A world of opportunity

With the right product, cross-border selling can be a smart and relatively low-cost way to expand your business, allowing you to use what you’ve learnt locally to leverage your growth. 

The explosion of smartphone adoption, social media penetration and new eCommerce technologies, have opened up a world of opportunity for retailers to tap into.  

The Covid-19 pandemic has also completely shifted the way we shop. Stay-at-home orders, lockdowns and tier changes over the last 12 months have caused online shopping to boom worldwide. And this trend doesn’t show any sign of slowing down.  

In fact, in 2020, global retail eCommerce sales amounted to 4.2 trillion US dollars and this is predicted to grow to 6.5 trillion US dollars by 20231.

In addition to more mature markets where online shopping has become the norm, a growing consumer culture has emerged in untapped developing countries, creating a new customer base to offset increases in local competition. 

However, with both the pandemic and Brexit causing logistical issues and shipping delays, it’s easy to see why some SMEs might feel cautious about taking the plunge to sell internationally.  

In this guide, we’ll walk you through some of the key things you’ll want to put in place before looking into cross-border expansion. Plus, we’ll provide you with some handy tips to help you get started on your plans.