Although e-commerce has taken off at national level, cross-border e-commerce is failing to keep pace. The share of EU consumers that have shopped across border has hardly increased since 2006. Consumers are increasingly confident about shopping cross-border but the number of retailers offering them this opportunity is failing to keep pace. Perhaps surprisingly, 75% of on-line retailers sell only to consumers domestically.The demographic of cross-border shoppers is generally younger, well-educated people in higher professional positions. Cross-border shopping still does not sufficiently engage the larger “middle” group of consumers.
The situation is similar in the B2B sector. Although larger companies are warming to the idea, there is still a larger middle group that have not fully taken on board the business potential that cross-border sales offer.
Companies considering moving into international sales would be ‘pushing on an open door’. A recent report by Eurobarometer shows that consumer confidence when buying products or services cross-border in another EU-country has improved - the proportion of consumers that are more or equally confident about shopping online from another EU-country is 8% higher than in 2006 – now 40%. The average cross-border shopper in the EU already spends €797 per year on these purchases.
So, in these challenging economic times when sales are under pressure, E - commerce retailers should be looking to target the widest possible audience for their products and services.
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