In the current global economic climate, taking your eCommerce business cross-border is a fantastic way to help ensure your business’s long-term survival. Here, we’ll take you through the fundamentals of expanding cross-border, including how to select the right market and effectively localize your store.
In Europe, 48% of online shoppers are cross-border shoppers. If that figure alone doesn’t highlight the importance of embarking on a cross-border strategy, almost a third (31.4%) of UK orders are delivered to overseas recipients.
Let’s take Europe’s eCommerce market as an example: 23 languages, a multitude of cultures and consumer habits, various currencies, including the euro, and varying payment methods need to be taken into consideration, and that’s just the start of it.
“Expanding to cross-border selling requires strong research and a key understanding of target markets, followed by a solid strategy to succeed in said markets.”
Before creating a cross-border strategy, you’ll need to select the right markets for your international expansion. Ask yourself these questions before selecting your target markets:
The first step is to optimize your resources and target a few, select markets with the highest business growth potential. After, you can establish a position in terms of value and pricing and identify the right marketing channels for your business.
Consumers trust marketplaces and are more likely to purchase your products on these renowned sites. Despite their stringent requirements, marketplaces allow retailers to reach millions of potential clients.
A good strategy is to start with global marketplaces, such as Amazon, eBay, etc., in order to test different products in several markets. However, when launching in a new market, don’t overlook local players. Niche marketplaces are dominant in several national markets — think ASOS in the UK or Zalando in Germany. In France, marketplaces play a particularly important role with various key platforms alongside global leaders, including Cdiscount, FNAC, and La Redoute.
When going global, it is vital to appear as local as possible in order to truly connect with your target audience. This means adapting the language on your store to the local culture while catering to the market’s preferences.
A study by Common Sense Advisory showed that nearly 60% of online customers won’t shop from websites that are not in their native language. Both your product sheets and content marketing need to be multilingual — that includes your blogs, tutorials, and videos. The key is to localize content, rather than just translating it: use vocabulary, wording, expressions and even slang in order to resonate with the target market. Sizes, weights, and volumes should all be adapted to the local standards.
Consumers appreciate a local email address and phone number to contact, especially so they can easily get in contact without paying international fees. Having a local, native customer service and sales team is key to ensuring customer satisfaction.
Marketing promotions should match the holidays and events that are popular in your target market. Seasons can also have a significant impact on what you sell where. Consider, for example, a winter collection being launched in Australia at the same time as the UK — it will most likely fail in the market where it isn’t currently winter.
Prompt deliveries offers a real opportunity for you to increase conversion rates and boost customer loyalty. When it comes to packaging for cross-border shipments, the most important thing is to minimize costs. Additionally, know your market and its preferences. More and more customers expect same-day delivery from online retailers in mature eCommerce markets like the US, UK or Germany.
“Our research shows that while most markets prefer home delivery, click and collect (online purchase followed by in-store pickup) is very popular in the UK, Germany, and France.”
Return shipping costs, restrictive return policies and poor customer service are three key factors resulting in a poor customer experience when shopping online. To be safe, consider creating a separate set of terms and conditions for each region, country, or even industry to align with respective requirements and expectations.
Use of local currencies has been confirmed to result in higher sales and is mandatory on certain platforms, such as Google Shopping.
It’s often assumed that credit cards are the best and only way to accept payment for online purchases, but this is only partially true. While it is the most popular payment method worldwide (dominating more than 50% of the market in most countries in 2016), there are other payment methods that count in some countries.
As mobile shopping becomes the norm in Europe, cross-border e-retailers need to ensure that their payment methods are also mobile-friendly.
Interested in learning more about taking your business cross-border?