According to this, rising Internet penetration and adoption of online shopping among the masses across the India, force companies selling products and services through websites to look at smaller cities in order to expand their business.

"According to eBay India Census 2012 report eCommerce is here to stay. The research findings were based on an analysis of all online buying and selling transactions by Indians on eBay between July 1, 2011 and December 31, 2012. The marketplace had around 4500 eCommerce hubs during the time of study, of which over a thousand hubs were located in rural India, indicating that consumers in the smaller towns of India are a major force in this online growth story."

"eCommerce companies face a number of operational hurdles, especially in rural areas - given the poor infrastructure available in those parts of the country. The low literacy rate in the country is the another problem for the growth of eCommerce, as even the educated people in rural areas are not able to handle cyber technology."

“In recent years, rural markets have acquired significance, as the overall growth of the Indian economy has resulted in the substantial increase in the purchasing power of the rural communities. In fact estimates show rural markets are growing much faster than urban markets. But there are a number of factors hindering the growth of eCommerce in the country, biggest of which are low Internet penetration, payments and distribution logistics.”

"eCommerce companies struggle to reach the unreachables in many remote areas including many states in Northeast India due to poor transportation facility."

According to this, online commerce in Argentina has jumped 48.5% in 2013 with EUR 1.37 billion spent in online purchases carried out by 12 million people.

"The growth of internet users and companies who sell products online together with a wider variety of products offered, more safety measures and increased user confidence are some of the reasons behind the increase."

"Transport and tourism-related tickets have continued to top the list of online purchases with EUR 364 million (28.7%) spent in 2013. Electronic goods and accessories were second on the list and reached EUR 100 million in sales (10.9%), followed by food and drinks (7.8%), mobile phone purchases (6.7%) and home supplies (3.7%). (...) Results show that in 2013, 73.4% of internet users undertook web research on prices and brands before going to a store to buy their desired products. This has led online marketplaces to boost regular store purchases."

"Online shoppers have spent an average EUR 6 and undertook between two and six purchases. Half of the respondents have declared they chose online transactions for convenience and paid for their purchases with credit or debit cards."

"43% of large companies and 36% of small and medium companies sold their products online, representing an increase compared to 2012. While 76% of the companies used social media networks to communicate information, only 40% used them to offer their products. Only 10% of the clicks on e-commerce websites were a result of social media networks."

Re/code published first look into how will future of e-commerce look like. Images published were found by Re/code and have not been verified by Twitter or Fancy.

"Twitter looks likely to partner with at least one online commerce site,Fancy.com, which will let users purchase products inside the Twitter app and website. It is part of a new program called Twitter Commerce, according to these documents."

"As the screenshots show, the Twitter Commerce tweets will appear inside of Twitter users streams, much like the company’s Promoted Tweet advertising products. Some Commerce tweets will also show up inside Twitter’s Discover section, which shows off a mix of activity from a user’s network of people they follow (including, interestingly enough, products that people you follow have purchased, according to the screenshots)."

"Expand the tweet, and you’ll see photos of the product for sale, along with a description of the item and a section for related products for purchase. From there, you’re prompted to enter your name, address and credit card information, all “handled securely within the Twitter app,” according to the documentation. It looks as if Commerce customers may be able to track the shipping status of their order on a map, and receive shipping updates."

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="606"] From Perception Blog[/caption]

According to this, French business-to-consumer e-commerce sales have jumped 11.2% y-o-y in 2013.

"The estimations are based on bank card transactions with digital retailers from four major providers that handle 90% of bank card purchases at French e-tailers. Together, they have accounted for EUR 40.26 billion (USD 53.68 billion) in sales during 2013, compared with EUR 36.2 billion (USD 46.41 billion) in 2012."

"sSlowing growth is typical of a maturing market, and some decline was expected. But the actual figures were something of a surprise, after rises of around 20% in 2012 and 2011. The average basket size dropped by almost EUR 5 (USD 6.67), to EUR 81.51 (USD 108.68). Baskets shrank by roughly the same amount in the 2013 holiday season, compared with the equivalent period in 2012."

"The number of online bank card transactions has increased almost 18% in 2013. Another encouraging sign was the rapid adoption of one-click payment options, which enable shoppers to store their bank card information with a retailer and check out with a single click, after confirming the order details. A further development, potentially linked with the growing acceptance of one-click payments, is the rise in shopping and buying with mobile phones, smartphones and tablets. M-commerce sales have risen much more rapidly than overall sales."

"The number of digital buyers in France will pass 29 million in 2014 and rise by a further 600,000 annually through 2017—ensuring an expanding customer base for online retailers."