Let’s begin with some powerful statistics; Worldwide e-commerce sales are growing year over year. Estimates forecast that they’ll equal $4.479 trillion by 2021, with Asian companies currently at the forefront. Furthermore, Total e-commerce sales for 2020 were estimated at $791.7 billion, an increase of 32.4 percent (±1.8%) from 2019.
These statistics speak for themselves. Amid this global pandemic, cross border eCommerce sales have skyrocketed. With online brick and mortar stores shutting down, people rushed to online marketplaces to satiate their shopping thirst.
If you are one of the merchants running an online eCommerce business and sell across the borders, then you are at the right place. I am going to tell you some common mistakes merchants make while engaging in international markets.
Let’s jump in!
Avoiding Online Frauds
There is always a risk of fraud when entering cross border eCommerce markets. But you can always take the help of the below solutions to meet your business requirements and prevent such frauds.
You can prevent fraud during on-site international checkout with these two methods:
- Leverage 3rd Party Logistics to secure against fraud
- Installing a fraud suite
Calculate Total Landed Costs
Merchants and buyers must maintain a transparent relationship between them in the cross-border market. Merchants should inform their international buyers about tariffs and duties. You can also use the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) calculator.
It is mandatory to maintain dignity and trust amongst your international buyers. It can be evaluated in the following ways:
- Provide on-site shipping information details
- Provide product tracking details
- Update on delays in international shipments
Physical Shipping Assumptions
Most of the cross border eCommerce businesses and merchants fail to assume the physical and dimensional shipments. If you fail to consider these, it can be an expensive assumption.
- Physical Pricing – Shipping costs based on the weight of the box
- Dimensional Pricing – Shipping costs based on the size of a box
Consequently, it is beneficial to include these pricings in the total product cost in order to predict accurate marginal costs.
Copy and Pasting
Repetitive media and content cause a mess across the localized and international markets. This is a common mistake international merchants often make in cross border eCommerce. That is why, it is better to avoid any copy and pasted content and media on your site.
It is necessary to focus on the language in the process of localizing the content. You need to verify the media because poor on-model product photography can create a bad image in the market. Also, it can affect the SEO rankings for a particular region.
Ensure Proper Translation of Your Website
It is essential to focus on how your website gets translated into different languages. It plays a vital role in the domestic markets. International merchants and sellers can consider using the translation providers like VerbalizeIt and Smartling.
These translation providers transform how content is created and consumed by the domestic and local markets.
Be Aware of Political and Government Constraints
You must be aware of the government laws in accordance with the countries and political constraints. It is mandatory to be mindful of data alliance and government norms while doing business in the international markets.
For example, in Russia, it is compulsory to keep the customer data on the server in-country.
All in All
Running a profitable, cross border eCommerce business comes with its cost, but choosing the proper steps can bring you exceptional results. In order to make your overseas e-commerce strategy succeed, there are numerous rules to abide by but the ones discussed above are the key ones.
In a nutshell, maintaining a successful international e-commerce business is not rocket science; it’s only a planned approach and strictly following the tips discussed in this text.
It is always a good idea to approach the experts. In order to start your own eCommerce business, you can reach the experts at Commersys.