure 1, WooCommerce leads the market by a significant margin, powering 33.2% of online stores. WIX eCommerce follows with 19.3%, and Squarespace Commerce holds 17.9% of the market. Shopify remains a major player focused on dedicated e-commerce, with a 9.8% share.

Smaller platforms still carve out their niche, however. Ecwid accounts for 3.5%, while Jimdo, PrestaShop, and Square Online each serve just 1% or less of the market. Rounding out the top ten is GoDaddy GoCentral Online Store, with just 0.6% share, and the various other providers that constitute the remaining 13.3%.

These numbers illustrate how fragmented and competitive the shopping cart system market is. Choosing the right solution can significantly impact your store’s performance, scalability, and user experience, making it a critical decision for any e-commerce business.

Just like WordPress dominates the CMS landscape, WooCommerce is the clear leader in the SCS market. As a plugin built for WordPress—and owned by Automattic, the same company behind WordPress—WooCommerce benefits from its deep integration within the world’s most popular CMS. This connection makes it the go-to choice for small and medium-sized businesses seeking flexibility, control, and a vast ecosystem of plugins and themes.

WooCommerce has proven itself a rock-solid foundation for e-commerce websites: it’s steady growth over time, as seen in Figure 2, is a testament to its lasting popularity and continued relevance in an increasingly competitive market. The sharp increase visible around mid-2023 is not due to a sudden market shift, but rather the result of a major improvement in our detection technology. By enhancing our fingerprint matching and optimizing detection methods, we gained a much clearer picture of WooCommerce’s true presence on the internet.

Since that update, WooCommerce’s growth trend has stabilized, consistently holding its position as the leading SCS. This stability underscores its role as the default choice for businesses building e-commerce stores on WordPress, a position that, much like WordPress in the CMS market, remains unchallenged for now.

Hosted vs. Self-Hosted: choosing the right SCS

One of the biggest decisions businesses face when selecting a Shopping Cart System is whether to choose a hosted or a self-hosted solution. Both approaches come with distinct advantages and trade-offs, largely depending on a company’s technical expertise, customization needs, and desire for control.

Self-hosted SCS platforms like WooCommerce and Magento are installed on your own web server, giving you full control over customization, features, and data. This flexibility allows businesses to fine-tune every aspect of their store, from design to functionality. However, self-hosting also means taking on responsibility for server maintenance, security, updates, and scaling as your business grows. This can make it more demanding for less technical users.

On the other hand, hosted SCS solutions like Shopify, WIX eCommerce, and Squarespace Commerce are fully managed by the provider. These platforms offer convenience and ease of use, handling hosting, security, and updates, so online merchants can focus on running their store without worrying about the technical details. The trade-off is limited flexibility and higher long-term costs due to subscription-based pricing and add-on fees.

Figure 3 shows how these two groups have evolved. WooCommerce, the leading self-hosted platform, displays steady growth, reflecting its strong position among businesses seeking control and scalability. Magento, another self-hosted option, shows a clear decline of more than 85%, highlighting how its complexity and steep learning curve have pushed many users toward more user-friendly alternatives.

In contrast, hosted platforms like Shopify have grown consistently, with Shopify now showing a 66% increase compared to the starting point. This trend reflects the growing demand for low-maintenance, all-in-one e-commerce solutions. WIX eCommerce and Squarespace Commerce were recently added to our detection capabilities, but their current market share suggests these platforms are also attracting businesses that prioritize ease of use over technical complexity.

Ultimately, the choice between self-hosted and hosted SCS solutions depends on the needs of the business. Those seeking full control, advanced customization, and integration flexibility may favor WooCommerce. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs looking for simplicity, speed, and a fully managed service often turn to Shopify or other hosted alternatives.

The shifting landscape of shopping cart systems

While self-hosted solutions like WooCommerce and Magento have long been popular choices for businesses seeking flexibility and control, our data reveals a noticeable trend toward hosted platforms such as Shopify, WIX eCommerce, and Squarespace Commerce. These fully managed solutions appeal to businesses that prioritize ease of use, built-in support, and predictable monthly costs over technical complexity.

