Mobile e-commerce retail sales will make up 24% of all US e-commerce sales in 2019. That accounts for an estimated amount of 203.94 billion dollars. Desktop purchases are still dominating with 331.85 billion dollars in 2019, but the growth rate is only 5%.

Over 50% of the smartphone users this year are going to make a minimum of one online purchase from their device. The average smartphone buyer will annually spend 1763 dollars. Especially younger shoppers are shopping through apps, compared to the rate of older demographics. Bizrate Insights, of the internet users aged 18-34 in the US, a striking 61% used a retail app on their mobile phone to order products or services in the past month.

Mobile: a top channel to order

A Brand Content Survey executed by Adobe in 2019 shows something in line with this conclusion. This research concludes that 29% of the digital device users in the US, aged 18-22, names the mobile app of a brand as top channel used to order a product. The combined data also shows that tablets have a purchase penetration of 69.7%. However, there are a lot less monthly active users and less growth than smartphones.

Retail e-commerce sales via tablet are expected to value 63.12 billion dollars in 2019. This accounts for a year over year growth rate of 9.9%.

This increase in the usage of mobile apps serves as a valuable data source for marketers as well. According to a survey conducted by Advertiser Perceptions and MightyHive, 82% of digital marketers in the US believe that mobile app analytics data plays an important role in marketing and advertising decisions.

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There was a slight dip in the growth of US e-commerce retail in 2018. Of the domestic online retail sales in 2018 (517 billion dollars), 40% went to Amazon. Competing and growing business is therefore hard for smaller US e-commerce retailers. Selling products on Amazon and other marketplaces in addition to selling in their online shop is one option. Another option, which is being ignored by many retailers, is cross-border e-commerce.

Only 36% of the e-commerce merchants in the US currently sell abroad, even though cross-border sales are an opportunity to grow. Even though the rates of cross-border sales are low, the US is the second largest destination for international online shoppers. According to PaymentsSource, growth rates for cross-border sales vary from 10% in the US to 30% in Europe over the upcoming years. The global B2C cross border e-commerce market is expected to be valued at 1 trillion dollars next year.

Fraud holds sellers back

Concerns about fraud are holding e-commerce sellers back. Understanding the risks and potential rewards is the key to confidently selling into other markets.

Being worried about fraud is a valid reason for e-commerce merchants. The ‘card-not-present’ fraud is growing very fast right now. The expected cost for the global e-commerce industry is 130 billion dollars up to 2023. However, blocking or rejecting most international orders is costing the retailers good orders.

A study shows that identity spoofing and device spoofing fraud among cross-border orders were 15-22% more likely than among domestic orders. However, retailers have rejected 69% more cross border orders due to fraud concerns. Some merchants automatically reject orders from specific high-risk countries.

According to the US Payments Forum, the CNP fraud rate is above the global average. It is unlikely that US retailers will stop their domestic sales as they feel more comfortable managing those risks. Retailers can plan their e-commerce expansion carefully, e.g. by detailed planning of their payment methods, fraud prevention practices, and customer outreach for order validation. This can increase sales while diminishing the risks of cross border selling.

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Canada’s adoption of a more restrictive threshold during its efforts last month to salvage a trilateral deal prompted Mexican negotiators to follow Canada’s lead, Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Friday. The final version of the trade agreement will insulate retailers in both countries from facing greater competition from e-commerce companies like Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc. The change was coming last-minute that it was not written into the agreement published last weekend. The new deal, called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), was meant by U.S. President Donald Trump to create more jobs in the United States.

U.S. negotiators originally pushed Mexico and Canada to raise import limits to the U.S. level of $800 from current thresholds of $50 and C$20, respectively. Traditional retailers in Mexico opposed such a big hike, fearing online companies would sell cheaper imports from Asia through the United States. Even so, Mexico initially agreed in August to raise the threshold on customs duties and taxes to $100 in its bilateral deal with the United States.

The Retail Council of Canada said the deal will protect retailers against a “massive change in the competitive landscape.” Mexico decided to follow suit, Guajardo said, favoring local clothing, footwear and textile industries, as well as the finance ministry that collects duties and taxes.

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According to Damian Ryan, a partner at UK accountancy firm Moore Stephens, which conducted the survey, "marketers are seeking to build in-house strength and are set to spend more on digital marketing to remain competitive. Our research finds that this budget is coming from media spend and will have a resounding impact on the value of media-centric agencies.” The Moore Stephens survey, conducted with advertising and media consultancy WARC, covered 800 companies in North America, the Asia-Pacific, and Europe.

