E-commerce sellers worldwide is 46.75 million and their accounting market size is $2 billion

Insights: The current market size in terms of revenue of the e-commerce accounting and/or inventory software for these sellers was estimated to be about $1.99 billion. The total addressable market value for the accounting and inventory software targeting the 46.75 million e-commerce sellers will reach $23.37 billion in global figure, assuming a 100% market penetration.

About this report: From this market research of the e-commerce industry, you will be able to know the current market trend in terms of market size of the e-commerce sellers industry. We’ve also provided analysis of the possible total addressable market value for e-commerce accounting and inventory software globally targeting online sellers for Amazon, eBay, and other e-commerce platforms.

OVERVIEW OF THE E-COMMERCE INDUSTRY WORLDWIDE

The total number of e-commerce sellers worldwide is approximately at 46.75 million. These e-commerce sellers are retailers, merchants and seller from all e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, eBay, and Taobao (or Alibaba).

The current market size in terms of revenue of the e-commerce accounting and/or inventory software for these sellers was estimated to be about $1.99 billion. The total addressable market value for the accounting and inventory software targeting the 46.75 million e-commerce sellers will reach $23.37 billion in global figure, assuming a 100% market penetration.

Accounting and Inventory Software Market Size and total addressable market (TAM) for e-commerce sellers — E-commerce sellers total addressable market

FINDINGS

THE E-COMMERCE SOFTWARE MARKET SIZE

Overall, the e-commerce software (all software not just accounting) market size globally was valued at $3.8 billion in 2017.

While if we consider the whole accounting software targeting all industry–not just retail and e-commerce– the total current market size would be $17.35 billion which will poised an annual growth rate of 8.92%. According to this report, the retail and e-commerce sector play a substantial role in the accounting software industry.

ACCOUNTING/INVENTORY SOFTWARE TARGETING E-COMMERCE SELLERS MARKET SIZE

There was no available report that could directly quote the market size of the specific target audience, thus, we calculated this value using a bottom-up analysis method and using reliable statistics and data.

In the small business world (including e-commerce retailers) , Quickbooks is reported to be the most used accounting software and it has more than 80% (or about 85%) market share in this industry.

Currently, Quickbooks has over 3.4 million subscribers according to their annual report. If these 3.4 million users are assumed to be in the e-commerce industry, then we estimated that about 4 million online sellers are currently using accounting software.

Estimated number of e-commerce sellers using accounting software

= 3.4 million / 85%

= 4 million

In terms of value, we consider Quickbooks average annual premier plus cost at $499.95;

Estimated e-commerce accounting software for sellers market size

= 4 million * $499.95

= $1.99 billion

TOTAL ADDRESSABLE MARKET OF ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE FOR E-COMMERCE SELLERS

TARGET AUDIENCE

To estimate the number of e-sellers/e-retailers, all those sellers selling online normally through e-commerce marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay, we considered various data.

According to a report, 40% of all e-commerce marketplace are from the top 5 e-commerce companies. The top 5 e-commerce platform companies in the world are Taobao, Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and Target.

First, we look at the available statistics of these 5 companies.

Nearly 7 million active sellers on Taobao
There are over 5 million marketplace sellers across all Amazon marketplaces
Walmart has about 400 retailers or third party sellers using their marketplace. While Target has just about 60 third-party retailers in their platform.
In 2017, 6.7 million sellers on eBay sold products in 190 markets around the world, and for small businesses, the platform has become a great source of revenue.

[Calculations]

Total e-commerce sellers from the above top 5 companies

= 18,700,460

Since the top 5 companies has a market share of 40% in terms of number of retailers/sellers, we divide the figure by 40% to get the total e-commerce seller market size globally.

Estimated number of e-commerce sellers globally

= 18,700,460 / 40%

= 46.75 million

If based on small business owners (which include retailers, either they have an employee or self-employed), according to a survey, 64.4% of these use accounting software. Assuming this trend is similarly the same with e-retailers, then we estimated that about 30.11 million e-commerce sellers are already using some kind of accounting and inventory software.

If assuming a 100% penetration, then this industry will be valued about $23.37 billion.

TAM Value based on revenue

= 46.75 million * $499.95

= $23.37 billion

Estimated number of sellers that use multi-channel

According to a report, about 80% of all Amazon sellers also use other platforms to sell their products, either on eBay, Jet, own website, Walmart, Newegg, Sears, among others. If we assume that in all platforms, 80% of their sellers use other website and just 20% are selling in one platform, then our rough estimate is that of the total 46.75 e-commerce sellers registered on all platforms, about 12.47 million are sellers that use at least 3 platforms.

Our estimate is based on the below assumptions;

We took 20% of all total sellers from the biggest marketplaces and assume this number to be those sellers which only sell on that platform;

46.75 million * 20% = 9.35 million

46.75 million * 80% = 37.40 million

Of this total 80% registered sellers, it could be possible that most of them sell on average 3 platforms, using this assumption to calculate the total per headcount;

Estimated number of sellers who sell on 3 platforms

= 37.40 million / 3 = 12.47 million

Online platform number of registered sellers

Amazon = 5 million
Taobao = 7 million
eBay = 6.7 million
Jet.com = 2,400
Sears = 14,000
Walmart and Target = 460
Rakuten = 44,000
All others (own website and other bigger marketplaces which reportedly about 50 globally) = 27.99 million

In conclusion, about 12.47 million are sellers that use at least 3 platform and about 9.35 million use just one platform–either their own website or using e-commerce marketplace.

Are you a startup or a business owner, entrepreneur, or founder looking for investors?
Presenting a pitch deck to seek funding from investors for your startup is a BIG STEP.

I am here to help you with that. Besides, I’ve been doing market research analysis for hundreds of business owners, I’ve developed and created a template that will surely catches attention of investors. You can message me so I could provide you a link for my reviews on other sites.

The template is provided in Microsoft Presentation (pptx) format and is already designed on what you should put on your pitch deck presentation. I have provided those topics that you should include and are already arranged accordingly. You just need to adjust according to your actual business information.

Upon purchase (via Etsy), you will be able to download 2 kinds of files:

A designed pitch deck presentation template that is blank with instructions. You can change the background, text format, etc according to your preference.
An actual sample pitch deck presentation for your reference.

GO GET THAT TEMPLATE AND START ATTRACTING INVESTORS!

SOURCES:

At Mhojhos Research, we deliver outstanding market report results across many industries. Market research is key to a new business becoming a profitable entity. It anticipates and minimizes risk, identifies potential customers and helps ensure success.

You are a small business owner. You are just starting your business. You need a website. You need an accountant. You need a software engineer. You need a virtual assistant. You have a low startup cost. You need people so that your business will grow.

One thought on “E-commerce sellers worldwide is 46.75 million and their accounting market size is $2 billion”

Pingback: TAM SAM SOM: HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR MARKET – Know your industry. Grow your business.