Global survey of 1,700 consumers across North America, Europe and Australia reveals a preference for cross-border shopping on US-based eCommerce websites

Las Vegas, NV – February 28, 2019 – BlueSnap, an online payments technology company, today released key findings from its consumer-centric survey, “The State of International eCommerce: 2019,” to provide a global assessment of the eCommerce and payment trends that are shaping the industry. The findings, which were obtained in a February 2019 survey of 1,700 respondents across eight countries in North America, Europe and Australia, look at the reasoning behind why consumers choose to shop on websites outside their home country and break down how shopper preferences differ across each region.

Overall, the survey revealed how ubiquitous cross-border shopping on international eCommerce websites has become. In fact, 42 percent of all respondents confirmed they have shopped on an eCommerce website that is not based in their home country at least once a month. Australians were the most frequent cross-border shoppers, with 47 percent reporting they make an international purchase at least once a month, followed by European (43 percent) and North American (37 percent) consumers.

One of the most notable findings from the survey was US retailers have the largest cross-border shopping audience. Respondents in every region revealed that they shopped on eCommerce websites based in the US more than any other country, including China. Interestingly, of those respondents that shop on US-based eCommerce websites, the survey data indicated that 63 percent are motivated to do so because of greater product choice/availability. This was the most common response for this shopper profile when compared to the other motivational factors identified by the survey, such as better price points for products (60 percent) and a lack of specific brand availability in a country or region (56 percent).

Additional key findings from the survey include:

• Challenges related to delivery time are most common for US shoppers: As the Amazon effect continues to dictate retail trends, the US respondents also stated that delivery time was the greatest challenge associated with ordering from an international ecommerce website (72 percent), the highest percentage across all global respondents.
• Shipping fees still remain a challenge globally: Globally, respondents cited shipping fees (64 percent) and delivery time (61 percent) as the two most common challenges faced by international shoppers, with taxes/duties coming in as the third biggest challenge (39.5 percent).
• Apparel and footwear lead international purchases: Across almost every region, respondents selected apparel and footwear as the products most commonly ordered from international eCommerce websites. The only outlier was Italy, whose respondents ordered computer and electronic goods (54 percent) slightly more than apparel and footwear (51 percent).
• PayPal is critical for reaching international shoppers: The majority of global respondents (64 percent) said they preferred to use Paypal when shopping on international eCommerce websites. This was especially true across Europe where PayPal was the clear preference among German (76 percent), Italian (73 percent) and UK (70 percent) respondents. Canada was the only country to prefer credit cards (55 percent) over PayPal (43 percent).
• There is room for growth with eWallet usage: eWallets were by far the least used international payment method across all regions with less than two percent of respondents saying they use this technology to make cross-border purchases.

“As cross-border shopping continues to become more prevalent, it is extremely important for retailers in all regions of the world to pay attention to international consumer payment and shopping preferences,” said Ralph Dangelmaier, CEO of BlueSnap. “By working with a trusted payment partner like BlueSnap and harnessing the findings from The State of International eCommerce survey, global retail organizations will be better equipped to broaden their customer base and provide better shopping experiences for their customers. In addition, BlueSnap’s All-in-one Payment Platform enables retailers to process payments locally through its global network of banks thereby increasing conversions and avoiding costly cross-border fees.”

To learn more about BlueSnap, stop by booth #2814 during Shoptalk 2019

About BlueSnap

BlueSnap provides an All-in-one Payment Platform designed to increase sales and reduce costs for B2B and B2C businesses. Our Platform supports online and mobile sales, marketplaces, subscriptions, invoice payments and manual orders through a virtual terminal. With a single-integration to our Platform, businesses can accept any payment with ease. The Platform includes access to 110 payment types, including popular eWallets, built-in world-class fraud prevention to protect sales and detailed analytics to help businesses grow. Based in Waltham, MA, BlueSnap is backed by world-class private equity investors including Great Hill Partners and Parthenon Capital Partners.

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