Germany’s eCommerce Love Affair, US Businesses In The Dark And Waves Of Wearables

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Few industries have the stream of data that retail does to self-reflexively judge itself in real time. However, last week brought a trove of information on how wearable devices are faring with customers (hint: well), the travails of opening a small business (hint: risky) and even the state of eCommerce in the European Union (hint: wunderbar). PYMNTS breaks down these numbers, from 12 to 6.7 trillion, below:

12: The percentage that Germany’s eCommerce industry will grow annually. Evidence that the appetite for eCommerce is a global phenomenon can be found in reports coming out of Germany, namely this one from eco, a German eCommerce research group. The EU researchers found that B2C eCommerce sales should grow by an average of 12 percent every year up until 2019. This will generate an estimated €114 billion by that date, though the researchers noted that the upper annual growth limit of 15 percent isn’t out of the question either.

[bctt tweet=”An upper annual growth limit of 15 percent for eCommerce in Germany isn’t out of the question either.”]

33: The percentage of eCommerce business done by one-third of all B2B companies. An Accenture survey found that at least 16 of 50 companies surveyed making more than $500 million in annual revenue now report at least a third of that income is generated from online operations. The numbers get even better when the data focuses only on companies that have been conducting eCommerce efforts for at least five years — these businesses boast more than half of their clients using digital transactions.

50: The percentage of U.S. companies that don’t know of and aren’t preparing for changes to EU data security protocols. A study conducted by TRUSTe found that half of American businesses don’t have the EU’s upcoming General Data Protection Regulation on their radars, which could turn into a major hassle as those “prepared” have squirreled away an average of $500,000 to prepare for the changes. More than half of financial services companies said that they were aware of the impending GDPR rules, while just 43 percent of tech firms had cared to check up on the news from across the pond.

58: The percentage of small business owners who think shutting off the entrepreneurial parts of their brains after working hours helps productivity. A survey by Xero found that a majority of SMB owners prefer to close their laptops and mute their phones at nights to spend more time with family and friends — a move that they claim is critical to their ability to run their companies. This attitude extended to weekend availability as well, with 53 percent of SMB heads saying they value free time on the weekends to spend time with loved ones.

72.1 million: The number of wearable devices that will be shipped by the end of 2015. Consumers aren’t satisfied to hold futuristic tech in the palms of their hands; they want to wear it on their wrists, heads and everywhere else, too, International Data Corporation found in a quarterly tracker. 2014 saw a comparably meager 26.4 million wearable devices shipped to consumers’ doors, and IDC claimed the explosive growth of these products would continue until 2020, when more than 150 million wearables might see their way off physical and digital shelves.

$6.7 trillion: The value of the global B2B eCommerce market come 2020. While B2C retailers grapple with the best ways to engage shoppers with emerging tech, a study from Frost & Sullivan shows that B2B companies are surging down the path of digital innovation — and making bank all along the way. This $6.7 trillion figure represents nearly 27 percent of the projected worldwide manufacturing and wholesale trade in 2020. China and the U.S. are expected to lead the charge, with the former snagging $1.2 trillion on the strength of its still-growing industry.