The company also forecasts that total retail sales will reach $22tr, a growth of 6% from the previous year, and that this figure will exceed $27tr in 2020. 

But the projected growth of retail e-commerce is the stand-out story from the report, with digital sales expected to continue recording double digit increases through to 2020. While the pace of this growth is forecast to slow, eMarketer anticipates retail e-commerce sales to account for just over $4tr in 2020 and to make up 14.6% of total retail spending that year. 

Much of the volume and growth of retail e-commerce is expected to come from China, where sales are forecast to reach $899 bn this year. This is nearly half ( 47%) of all such sales worldwide.

More information can be found here.