Alibaba.com have just released their 2021 in Review and 2022 Outlook report which shows the U.S. maintaining their spot as one of the fastest growing seller regions on the platform. The report shares some interesting insights into demand trends based on the activity of more than 200,000 sellers and over 20 million buyers on the platform.
The insights come after a demand for “Made in the USA” products was seen between January and December 2021, driven by Food & Beverage, Agriculture, Beauty and Personal Care, Health and Musical and Consumer Electronics.
A surge in SMBs
The pandemic has resulted in a surge in entrepreneurs. Millions of new companies started in 2020 and 2021, and the new “Entrepreneur Economy” is only expected to grow as the barrier to entry for starting a company lowers and more of the economy moves online. On Alibaba.com in 2021 the top global growth categories included Gifts & Crafts, Shoes & Accessories, Beauty & Personal Care and Sports & Entertainment.
The recovery of optimism demonstrates just how resilient SMBs are in the face of ongoing uncertainty and adversity. Despite the constant struggles of supply chain disruptions, worker shortages, and shutdowns, 71% of SMBs are expecting sales to increase over the next six months, with 58% predicting an increase in profits, according to PNC’s semi-annual Economic Outlook Survey.
Global SMBs show similar optimism levels. According to the Facebook Global State of Small Business Report – September 2021, about 60% of 35,000 SMBs across 30 countries and territories state they could continue operating for six months or more if current circumstances persist, and 48% indicated they could continue for over 12 months. This represents an improvement in confidence about the economy “with the proportion of SMBs stating they could continue for 6 and 12 months increasing by 6 and 3 percentage points, respectively.”
Alibaba.com will be releasing monthly updates to keep US SMBs better informed. The purpose of Alibaba.com B2B Pulse is to aggregate the biggest macro developments relevant to US SMBs and share proprietary insights into US B2B demand that is observed on the Alibaba.com global marketplace.
