According to a study conducted by Visa<\/a>, 90 percent of ecommerce leaders queried said an international ecommerce presence will be essential to their company\u2019s success by 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Two-thirds of those not yet selling in foreign markets are planning to launch an international sales effort \u201cin the near future.\u201d Surprisingly, only about one-third of respondents said that they feel fully prepared to handle international transactions today<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These are all indicators that the opportunity for growth in international selling is vast, but underserved. There\u2019s still time for savvy ecommerce sellers to carve out a piece of the global ecommerce pie before their competitors are even at the table. If you aren\u2019t already looking to start selling in foreign markets, now is the time<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are three economic indicators that seem to confirm Visa\u2019s predictions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The United States isn\u2019t the only country experiencing a boom in ecommerce sales. Forrester Research estimates ecommerce retail sales<\/a> in APAC (Asia-Pacific) countries will hit $2.5 trillion by 2023. In contrast, U.S. online retail sales<\/a> totaled under $600 billion in 2019 and are not expected to exceed $7.5 billion in 2023. That means companies selling only to consumers in the U.S. are missing out on the lion\u2019s share of the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why are consumers in foreign countries outspending the United States? Here are a few of the reasons for the rapid expansion of foreign markets:<\/p>\n\n\n\n More people are becoming able\u2014both technologically and financially\u2014to shop online, and the ability to secure fair prices on items that may not even be available locally is attracting those new shoppers in growing numbers. Areas where options were once severely limited are now seeing choices open up to an unprecedented degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shoppers aren\u2019t just going online to find the same things available to them already. They\u2019re seeking out imported goods previously available only to a fortunate few. In 2018, 93 percent of consumers in the U.S. purchased a product online. During the same period, though, fewer than 74 percent of Chinese consumers engaged in an ecommerce transaction. When you consider that the Chinese population is more than four times greater than the United States, the implications are impressive. Statista projects<\/a> Chinese ecommerce sales to surpass one trillion dollars in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n China isn\u2019t the only expanding market for ecommerce, though. The chart below from eShopWorld<\/a> identifies opportunities in areas not yet \u201csaturated by international retail players.\u201d The display is sorted by the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of ecommerce sales. Note that India leads the pack for emerging markets. In 2018, the active ecommerce penetration in that market stood at just 28 percent of the almost 1.4 billion population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coresight Research<\/a> stated that buy now pay later (BNPL) services are \u201cpoised to disrupt the ecommerce market.\u201d Companies like Afterpay, Affirm, and Laybuy are making it even simpler for consumers to take part in cross-border ecommerce by providing alternative payment methods to consumers. Shoppers can make several payments on goods instead of needing to pay the total amount at the time of purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A 2018 study<\/a> by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) found that BNPL purchases in their country and grown from about 400,000 during 2015 to over two million by the end of 2018. When Australian consumers were asked about their reasons for using BNPL, 81 percent said BNPL allows them to purchase items they normally couldn\u2019t afford to buy in one payment, 70 percent said BNPL allows them to be more spontaneous in their spending, and 55% said BNPL allows them to spend less by taking advantage of lower prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Demographic data from ASIC (see the graph below) put the 34 years and younger group as especially attracted to the BNPL option. That data was also confirmed by the Coresight study, where members of the Millenial and Gen Z cohort are at the top of the list in terms of usage of BNPL services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ecommerce sellers concerned about the added cost of providing BNPL options generally find that the boost in both conversion<\/a> rate and average order value more than make up for the fees charged by the payment platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the considerable opportunity cross-border ecommerce already provides online sellers and the forecast data saying the global market will continue to skyrocket upwards, what\u2019s stopping more companies from participating in international expansion? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Caution is certainly a factor holding many back, but the number one excuse we hear is \u201cI\u2019m not sure how to get started.\u201d There\u2019s no doubt that engaging in cross-border ecommerce takes specialized information and insight that can be difficult to collect and confusing to understand, but not acting on it could mean you miss out on an opportunity that will position your business for exponential growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To kickstart the cross-border ecommerce conversation and get your team thinking about the possibilities, we\u2019ve prepared the following list of steps to follow. Use them as a framework to draft your own international ecommerce strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now is the time. Here\u2019s how we recommend you get your company started with venturing into cross-border ecommerce:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Begin by searching for emerging markets abroad that fit your products and audience. List the countries you think would be the best fit. It\u2019s wiser to expand country-by-country or region-by-region than to try to sell everywhere at once. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A good place to begin is by examining the country commercial guides<\/a> on export.gov. Once you\u2019ve located areas with a proven demand for your product, assess the culture, climate, and competition in those particular markets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n1. Ecommerce spending in foreign countries is on the rise <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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2. Rising income in foreign countries has increased demand for imported goods<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
3. Buy now pay later options are helping people finance purchases<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Steps to Succeeding in Cross-Border Ecommerce <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
1. Identify and sort potential markets for your products<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n