Based on internet density, e-commerce turnover and population numbers, six countries stand out where significant growth can be achieved. Italy, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic and Sweden. These markets meet a number of characteristics that show that the e-commerce market is developing strongly.
These are countries where consumers already shop a lot online, but they still present different challenges. Research by Shopping Tomorrow Cross Border E-commerce and Salesupply shows these countries to have great potential. As a basis, they looked at the countries in Europe where the most growth is expected in the coming years.
With some support from the government and sellers from abroad, Italy can quickly develop into one of the largest e-commerce markets in Europe. The rapid digitization of the country that is currently taking place contributes a lot to this. In addition, Italian consumers are increasingly acting as cross-border consumers. The increase in popularity of online marketplaces and of course the large fashion market appeal to the buying behavior of young Italian consumers in particular.
The often more wealthy older Italians are also a large market in themselves. However, it is still difficult to reach them for e-commerce sales. In many cases, this is due to a lack of trust in carriers providing the delivery.
The biggest challenge in the Italian market, for both Italian and foreign sellers, is fast delivery to the less accessible southern part of the country. Logistically, it is up to the cross-border seller to determine how to deliver as competitively as possible.
Localization is one of the keys to cross-border success. Convincing consumers to choose a foreign webshop over a domestic webshop is necessary when starting to sell in a new market. Consumers around the world prefer to shop and communicate in their own language and with tools that are familiar to them.
For Italian consumers the first impression is extremely important, Norwegian consumers are very brand and product loyal and for Swedish consumers sustainability is very important. These are (product) aspects that can be used to ensure that a consumer stays on your shop, is convinced to make a purchase and possibly comes back at a later stage to make a purchase.
Online marketing is growing enormously in each of these countries. Especially for the younger generations, social media is the main channel for advertising. In Sweden and Norway influencers are becoming increasingly important.
Despite the predominance of social media, disregarding traditional media is not an option yet. For example, consumers in Norway still use the newspaper to advertise and in Italy there is still an enormous reach for advertising via television.
In general, consumers in the non-usually suspect countries opt for fast delivery. Perhaps more importantly, delivery is preferably free. The return procedure is also an important part of a successful logistics roll-out. Like delivery, returns of purchased products are preferably free, and it is desirable to provide a local return address.
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