Research Report: Cross-Border E-commerce Trends in 2017

Payvision and Juniper research have published the findings of its fifth annual cross-border e-commerce research report. The paper includes the results of a global survey of various industry players regarding the game-changers, the biggest challenges, the best practices for going cross-border, and more.

When compared to last year’s findings, the report reveals a new and exciting context for global cross-border trade. The compound annual growth rate predicted for the next three years for cross-border e-commerce is now 17%, whereas it stands at just 12% for e-commerce overall. Also, over the past 12 months, merchants’ attitudes towards cross-border e-commerce have become more positive, with 50% of respondents agreeing and 31% strongly agreeing that cross-border e-commerce is profitable.

If last year mobile commerce was considered to be the biggest cross-border e-commerce growth factor, this year the main driver merchants pointed out was the accelerated development of online marketplaces. 39% of the world’s entire e-commerce market will be controlled by marketplaces by 2020.

The research also discusses a few regulatory items introduced by the European Union that pose major challenges, specifically for international marketplaces. More precisely, the new Payment Services Directive (PSD2) to be introduced from January 2018, requires all merchants operating under a marketplace business model to acquire a payment institution license. The costs and efforts attributed to getting such license will have a massive impact on the business activity of merchants, and the most preferred solution is to partner with a compliant solution provider.

Furthermore, the latest consumer technology trends such as VR/AR, data science, blockchain technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning together with the Internet of Things (IoT), enable merchants to reach their cross-border customers in a way that was never possible before. Consumers have higher expectations in terms of shopping experience, pushing merchants to constantly reinvent their e-commerce strategies.

Download the full report here.