e-commerce could touch 30% of air cargo volumes by 2027: IATA

e-commerce now accounts for 20 percent of total air cargo volumes, and the share could increase to 30 percent by 2027, according to a presentation by Andre Majeres, Head, eCommerce, Cargo and Mail Operations, International Air Transport Association (IATA) at the World Cargo Symposium (WCS) in Hong Kong.

Over 2.6 billion online shoppers bought 30 percent more in 2023, 34 percent shopped online at least once a week (79 percent once a month) and priority is speed of delivery for 26 percent shoppers.

Worldwide e-commerce retail sales touched $5.7 trillion in 2023, and is expected to zoom to over $8 trillion by 2024, according to Majeres.

"Nearly 80 percent of e-commerce is transported by air compared to 20 percent across other modes of transport."

e-commerce Tsunami
Over 170 billion parcels were shipped in 2022 - 4x compared to 2014, and this is expected to jump to 256 billion parcels by 2027, up 50 percent compared to 2022.

Global e-commerce logistics value, estimated at $386 billion in 2023, is expected to reach $2.4 trillion by 2032 - a compounded annual growth rate of 22.6 percent.

e-commerce priorities

Majeres listed out the following priorities for e-commerce:

Operational excellence
*Applying the right processes in daily operations to maximise efficiency

*Considerations in building cargo facility of the future

*Capitalising on innovations and new technologies for customers’ experience and optimisation; and

*Quality and consistency

Digitalisation
Move from the 50 years old legacy messaging standard to ONE Record, a data-sharing approach based on web APIs.

Sustainability
Support industry Net Zero commitments, increase efficiency and reduce waste in air cargo operations

Safety & Security
Securing and facilitating cross-border movements.

"Air cargo is built for e-commerce," says Majeres.