In the wake of the pandemic, digital commerce seemed to leap forward by years in just a matter of months. Across every city and town, new online storefronts sprang up—some launched by entrepreneurs with no retail background, others by established brands forced to rethink everything from logistics to customer service. For economists and analysts, capturing the scale of this transformation required a method more precise than scanning headlines or watching website traffic rise. ISIC 4791—Retail via internet—offered a critical starting point.
The first step is straightforward: track new business registrations under ISIC 4791. Most jurisdictions maintain public registries of business incorporations, and a surge in ISIC 4791 entries can reveal where e-commerce energy is concentrating. But simple registration counts don’t tell the full story. Some firms are genuine digital natives—born online, with no physical storefront at all—while others are brick-and-mortar retailers expanding into e-commerce as a survival strategy. Untangling these strands is essential if you want to move from raw growth to meaningful analysis.
This is where it gets interesting, and more challenging. Multi-channel retailers, those running both physical and digital shops, often split their activities across codes or might remain registered under traditional retail categories while quietly growing their online presence. For analysts, the trick is to identify those firms that, while formally under ISIC 4791, also appear in other retail categories—an indicator of hybrid operations. In some cases, supplemental research is needed: reviewing company websites, social media profiles, or even delivery app listings to see how many are “pure play” e-commerce versus multi-channel operators.
Adjusting for these overlaps gives a truer sense of the digital shift. It’s not enough to count registrations; the real insight comes from mapping how existing businesses are changing their models and how many new entrants are bypassing traditional retail altogether. This sort of careful sorting helps policymakers and researchers gauge where support might be needed most—whether in digital skills training for new entrepreneurs or in helping traditional retailers pivot effectively.
Patterns tend to differ across regions. In metropolitan areas, new ISIC 4791 registrations often cluster among fashion, electronics, or specialty foods. In smaller towns, the spike may come from services that previously relied on foot traffic—local grocers, specialty artisans, even pharmacies. Each surge carries its own set of implications for infrastructure, employment, and competition. In some cases, the ease of setting up an online shop leads to a burst of micro-entrepreneurship; in others, established players quickly dominate the digital landscape.
And, as always, the numbers need context. A sharp rise in registrations may reflect genuine growth or, in some cases, a temporary rush that fades as market realities set in. Some businesses close within months, others merge or shift focus, and not all “new” digital firms actually transact online at scale.
What becomes clear, however, is that ISIC 4791 serves as a valuable lens for economists seeking to understand e-commerce’s true momentum. Rather than being dazzled by headlines or overwhelmed by anecdote, analysts using this approach can put real numbers behind the changes—spotting not just where online retail is rising, but how it is taking shape, sector by sector and city by city. The dynamism of the moment comes into focus not through broad generalization, but by digging into the detail, one business registration at a time.