It’s 2024 and the doors are wider than ever for cross-border e-commerce - the entire world is your marketplace.
But while this may create opportunity, there is also complexity and fear of how to make the most of what’s available.
As a savvy retailer, you’ll want to stay ahead of the curve and know what the hottest trends are in cross-border ecommerce, so we put together a list of those you can't afford to miss:
Emerging Markets Beckon
- Latin America's Golden Age: Brazil and Mexico remain powerhouses, but Colombia, Chile, and Peru are exploding, with cross-border sales surging at 52% and 58% respectively. Offer your products on local platforms, leverage cultural understanding, and reap the rewards of what research has found is a premium-hungry populace.
- B2B Takes Flight: While B2C remains strong, B2B is the new frontier. By 2030, the global B2B e-commerce market could reach a staggering $22 trillion according to GlobalData. Streamlined platforms and sophisticated offerings are making cross-border B2B easier than ever.
Tech and Experience are King
- Mobile First, always: A trend that keeps on growing, the smartphone has been your storefront for a while now, so if your website isn’t optimised for mobile then you need to change that right away. Remember, convenience is key in the age of instant gratification.
- Augmented Reality (AR): While you’re updating your website for mobile devices, make sure to look at adding AR functionality too. AR tools give customers a way to visualize products in their real environment before making a purchase.
- Localisation, Localisation, Localisation: Don't just translate, adapt. Tailor your website, marketing, and payment options to local languages and preferences. This creates powerful differentiator between you and your competitors.
- Frictionless Payments: Ditch the checkout queue. Offer diverse payment methods, including popular local options, digital wallets, and even cryptocurrencies. Remember, a smooth transaction is a happy customer.
Sustainability and Trust Build Loyalty
- Go Green: You can win customers over with genuine green credentials. Consumers are eco-conscious so highlight your sustainable practices and ethical sourcing to attract environmentally minded shoppers.
- Transparency: While environmentally conscious helps the ecofriendly, morally conscious takes your business on step further. Be open and honest about your operations, data practices, and return policies. Building trust is essential for long-term success.
- Personalised shopping experiences: Using AI-driven insights allows a business to connect with customers on a deeper level and create loyalty and greater retention. The CRM data highlighted by AU cab create touchpoints to personalise the shopping experience, such as
- Previously ordered products
- Time since last order
- Average order value
Marketing
- Social media and influencer marketing: These are your secret weapons. Partner with local influencers to reach your target audience and build brand awareness in new markets.
Fulfilment
- Same-day delivery expectations: People want things faster and patience, it seems, is no longer possible for some. Invespcro says that almost half of shoppers say same-day delivery makes them more likely to shop online, and Statista agrees. They found the same-day delivery market is forecast to be worth $14.9 billion in 2024. While delivery same-day is impossible across borders, these statistics are an important reminder that delivery speed is important, but most crucial is meeting the delivery timeframe you told the customer at checkout.
- Forward Deploy Fulfilment Centres: These are a relatively new trend and are helping with expectations such as same-day delivery. Forward deploy fulfilment centres distribute your inventory across several smaller hubs, rather than one large warehouse, meaning the products are kept closer to a customer so they can be delivered much faster after it has been ordered.
- Automated returns management: Branding experts Soocial say between 20% and 30% of all online-bought items are later returned. This puts massive pressure on your workforce, who should be focussing on sending out orders, so an automated returns management system can make the process easier. This tech scans a product and then uses algorithms to assess product condition, whether it can be resold and for how much, storage location, seasonal trends, and more to get product returns that have the highest possible recovery rate processed as quickly as possible.
While these 2024 tips are going to give your business a kick start this year, don’t forget to stay up to date.
Research and adapt to evolving trends, regulations and practices in your target markets. Flexibility is key to a successful business.
And make sure, before anything else, you prioritise the customer experience. From checkout to delivery and returns, make the cross-border journey smooth and satisfying. Loyal customers are your greatest asset, and far cheaper to retain than getting new ones each time.
By embracing these trends and focusing on a positive customer experience, you have a great chance to navigate cross-border e-commerce in 2024.