It found that brands in Britain and North America spent 23 percent of their budgets on digital marketing, up from 16 percent a year ago. And 63 percent of American technology budgets were spent in-house, compared with 44 percent last year. Tough European data protection rules that took effect in May, as well as concerns over the data practices of search giant Google and social network Facebook - the two biggest online advertising platforms - have led several players in the ad industry to merge or retrench. The emergence of platform companies that offer a one-stop shop for marketers is another trend to watch, Ryan said to Reuters, highlighting Adobe Systems’ acquisition in May of e-commerce company Magento for $1.7 billion.

Ryan concludes that “Fundamentally, brands don’t like to trust agencies with data. The clear trend shows that brands are seeking to take control over marketing technology. Against that, we can see that, at the upper end where brands are spending more, they are still working with agencies.”

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“China continues to have the greatest impact on the growing shipping market,” said Lila Snyder, President, Commerce Services at Pitney Bowes. “Globally, e-commerce continues to drive growth in all regions. Global e-commerce giants continue to raise the bar, resetting customer expectations when it comes to shipping. As retailers and marketplaces look to cross-border commerce to drive growth, carriers must create efficient, seamless routes to market.” What can be seen is that China’s Parcel Volume triples the United States’: China (40.1 billion), the United States (11.9 billion). Japan (9.6 billion) completes the top three countries for parcel shipping volume in 2017. China’s parcel shipments represent 53% of the total shipments in the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index.

The United States ranks highest in parcel shipping revenue at $107 billion, generating 38 percent of the total revenue of the 13 countries. China ($73 billion) and Japan ($25 billion) follow.

Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index also predicted that global shipping volume will surpass 100 billion parcels in 2020 in aggregate across the 13 countries reviewed: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the USA.

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“Pickup from Whole Foods Market is a perfect option for customers who want to grab healthy and organic groceries at their convenience,” said Stephenie Landry, Vice President of Prime Now, AmazonFresh and Amazon Restaurants. “Customers can order at 5:00 p.m., pick up at 5:30 p.m., and we’ll have their groceries loaded into their car just minutes after arrival. For an even faster experience, customers can tell us they are on their way using the Prime Now app and groceries will be ready as they arrive.” To use this service, Prime members place their order via the Prime Now app and choose the pickup option at checkout.

In addition to the grocery pickup service, American Prime members in dozens of cities can use the new grocery delivery service from Whole Foods Market.

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The idea behind this investment is that JD.com will offer products to the consumer in the United States and Europe through Google Shopping. This means that offers on JD.com will be better accessible for consumers outside of Asia, as Google has a more prominent place in lots of these markets. As the United States and China are currently working on trade war, the timing of the investment is remarkable. Because of this trade war, the Chinese web giant has flattened their US-activities.

According to the Dutch news source NOS, the investment of Google does not mean that Google will start offering its services in China again. The American company is, since January 2010, no longer active in the Chinese mainland. Activities were relocated to Hongkong because of differences in opinion on online freedom and attacks by hackers. Since this argument, Google has been blocked in China.

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A Yahoo Finance research survey among almost 7000 existing Prime members concluded that 45 percent will discontinue their membership once the price goes up. Another 20 percent said they are unsure whether to continue or not. The research also concluded that the most important reason to continue their Prima account is 'fast and free delivery'. It remains unsure if people will really discontinue their memberships once the new prices become active.

At this moment, it is not known whether a price change will follow for Prime users outside of the United States.

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The collaboration between Rakuten and Walmart includes the launch of a new online grocery delivery service in Japan beginning in Q3 of 2018. Rakuten and Seiyu GK, a subsidiary of Walmart, have reached a basic agreement to establish a joint venture with the aim of launching a new online grocery delivery service in Japan, to be known as “Rakuten Seiyu Netsuper.” The new service is planned to be launched in the latter half of 2018. Rakuten Seiyu Netsuper will aim to increase fulfillment capacity, enrich the merchandise offering and improve convenience for the customer. The service will aim to increase capacity in 2018 with the establishment of a dedicated fulfillment center, in addition to offering deliveries from Seiyu stores. The service will include not only fresh produce and daily consumables but also a rich lineup of convenient items such as cut vegetables, partially-prepared foods, and ready-meal kits, as well as popular local gourmet products from merchants on the Rakuten Ichiba marketplace.

Additionally, the eBooks and audiobooks service will be formed with an exclusive alliance between the two companies enabling Walmart to begin selling eBooks and audiobooks as well as offer Rakuten Kobo eReaders in Walmart stores and online in the United States. This project will start later this year. All eBook content will be accessible through a Walmart/Kobo co-branded app available on all iOS and Android devices, a desktop app and Kobo e-Readers, which will also be sold at Walmart later this year.

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