Global Ecommerce Growth and Statistics
Global eCommerce sales are anticipated to have a 12.7% increase that results in $5.55 trillion in 2022. This number is anticipated to increase over the following few years reaching $6.17 trillion by 2023, which demonstrates that borderless eCommerce is turning out to be a successful choice for online merchants.
It is also proved by the growth of eCommerce stake within all retail sales, as only 17.8% of sales two years ago came from online purchasing. In 2022, that percentage is predicted to rise to 21%. By 2025, growth is anticipated to continue and reach 24.5%.
Based on the eMarketer report of the international eCommerce, online sales have significantly grown in almost all major markets since 2020:
- in the Latin American region, there was $85 billion in eCommerce sales in 2021 (a 25% increase from 2020);
- in the same year, eCommerce sales increased by more than 20% in the Philippines, the UK.
- With 52.1% of all retail eCommerce sales worldwide, China continues to dominate the business ($2 trillion in 2021);
- the US eCommerce market is forecasted to reach over $875 billion in 2022;
Since 2018, the top five eCommerce markets have remained the same. These markets are expected to remain in the top five until 2025, according to eMarketer trends.
Setting up your global eCommerce platform and integrations
International eCommerce businesses have specific requirements for their online stores compared to domestic ones. Therefore, there is a need in planning and consideration of making your eCommerce website suitable for operating in many regions successfully.
Generally, there are four main spheres that are important to consider when making your business global:- flexible pricing and multi-currency support,
- availability of various payment options;
- customer service and communication;
- shipping and logistics.
Pricing for different regions
Harvard Business Review asserts that how buyers view pricing is equally as crucial as the actual price. For instance, goods sell more effectively in China, India, Brazil, and Argentina, when prices look like $XX.00. In the US, Australia, and Norway, it is more effective to have prices look like $XX.99. You can manage these types of pricing by using the multi-store feature, where you create diverse storefronts for different regions with preferable pricing strategies.
Currency conversion is another difficulty to take into account. Many international retailers choose to set a fixed rate instead of allowing currency rates to fluctuate since it helps maintain pricing uniformity.
However, make sure to show prices in local currency, as doing so may help boost conversion rates and minimize shopping cart abandonment rates. nopCommerce has a currency feature that helps configure exchange rates, rounding type, as well as custom formatting.
International payments
Accepting payments from different regions is another major concern. Based on statistics of various payment methods' shares worldwide, a staggering 45% stake of customers uses digital and mobile wallets (like Apple Pay and PayPal), which outperforms credit cards with only 23% of global eCommerce transactions.
Despite tendencies of paying for online purchases with digital wallets and bank cards, you can't assume customers abroad will always pay with a credit card because customer payment habits differ from nation to country.
For instance, 86% of payments in Mexico are made in cash, only 15% of people in Southeast Asia have a bank card, and over a third of people worldwide do not have a bank account. So instead of defaulting to credit cards, better to differentiate payment methods. It can be easily done by integrating with payment aggregators or major payment services, which can be found on the Marketplace.
Global customer service and communication
Customer service is important for your domestic and international markets, regardless of where your clients are located. It is possible that businesses in other nations run similarly to those in your own, particularly when taking into account aspects like return and exchange policies. However, there are cultural and legal differences between most countries. Technically, merchants may manage returns and exchanges on nopCommerce. Moreover, the multi-store functionality can help to create individual conditions for various regions.
The means of communication are yet another crucial component of customer service. The preferred communication channels vary greatly between nations, as shown in the graph below from Statista, but live chat, email, and phone/voice remain the most popular options.
With nopCommerce, you may interact with all customers no matter where they are located and what their preferred communication method is. There are many communications services available on the nopCommerce Marketplace for store owners to use: email marketing, live chat, social media, phone, and SMS.
Localized language
Given that 40% of consumers will not make a purchase from a website if the material is in a different language, it is unreasonable to publish all content only in English. You'll be able to communicate with your visitors more effectively if you localize your website's language, and it might even improve your site's search engine ranking.
By having your international eCommerce store on nopCommerce, you can easily have a multilingual website, the content of which can be published in many languages. Moreover, the admin panel can be translated into a language you speak due to localization packs. Also, nopCommerce provides RTL support that helps to market in Persian, Arabic, and Hebrew markets.
Shipping and logistics
The bulk of difficulties faced by business owners in international eCommerce, according to Statista, are connected to shipping and logistics. However, by utilizing cutting-edge tools and multi-carrier software systems, retailers can handle these logistical difficulties more quickly and effectively.
Transparent pricing and various shipping options for customers are essential, especially when selling internationally. It can be provided by integrating a multi-carrier shipping service, like EasyPost that is available out-of-the-box on the nopCommerce platform.
Global eCommerce trends that may affect your business
It comes as no surprise that COVID has had a significant impact on the eCommerce sector. Global eCommerce has undergone a significant shift causing merchants to rethink how they conduct business; many of the trends, like m-commerce and "buy now, pay later" payment options seem to be here to stay for the foreseeable future.
Mobile shopping and social commerce
In the coming years, mobile commerce will continue to grow. People may now shop on their phones more easily because of technological advancements including branded shopping apps, 5G wifi, and social shopping.
Retail eCommerce sales via mobile devices in the US are anticipated to surpass 5.9% of all retail sales in 2022, up from 3.5% in 2018. Sales of social commerce, another aspect of mobile purchasing, are anticipated to triple by 2025.
To increase sales from your online store, it is recommended to have a responsive web design. If your eCommerce website is based on the nopCommerce platform, you will have a mobile-friendly design straightaway. There are also a lot of responsive themes that are available on the nopCommerce Marketplace.
Moreover, nopCommerce may help merchants with social commerce by providing integrations with popular social media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, and many others, as well as marketplaces (Google Shopping, Amazon, eBay, etc.).
You may also focus on branded shopping applications. An increasing number of merchants are utilizing mobile shopping apps, with one in five US consumers reporting doing so frequently. With nopCommerce, you may easily create this kind of application for your eCommerce store by using our partners' integrations.
Cross-border buy now, pay later adoption
There are no indications that the buy now, pay later (BNPL) trend will slow down. The proof of it is the success of Klarna, the BNPL firm. This payment provider reported substantial growth in transactions made on its platform during the quarter from January to March 2021.
The practice of "buy now, pay later" will spread to checkout lines all across the world. BNLP will control the majority of payments internationally as alliances between BNLP companies, digital wallets, and banks start to form.
nopCommerce has an opportunity for merchants to integrate "buy now, pay later" through many payment partners. You offer a BNPL option to your customers via PayPal (which is out-of-the-box in nopCommerce), Afterpay, Klarna, and many others.
Wrapping Up
International expansion will be less of a choice and more of a necessity as technology develops and our world becomes more connected. Platforms like nopCommerce, fortunately, are already helping merchants, particularly Enterprise ones, to develop their operations massively and go internationally.
Effectively integrating popular services and features and, at the same time, adding specific requirements for each country, to which merchants plan to expand, are key aspects of being successful abroad.
Pricing, payments with BNPL, shipping, customer service, and mobile commerce are the essential part of transferring into an international eCommerce store. With nopCommerce, you may easily integrate and configure all necessary functionality.