Whether this trend continues will largely depend on how businesses balance convenience against control. For now, WooCommerce’s steady growth signals the enduring appeal of self-hosted solutions, especially for those who value customization and ownership. Still, the consistent rise of hosted platforms hints at a shifting preference, particularly among new businesses looking to get online quickly without the overhead of managing their own infrastructure.

Our data already reflects this shift, suggesting that as the e-commerce landscape matures, the demand for simple, scalable, and low-maintenance solutions will only grow.

Tech

Ever wonder about the magic behind that ‘Add to Cart’ button? Maybe we take it for granted, but the humble Shopping Cart System (SCS) powers the seamless experience of buying multiple items online with one click: one price, one shipping calculation, one transaction. Read on to dive into the data behind digital carts.

From control to convenience: how the market for shopping cart systems is evolving

E-commerce has fundamentally transformed the way people shop, and the pandemic has greatly accelerated this trend. When was the last time you bought something online? According to a global survey of internet users, 58% reported purchasing a product or service online in the previous week (Commerce 2022, GWI). 

How payment service providers made online shopping easy

In the early stages of e-commerce — and still common today in some developing countries — businesses selling online had to rely on traditional payment methods like cash on pick-up, bank transfers, checks or money orders, which were often slow and cumbersome. The first e-commerce transaction took place in the early 1990s, although accounts differ on whether the purchased product was a Sting CD or a pepperoni and mushroom pizza from Pizza Hut. As online shopping became more popular, a growing need for faster and more convenient payment options emerged. In 1998 PayPal was founded and launched its platform to transfer money only a year later. Since then, the number of payment platforms has mushroomed, and sellers today can choose from a vast variety of PSPs.

Payment providers offer a payment gateway, which is the technology that facilitates the transfer of money between a buyer and a seller. Payment gateways are generally integrated with various payment methods, including credit cards, debit cards and online payment systems like PayPal. This means that customers can use their preferred payment method to make purchases, which makes an online store more accessible and attractive to a wider range of consumers.

In Figure 1 (top section), you’ll see an example of available payment methods offered by an online shop. If you shop online regularly, this should be a familiar sight. It is very easy to spot the different payment options. What is a lot less common to see, however, is who is handling the payments. In the lower part of Figure 1, you can see an example of a Payment Service Provider (Worldline), which is a lot less noticeable than the payment methods.  In most cases, consumers will not be aware of who handles the transactions. To find that information, consumers would have to scrutinize a website's privacy notice or terms and conditions. (e.g., here WorldPay is mentioned). 

One platform with a range of payment options

PSPs play a critical role in e-commerce by providing secure and convenient payment processing solutions. Some charge a flat fee per transaction, while others charge a percentage of the transaction amount. A good payment platform offers a range of payment methods and integration options, making it easy for businesses to accept payments from local as well as international customers.

Some of the most common payment methods include credit and debit cards, e-wallets, mobile payments, bank transfers and more. While many of these payment methods are globally accepted, there are numerous local payment methods that are specific to a country or region. In Figure 2, we show the Top 10 payment methods based on their share among websites globally. As you can see, the majority are global brands, but in ninth place we encounter JCB, which stands for Japan Credit Bureau and refers to a Japanese credit card. The Brazilian Boleto Bancario, a voucher-based payment method, lands in tenth place.

One important thing to note is that sometimes a payment method can also be a provider. PayPal is a good example that is both a payment method and a payment provider with it’s own payment processing platform. If you look back at Figure 1, you’ll also see Klarna and Clearpay (Afterpay) among the accepted methods, but these two companies offer their own payment gateways and have become famous for providing Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services, which allow consumers to make purchases and pay for them in instalments over time, usually with no interest.

PayPal, Visa and Mastercard are dominant globally

Lastly, while there are local variations in payment methods overall, the dominant payment methods are the same across the world, with PayPal, Visa and Mastercard coming out on top in most regions. This is, however, quite different when we look at PSPs, where we see a lot more variation across regions and countries. In Figure 3, we show the top three payment providers based on share of websites by region. 

