‘Half of online shoppers buy cross-border’

Because of the pandemic, more and more consumers find their way to online stores. It’s encouraged consumers to buy from retailers they’d never ordered from before, which has made cross-border shopping grow exponentially. Can retailers take advantage from this during the holidays?

Up to 55 percent of online shoppers from around the world are open to buying holiday gifts from other countries than their own. This is based on a survey commissioned by Logistyx, which was conducted with 2.035 online shoppers based in the US, UK, Germany and Australia.

“With online purchasing growing exponentially since the start of the pandemic last year, we have seen an increased willingness among shoppers to buy from other countries.  For retailers and direct-to-consumer companies to realize the true potential of overseas gift sales during the festive shopping season, there are some clear issues to address”, said Geoffrey Finlay, CEO, Logistyx Technologies.

Consumers fear items won’t arrive in time

The findings of the survey point out five learnings for ecommerce brands that want to take advantage of cross-border sales during the festive season. Though consumers are interested in buying elsewhere, almost half (48 percent) of them are also concerned that their cross-border purchases will not arrive in time. Up to 69 percent of said that access to online tracking could convince them to place a cross-border order.

Online cross-border sellers should also give an estimated delivery time in their website. This would be a factor in the purchasing decision of 69 percent or respondents, helping them overcome worries about the order not arriving in time.

Online tracking can convince 69 percent of consumers to buy overseas.

Other learnings from the survey are issues that most online retailers will probably already be familiar with. Consumers want an easy return process (69 percent), even when it’s a cross-border purchase. Being clear upfront about delivery costs and any taxes would also impact the consumer’s decision to buy from another country (61 percent).

Online sellers that aren’t clear about these additional costs could receive negative reviews, which will result in lower conversion. The survey also revealed that 60 percent of consumers think that holiday sales or promotions would influence them to buy from a company overseas.