The index scores 152 nations on their readiness for online shopping, an industry that is worth an estimated US$3.9 trillion globally.
Countries are scored on the access to secure internet servers, the reliability of postal services and infrastructure, and the portion of their population that uses the internet and has an account with a financial institution or mobile-money-service provider.
Zimbabwe's statistics were rather poor, recording a mere 37 on secure internet servers, share of individuals using the Internet (2018 or latest) stood at 27 and Universal Postal Union (UPU) postal reliability score at 13. However, the share of individuals with an account (15+, 2017) stood at 55.
Developing countries classified as high-income or upper-middle-income economies such as Europe remain by far the most prepared region for e-commerce, with eight countries ranking in the top 10 of the global index published on 3 December.
For the second consecutive year, the Netherlands leads UNCTAD's Business-to-Consumer E-commerce Index, followed by Switzerland. The only non-European countries on the top 10 list are Singapore (third) and Australia (10th).
At the other end of the spectrum, the least developed countries occupy 18 of the 20 bottom positions with only 11 countries: Nigeria, Mauritius, Tunisia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Ghana, Senegal, Namibia and Morocco making it in the top 100.