Online payments have certainly come a long way since the early days of e-commerce, and they continue to evolve and adapt to the changing needs of businesses and consumers. With their secure and convenient payment processing solutions, value-added services, and advanced analytics tools, PSPs are an indispensable part of the e-commerce ecosystem. 

Interested in a more in-depth look at PSPs? Download our Industry Report here and don't forget to join our webinar on leveraging web data for PSPs here.

Last week we published our first Industry report on payment service providers (PSPs) — a good reason to share a bit of background on PSPs and online payment methods with you. After all, they play a crucial role in the success of e-commerce.

Payment service providers: the driving force behind e-commerce

Gijs Barends

At Dataprovider.com we came across this phenomenon years ago. At first sight, these websites look like ordinary online stores. But a closer look reveals that there are a number of attributes that are off most of the time.

First, there’s no phone number on the website, just an email form. This is a huge red flag. Most reliable online stores try to make it as easy as possible for prospective customers to contact them in different ways. 

Second, the domain name doesn’t make sense: this is because counterfeiters use domains that previously had a website but for some reason the website owner decided not to renew their domain name, so it expired. But in many cases other websites still have a link to it. For example, a website about the history of New York City might have a link from another website that has an article about New York City. This link still exists even after the website about New York isn’t active anymore, so people are clicking on it. A widely used tactic among infringers is to find and register domains that aren’t renewed. Going back to our example, the people who read the article about New York City and click on it will now visit an infringing website and might be tempted to buy something there. 

Third, steep discounts without a good reason (for example, an end of a season sale) can also be indicative of scam websites. If it's too good to be true, then often that is indeed the case. 

Fourth, websites that use a free SSL certificate can give a false sense of security. As SSL is available at no charge, we’ve seen an enormous increase in the number of websites that are using itL. But SSL is no guarantee that you’re on a legitimate website.

Because this kind of crime only pays off if it’s done on a large scale and in a partly automated way, we see that counterfeiters use specific templates. These are predesigned layouts that enable the website owner to easily fill in and arrange content on a site. This makes it much easier to roll out such a scam on a large scale and also easier for us to identify these sites and even to reveal whole networks exploited by the same owner.  

The infringing websites are hard to recognize at first sight but with a bit of practice it’s actually quite easy, they all work very similarly. Because we index the whole web, it’s possible to make a classifier to recognize them. Our proprietary Trust Grade ranges from A to F: A being the highest grade and F the lowest. Brands and brand protection companies frequently use the Trust Grade to find infringing sites and make sure they are taken offline. 

We thought it would be interesting to analyze what brands are the most recurrent victims of infringement. For this analysis we looked into nine popular sport and sneaker brands: Adidas, Asics, Converse, Diadora, New Balance, Nike, Puma, Reebok and Skechers. We first looked at the number of online stores that sell any of these brands and then at how many of them were classified into a Trust Grade of E or F. 

Looking at the percentages, Skechers and Reebok were the top two brands with a 14% and 10% share of online stores with infringing content. And while Nike (∼30k) and Adidas (∼27k) are by far the largest brands among the ones we’ve examined, only around 8% of stores featuring these brands receive a low Trust Grade. In our analysis, Asics was the brand with the lowest share of untrustworthy eCommerce sites (6%).

Sneaker brands are a popular target for counterfeit criminals. Unfortunately, each famous brand has this problem. Looking at our data, we see that some brands are better at protecting their name than others. Technology makes it possible to find brand infringing networks and take them out, but the bad news is they easily pop back up so it is a continuous problem that requires rigorous monitoring. It will be hard to eradicate this problem entirely.

Brand Protection

A problem that virtually each popular brand will face at some point is counterfeiting. In this post we’re going to look at a specific way of counterfeiting: online stores that are created to only sell counterfeit goods.

Follow us

Questions?

Online stores

Analyzing global e-commerce trends: top growing and declining markets

From control to convenience: how the market for shopping cart systems is evolving

Payment service providers: the driving force behind e-commerce

Fake online stores: which sneaker brand do they favor?

Start today