Morgan Stanley On The Rise Of eCommerce: Multi-Decade Trend Ahead

On Friday, a team of analysts at Morgan Stanley published a report diving in to the rising momentum seen in eCommerce. “It is well-flagged that luxury consumers are becoming younger and increasingly tech savvy,” the analysts wrote. “This consumer profile is expected to be most affected by shifting trends in eCommerce.” “Whilst online commerce growth has been strong, there is still room for penetration rates to rise,” the analysts wrote while adding that sales in brick and mortar stores at luxury firms could be “threatened” by the growth of eCommerce. Morgan Stanley is forecasting a five-year global eCommerce growth of 19 percent, driven by a shift in consumer behavior, increased mobile adaption, retailers shifting a focus to online from offline and an improved product assortment by retailers. The analysts project global online sales will rise to $2.1 trillion by 2018, of which $1.1 trillion in sales will come from China. . Domestically, the analysts expect growth in eCommerce to accelerate this year despite already heavy penetration. The trend of online commerce taking share from the offline space will be a “multi-decade trend” as online shopping continues to benefit from better convenience and confidence in payments, shipping reliability and product quality improvements.