In the beginning, the growth of cross-border e-commerce was organic: Customers were willing to accept complicated and unreliable delivery options for the benefit of a good deal or a quality product. In the past few years, however, merchants have actively targeted and welcomed overseas consumers by developing clean, localized and intuitive cross-border experiences and reliable, affordable overseas delivery. Two years ago, there came the first shift from consumers to merchants driving cross-border trade. This is one of the conclusions of the report “Key Business Drivers and Opportunities in Cross-Border E-Commerce 2016”published by Payvision.
Payvision suggests that merchants, enabled by advancing technologies and transport systems, are increasingly and proactively exploring foreign markets. However, whereas the growth of cross-border trade is merchant-driven, the communication and choice of channels is still in the hand of the consumer. Therefor, retailers have to excel not only in personalisation, but also in contextualisation. Therefore, collecting and using relevant data is more vital than ever before.
Governments and political bodies have created initiatives in order to stimulate cross-border trade, including SEPA payments and several initiative in China.
Payvision reveals that cross-border e-commerce has slowed down in terms of growth. The reasons, as believe the experts, include socio-political turbulences such as the Brexit and economic instabilities in China. With the ‘unknown’ becoming a source of hesitation, merchants increasingly choose slow-build strategies to expand, starting in neighbouring and culturally similar countries.
Read full report here
Images: Payvision
