U.S.-based ecommerce merchants who are not ready to sell internationally need to get themselves ready for global customers, according to the results of Multichannel Merchant’s MCM Outlook 2014 survey. Respondents said that 8.75% of their ecommerce orders come from outside the U.S.
“Whether you sell B2B or B2C, U.S.-based merchants need to have a global gameplan,” said Tim Parry, Managing Editor of Multichannel Merchant. “There are several emerging economies with a hunger for goods they can only get from the United States, and several ways those U.S.-based merchants can reach those customers.”
According to MCM Outlook 2014 survey results, just 27% of U.S.-based ecommerce merchants are set up for global ecommerce. Of those merchants, 35.1% said they offer International payment options, 21.1% said they use translation services to make their sites ready for global customers, and 19.3% have currency calculators available on their sites.
[Click here to read and download Multichannel Merchant’s executive summary on Global Ecommerce.]
Most global transactions by U.S.-based ecommerce merchants are happening north of the border. Eighty-four percent of respondents said they are selling in Canada. More than half (54%) of the MCM Outlook 2014 survey respondents are selling in Australia.
More than one-third of MCM Outlook 2014 respondents said they are selling in Japan (39.5%), New Zealand (39.5), Italy (37.1%), Brazil (33.1%) and China (33.1%).
More than two-fifth (40.5%) of U.S.-based ecommerce merchants said they are using marketplaces such as Amazon, Rakuten and Alibaba to reach global customers. Exactly one-third (33.3%) of respondents said they have international versions of their ecommerce sites, and 9% are using a third party to market globally.
The MCM Outlook 2014 survey was fielded from Feb. 10 to March 10, 2014, and drew 1,281 respondents. Of those respondents, 470 identified themselves as a merchant or a retailer.
The full MCM Outlook 2014 report on global ecommerce will be released in conjunction with Multichannel Merchant’s Growing Global conference, which will be held July 16 and 16 in Long Beach, CA.
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