The Best International Marketplaces for Cross Border Ecommerce

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The Best International Marketplaces for Cross Border Ecommerce

Let your sales travel through the world!

Entrepreneurs and smart business leaders never miss any opportunity to grow their businesses. From small-scale emerging businesses to already existing multinational companies, global cross-border sales and shopping are the new norms. If you have picked the right international marketplace for your cross-border ecommerce, your business can thrive and capitalize on a hugely lucrative market.

The concept of online shopping is nothing new or alien. It can be traced back to decades when some of the intelligent business owners anticipated the tech-savvy future and utilized the online resources. Their online presence over the years have won customers for them from around the world that turned out to be beneficial especially in the past two years.

The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic made where people lost their jobs and had to shut down their businesses, others were worried about the lockdown on their shopping sprees. The circumstances of the pandemic led to chaos in the economic world. The crisis hit hard and people knew the only option to survive was to put their brand or business upfront on the online websites.

Expanding the business nationally is one thing, but getting it recognized and winning customers internationally is what brings in real sales and profit. Cross-border ecommerce has spread through the world like a wildfire in the forest. It has created a plethora of opportunities and jobs for people, globally. A study published by Flow Commerce has revealed that the revenues generated by online sales for top global markets increased by 76% in the past six months.

However, it is crucial to understand the framework on which cross-border ecommerce works. You have to know what you need to do when you are looking for the best international marketplace for your business.

Cross Border Ecommerce Strategies- Things You Need to Know

Given the various estimates by several studies and researches in the international marketplace, cross-border ecommerce shows great potential for business growth. Moreover, living in the tech-savvy era, people of all ages have easy access to the Internet and its perquisites. Therefore, the Internet is a global opportunity that local businesses can easily seize, no matter what size they are.

Studies have shown an overwhelming estimate that more than 4 billion people worldwide have access to the Internet, and more than 3.5 billion use it daily for more than six hours. Moreover, we all know, the more you are on the Internet, the more online shopping ideas encapsulate your mind.

Once you know that cross-border ecommerce is what your business needs, assess the following:

Why do you need to sell internationally?
How can you sell in the global markets?
Where to sell and make your place in the marketplace?

After getting through the assessment and evaluation of your business goals, it is time to get practical. Here are a few key factors that you need to consider before putting your business at the mercy of online sites.

Build a user-friendly website. Based on the phenomena of localization and translation. Localization is getting your customers familiar with your online presence. The website logos, images, color, and even the font matter. Allow easy access to the site, local payment, and shipment methods. As your audience is from a different country, language can be a barrier. Therefore, use translation to allow the users to access the website in the language they understand. Also, align your sales and promotions with the events and holidays in the marketplace you are selling in.

For example, Sint-Maarten is a big shopping day in Mexico on the 11^th of November, and you can make impressive sales.

Take advantage of psychological pricing. People get excited about sales, as they feel they are getting things at a discounted price, even if they are not Harvard business review report suggests that pricing your product is better with customer perception. Also, price the products along with currency conversions. Studies have shown that 15-20% of shopping cart abandonment resulted because the shoppers did not display the price in the local currency.

Assess your competition. Whether you sell in England, Germany, or any other global market, you have to think ahead of your competitors. The best way to do this is to conduct online or on-site surveys and researches in the market you are getting your business into.

Keep the costs transparent. The customer should be well aware of all the money they will pay from the moment they shop from a cross-border ecommerce site to the time it reaches their doorstep.

Allow easy payment methods. People are more familiar with debit or credit cards. Therefore, studies have revealed that more than 70% of online websites and customers prefer transactions via debit or cards. However, there are other options for international payments such as PayPal, etc.

Involve third-party logistics. To ease the process of shipments.

Enhance customer support. Customers are the asset for any ecommerce growth. And enhancing the customer support experience ensures it.

When your business strategies align with your goals, you can be next Gucci or get bigger than Amazon.

Cross Border Ecommerce Sales- Grow Through the International Marketplaces

Cross-border ecommerce is a rapidly growing marketplace holding a 21% share of online sales or trades globally. The physical presence of the business has shifted to the virtual world-. People have more platforms and options to shop, from a Brick and Mortar or traditional street business to the click and shop stores.

Certain reports have been published claiming that this share is likely to surpass a value of 1.4 trillion dollars in the next few years. The major chunk of these online trades comes from the 12 nations, including France, Japan, Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong, the UK, Switzerland, UAE, and Australia.

Here are some of the cross border ecommerce marketplaces that your business can thrive on:

Amazon: It is a leading giant that rules the international marketplaces in around 10 parts of the world. Each online presence is specific for a country or a continent. UK, Germany, North America, India, Spain, Australia, China, and Japan are the top international marketplaces for Amazon. However, North America is standing at the top, generating more than 55 billion dollars in sales.

eBay: Next in line to Amazon is eBay, with its presence in more than 17 global markets. With 1.2 billion products and listings, 25 million sellers, and hundreds of active buyers, eBay generated a whopping 10 billion dollars for the United States in 2018.

