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You might be in a position where your business is doing well in the UK, or you might already be trading in a few countries internationally; whatever the size of your business, or wherever you are on your international expansion journey, our top tips for cross border eCommerce will help you along the way. 1. Do your research Know the markets you are looking to expand into, get to know your consumers’ needs and expectations, consider trends, cultural needs, communication, payments methods and delivery preferences. 2. Establish a strategy Are you going to test the water by trying local online marketplaces? Are you going to take a phased country approach? Try adding worldwide shipping to your current website first, and then establish local sites. Top tips on Cross Border eCommerce

wnDirect's Top Tips on Cross Border eCommerce

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Page 1: wnDirect's Top Tips on Cross Border eCommerce

You might be in a position where your business is doing well in the UK, or you might already be trading in a few countries internationally; whatever the size of your business, or wherever you are on your international expansion journey, our top tips

for cross border eCommerce will help you along the way.

1. Do your researchKnow the markets you are looking to expand into, get to know your consumers’ needs and expectations, consider trends, cultural needs, communication, payments methods and delivery preferences.

2. Establish a strategyAre you going to test the water by trying local online marketplaces? Are you going to take a phased country approach? Try adding worldwide shipping to your current website first, and then establish local sites.

Top tips on Cross Border eCommerce

Page 2: wnDirect's Top Tips on Cross Border eCommerce

For more information contact: [email protected]

3. Take a market-by-market approach, and identify a strategy based on your key marketsDifferent countries require different approaches - this includes things such as pricing, to delivery options. Expectations vary greatly across the globe, and to be successful you need to offer services your consumers trust and which are familiar to them.

4. Consider local and cultural differencesLook at whether the sale of your products will be affected by different seasons. If you translate make sure it is localised. A car manufacturer once had the slogan ‘every car has a high quality body’ until it was translated to ‘every car has a high quality corpse’!In addition, it isn’t just about localised translations, as cultural meanings vary as well. A well-known nappy brand soon realised consumers in Japan were confused by the image of stork on the packaging, as in Japanese folklore, peaches bring babies to their parents!

Page 3: wnDirect's Top Tips on Cross Border eCommerce

5. Shipping internationally means dealing with different Customs, Duty and TaxesThere are platforms available which can help calculate duty, taxes and request appropriate ID for your international shipments in real time, making the consumer experience easier and more consistent. Look into your options - such as DDP (delivered duty paid) and DDU (delivered duty unpaid) and decide what works best for your business, and your offering to that market.

5. Shipping internationally means dealing with different Customs, Duty and TaxesThere are platforms available which can help calculate duty, taxes and request

appropriate ID for your international shipments in real time, making the consumer experience easier and more consistent. Look into your options - such as DDP (delivered duty paid) and DDU (delivered duty unpaid) and decide what works best for your business, and your offering to that market.

Page 4: wnDirect's Top Tips on Cross Border eCommerce

6. Consider different payment optionsFor example, in China, Alipay and Tenpay are the most popular, in India bank transfers are common, the Japanese use Konbini’s, Germans favours Giropay, and in the Netherlands iDeal is top for consumers. Other options include eWallets such as PayPal and Qiwi and cash on delivery (popular in South America and MENA). Look at each market you are targeting and what the consumers are familiar with.

7. How will you handle returns?Our own research suggests 62% of international consumers say the returns policy of a retailer affects their purchasing decision, so having a returns strategy is vitally important. In the international sphere, Germany especially is known for its high eCommerce return rates - with some reports suggesting 50% of all orders are returned, whilst many consumers expect free returns as standard. Options for consideration include consumer paid, retailer subsidises cost of return, or retailer pays in full. Consider consolidating returns in country to reduce costs.

For more information contact: [email protected]

Page 5: wnDirect's Top Tips on Cross Border eCommerce

8. Choose the right partners! There are so many elements to bear in mind when selling cross border online. There are partners you can trust to manage every element of the eCommerce and eDelivery journey, or just part of it! This doesn’t mean that your partners have to provide all these services in-house: many have their own networks to deliver seamless experiences to retailers and, by extension, your end customers.

Page 6: wnDirect's Top Tips on Cross Border eCommerce

wnDirect enables retailers to realise their international potential by providing managed logistics solutions which overcome the challenges of global expansion. By redefining international eCommerce delivery, we enable retailers to ‘go global’ with a range of dynamic solutions that have been tailored specifically for eCommerce.

For more information contact: [email protected]