Note: as the interview was recorded before the COVID-19 outbreak, it doesn’t include the potential impact of coronavirus on ecommerce. The pandemic is likely to impact global ecommerce and Brexit itself, but as of now a lot of current opportunities, challenges and trends remain the same.
The good news is that despite the general volatility of the current environment, online performance is holding up well for many sellers. Some companies and product categories are even growing.
2020 priorities for marketplace sellers
Ecommerce is on the rise and online Cross Border Trade is growing faster than the overall ecommerce market. The increasing number of online marketplaces, buyers and cross-border purchases stimulate the market’s growth. Brexit or not, this trend is unlikely to reverse any time soon.
70% of online buyers have recently purchased from foreign sites. Over 80% of retailers worldwide, in turn, agree that cross-border trade has been profitable or that sellers have successfully increased sales as much as 1,000% after expanding their marketplace presence.
The fact is that despite the volatile times, there’s a general enthusiasm about trading abroad. According to eMarketer, the majority of retailers in the UK, the US, Germany, France and Canada offer online sales to international buyers and more sellers plan to do so.
As a consequence, in 2020 and beyond, one of the main priorities for growth-minded eBay and Amazon sellers is to put higher priority on making their products available to a wider circle of buyers internationally.
Merchants can also consider diversifying their sales channels in line with current ecommerce trends, e.g. the rise of niche marketplaces, recommerce or social selling. It’s important for sellers to stay flexible & adaptable, especially in the face of the current political and economic changes.
(International) commerce after Brexit
Although Brexit can send chills running down the spines of some ecommerce sellers, many reactions are exaggerated or miss the bigger picture. For sure, Brexit will lead to some changes, such as currency fluctuations, tariff changes and trade deals.
Some changes will be positive for sellers and some may be negative. But still, a large number of sellers will be hardly affected or may even benefit from the situation.
Consider an example from ecommerce in the UK. After the Brexit referendum, the weak pound made the UK a good-value-for-money shopping destination. According to the IMRG MetaPack UK Delivery Index, the number of (international) orders grew for many British retailers.
After the referendum, retail orders in the UK rose by 11.3% in January 2017 and 32% of all orders were heading out of the UK. Of those orders, 59% were to EU countries. This happened in line with the growing trend for cross-border ecommerce.
The easiest way to grow online sales on eBay & Amazon in the new decade
Sellers must be laser focused on getting the right products in front of the right people. With today’s competition, it’s necessary to combine paid and organic strategies. To grow their sales, marketplace sellers should consider advertising.
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eBay & Amazon sellers should also test markets with less competition. Often these are international markets where local online sellers aren’t able to meet the local demand or offer specific products.
For merchants who haven’t focused on international selling before, now may be a good time to review the opportunity and test international markets in an effective and affordable way.