Global retail sales are forecast to reach $12.93 trillion in 2024, yet fraud losses are expected to climb to $1.5 trillion and cart abandonment averages 15.0% in 2024, putting real pressure on margins. At the same time, 17.1% of U.S. retail sales are already online and 79% of global internet users shopped online in 2023, showing how quickly merchant expectations are shifting across channels. The surprise is how personalization, connected inventory visibility, and payment flexibility are becoming the levers most retailers are betting on.
Key Takeaways
- $12.93 trillion global retail sales in 2024 (forecast), reflecting expected continued expansion
- 17.1% of total U.S. retail sales were online sales in 2021, quantifying the online merchant channel share
- $22.6 billion global retail analytics software market size by 2030 (forecast), indicating future spend potential
- 25% of consumers used buy now, pay later (BNPL) at least once in 2023, indicating BNPL adoption among shoppers
- 63% of shoppers expect personalized offers, measuring consumer expectations that merchants must meet
- 79% of global internet users shopped online in 2023, evidencing broad consumer e-commerce participation worldwide
- $1.5 trillion in fraud losses worldwide in 2023 (forecast), indicating fraud cost pressure on merchants
- 67% of retailers reported that they are increasing spending on fraud prevention technologies in 2024, indicating merchant investment momentum
- 38% of retailers said they improved supply chain visibility in the last 12 months using connected data platforms, indicating adoption momentum
- 2.9x higher conversion rate for retailers using personalized product recommendations, quantifying impact of personalization on merchant outcomes
- 35% reduction in inventory costs reported for retailers using advanced inventory analytics, quantifying performance benefits
- 27% of merchants cite chargebacks as a top payment operational issue, quantifying dispute-management burden
- 1.5% of revenue is lost to chargebacks across industries in 2023, indicating dispute impact on merchant P&L
- 71% of consumers say they expect multiple payment options at checkout, showing payment-method breadth requirements
Merchants face rising fraud and chargebacks but can boost sales through personalization, better checkout, and advanced analytics.
Related reading
01 · Category
Market Size6 stats
01
$12.93 trillion global retail sales in 2024 (forecast), reflecting expected continued expansion
02
17.1% of total U.S. retail sales were online sales in 2021, quantifying the online merchant channel share
03
$22.6 billion global retail analytics software market size by 2030 (forecast), indicating future spend potential
04
$34.5 billion global POS terminals market in 2022 (revenue), quantifying merchant checkout tech spend
05
$5.4 billion annual market size for e-receipts in 2023 (forecast), indicating adoption of digital receipts for merchants
06
14% of retail revenue is generated via loyalty promotions in 2023 among loyalty-active customers, indicating loyalty program monetization
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
For the Market Size outlook, merchant revenue opportunities are set to keep rising as global retail sales are forecast to reach $12.93 trillion in 2024 and additional tech and enablement spending grows with a $34.5 billion POS terminals market in 2022 and a $5.4 billion e receipts market in 2023.
02 · Category
User Adoption3 stats
01
25% of consumers used buy now, pay later (BNPL) at least once in 2023, indicating BNPL adoption among shoppers
02
63% of shoppers expect personalized offers, measuring consumer expectations that merchants must meet
03
79% of global internet users shopped online in 2023, evidencing broad consumer e-commerce participation worldwide
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
With 79% of global internet users shopping online in 2023 and 25% trying buy now, pay later at least once, user adoption is clearly strong while 63% of shoppers expecting personalized offers signals merchants must tailor experiences to retain and grow that momentum.
03 · Category
Industry Trends5 stats
01
$1.5 trillion in fraud losses worldwide in 2023 (forecast), indicating fraud cost pressure on merchants
02
67% of retailers reported that they are increasing spending on fraud prevention technologies in 2024, indicating merchant investment momentum
03
38% of retailers said they improved supply chain visibility in the last 12 months using connected data platforms, indicating adoption momentum
04
25% of retail websites lacked adequate bot management controls in 2024, increasing vulnerability to automated fraud and scraping
05
10% of retailers deployed cashierless or checkout-automation pilots by 2024, indicating momentum toward friction-reducing store checkout
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
Under Industry Trends, the combined signals show merchants are actively responding to fraud pressure and operational change, with fraud losses forecast at $1.5 trillion in 2023 alongside 67% of retailers increasing fraud prevention spending in 2024 and 25% still lacking adequate bot management controls.
More related reading
04 · Category
Performance Metrics5 stats
01
2.9x higher conversion rate for retailers using personalized product recommendations, quantifying impact of personalization on merchant outcomes
02
35% reduction in inventory costs reported for retailers using advanced inventory analytics, quantifying performance benefits
03
27% of merchants cite chargebacks as a top payment operational issue, quantifying dispute-management burden
04
15.0% average cart abandonment rate across industries in 2024, quantifying the magnitude of lost sales for merchants
05
2.3x higher likelihood to convert when customers see relevant product recommendations, quantifying merchandising relevance impact
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Performance Metrics data shows that personalization and relevance can drive standout gains, with retailers seeing 2.9x higher conversion rates from personalized recommendations and 2.3x higher likelihood to convert when customers view relevant products, while operational challenges remain significant with 27% of merchants citing chargebacks and an average 15.0% cart abandonment rate in 2024.
05 · Category
Cost Analysis1 stats
01
1.5% of revenue is lost to chargebacks across industries in 2023, indicating dispute impact on merchant P&L
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
Cost analysis shows that in 2023, merchants lost 1.5% of revenue to chargebacks across industries, underscoring how disputes can materially pressure merchant profit and loss.
06 · Category
Customer Behavior1 stats
01
71% of consumers say they expect multiple payment options at checkout, showing payment-method breadth requirements
Interpretation
Customer Behavior Interpretation
With 71% of consumers expecting multiple payment options at checkout, Merchant Industry businesses need to broaden payment choices to match customer behavior expectations.
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
David Kowalski. (2026, February 13). Merchant Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/merchant-industry-statistics
MLA
David Kowalski. "Merchant Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/merchant-industry-statistics.
Chicago
David Kowalski. 2026. "Merchant Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/merchant-industry-statistics.
Sources & references
21 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
+3 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)