Fruugo: New in cross-border ecommerce, Fruugo is a budding European marketplace. It allows trading and shipping in 32 countries, 100 brands, 17 languages, and 21 currencies.

Apart from these giant online Costco, Target, Walmart, Kroger, and Mercadolibre are emerging cross-border marketplaces that promise great growth potential.

The Concept of Drop Shipping in the International Marketplace

One aspect of classic international trading revolves around the concept of drop shipping. This method is applied in two major cases:

When a business wants to sell online but have no physical warehouse or store of his own
To allow easy and quick delivery/shipments for international customers

Dropshipping is an easy out for many sellers as it allows retail and trade without keeping the products it sells in a warehouse or store to stock. The item is directly purchased from the online site or a third party and shipped to the customer.

Although drop shipping has many benefits and allows you to stand firm in the international marketplace, it has its cons.

Benefits of dropshipping

Dropshipping eliminates the need for a warehouse. As you do not keep the products you sell in stock, there is no need to store them.

You do not have to buy or own the products in advance; just get the orders on your website and deliver. This helps to keep up with the fluctuating trends.

Hassle-free packaging

Less delivery time

Flexible shipping rates

Challenges of dropshipping

As you do not have the own products, you have to remain aware of the orders you are getting from your website.

You have no control over the delivery time.

The products might get damaged during the shipment or delivery process.

Here are some of the international marketplaces that offer drop shipping. If you are a new seller, they can help you expand your business.

Ali Express: it allows a free seller account. Just build an engaging website, list your products with smart pricing, and you are good to go!

Ali Baba: It is one of the biggest international trading platforms. It offers great opportunities for giant sellers while protecting the interest of all buyers and sellers.

Etsy: if you have handicraft or customizable products to offer, Etsy is the place you need to be. As it lists unique products, the prices can be high.

Some other dropshipping platforms that you can look into are Gimmick, Sunsky, Vidaxl, et

Top Cross Border Marketplaces – Let Your Business Grow

You have a clear picture of all the aspects of cross-border ecommerce, and you would not want to miss a chance to take advantage of such profitable opportunities. Therefore, here are the seven best cross-border marketplaces that generated great revenues.

You can either build your business in these places or online customers for your brand from them.

United States: It is one of the biggest cross-border ecommerce platforms for both shoppers and sellers. Amazon, Etsy, and eBay are the most visited online marketplaces in North America (the US and Canada). Amazon averages 2.4 billion visits in North America every month. While eBay has more than 180 million buyers and generated a revenue of 3 billion US dollars in 2021.

China: China has become even a bigger marketplace than America or any other country by 2020. It is a huge online marketplace with many platforms that promise potential growth for diverse businesses. It has been estimated that China contributes to more than 50% of global e-commerce sales. In China, AliExpress gets more than 200 million visitors every month. While Alibaba has become the biggest revenue-generating online platform in China, increasing the annual growth by 64%.

Italy: A report published in the Global Connected Commerce revealed that Italy made a great leap in the international market during the past six months. Almost 80% of the online shoppers in Italy bought something from across the border, mainly from UK and Germany.

India: With better internet access and a boom in technology usage has uphill India’s ecommerce market. According to the Indian Brand Equity Foundation, the revenues are expected to grow to 200 billion US dollars by 2026-27.

Germany: As the heart is to the body, Germany is to the European economy. Recent surveys concluded that Germans make great online shoppers, their favorite being Zalando, Thomann, and Bikester.

Chile: Dropshipping is extremely famous with Chileans especially Alibaba and Amazon. The international marketplace in Chile is expected to grow by 140% by 2022.

Australia: Fashion, electronics, health, and beauty products are some of the leading product listings shopped by people in Australia from the US, UK, Hong Kong, and New Zealand. A recent study from IPC- International Post Corporation revealed during the past six months, 40% of the cross-border ecommerce revenue in Australia was generated from China.

Thailand: Thailand is a rapidly evolving international marketplace. With more advancements and ease of shopping, PromptPay allows Thai shoppers to pay for their carts using pay their cell phones or citizen IDs.

New Zealand: During the Covid-19 pandemic, around 33% of New Zealanders turned from in-store shoppers to online shoppers. In the second half of 2020, the Australia-New Zealand cross-border ecommerce saw impressive growth of 107%.

Now you know where you can get the best online shoppers from, get your cross-border e-commerce game on!

The Bottom Line

If you believe in your business skills and have an action plan to expand your brand’s presence globally, search for the right international marketplace. Because trust us, you would not want your products to be an outcast or drowned in the ocean of competition. Fulfill the criteria, conform to the marketplace rules, strategically plan the pricing and product listing, offer a smooth selling and delivery process, and enjoy the profits!

You must have heard the famous saying, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.” So, therefore, when on the online website, think as the online shoppers do! Cross-border ecommerce or the international marketplace can make you a Richie rich in no time, but only if you know how to pull the right chord.