Xin Ou
Research expert covering Greater China
SME e-commerce - statistics & facts
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in economic and social development. For example, in the United States, there are roughly 300,000 SMEs, making up the majority of businesses in the country. As technological and digital advances impact all sectors of retail, small firms that adapt to and take full advantage of these technologies can boost revenue by delving into e-commerce. Sales digitalization and imminent adoption of new e-commerce technologies usually translate to increased efficiency and productivity, lower long-term operational costs due to automation, and an enhanced customer experience.
Much like the world’s B2C enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses are fully embracing e-commerce. Interestingly, e-commerce giants such as Amazon are the ones that make selling online much easier for SMEs, showing how large corporations and smaller players are operating in a codependent and dynamic e-commerce market.
E-commerce has become the dominant channel for SMEs
Small and midsize businesses globally already established an online presence years ago. Back in 2022, an overwhelming majority of SMEs globally operated a website or a home page. Nordic countries stand out in this country comparison: 80 to 90 percent of Finnish and Danish SMEs operated a website in the most recent year of data collection. With increased website presence comes growth in e-commerce activity. A 2024 business survey reveals that 65 percent of American SMEs expect their e-commerce sales to grow in the future. The same growth trajectory can be witnessed in Europe, where the share of SMEs that make online sales has been growing annually since 2019. The e-commerce boom that can be seen with small and midsize businesses in the B2C space is both a contributor to and a result of the overall growth of the e-commerce market globally.Where do small e-commerce businesses thrive?
One of the main obstacles for SMEs to launch an online sales business is the high initial cost of developing their own e-commerce platform. For that reason, small firms that intend to dive into e-commerce usually start by offering their products and services as third-party sellers on widely known online marketplaces, such as Amazon or eBay. On the former platform, small and medium-sized third-party sellers are able to achieve profit margins of up to 50 percent on a regular basis. Another platform that rose to prominence in recent years is Etsy. As of 2024, more than eight million entrepreneurs and small businesses use the platform to sell handmade and vintage products. In order to increase their online presence and reach their target group, more and more SMEs are turning to social media for marketing and direct selling purposes. For instance, roughly half of European SMEs already use TikTok for marketing purposes, and with the TikTok Shop launching in several EU markets in 2025, social commerce may be an important channel in the years to come.Much like the world’s B2C enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses are fully embracing e-commerce. Interestingly, e-commerce giants such as Amazon are the ones that make selling online much easier for SMEs, showing how large corporations and smaller players are operating in a codependent and dynamic e-commerce market.
