As we wave so long, farewell to another edition of eCommerce Expo in association with IMRG — it’s safe to say we had an action-packed two days. With queues around the block (typical London weather to accompany us of course!) more than 15,000 visitors piled into London’s Olympia from across the world of retail, marketing and technology. The event offered a fantastic platform to discuss how to fuel e-commerce growth — a subject we love to talk about!
With seven theatres and more than 250 speakers, there was an incredible breadth of content and topics to engage with. Some of the highlights included speakers addressing key industry topics such as how to put the international customer first; when to outsource your delivery and fulfilment; how to future proof your e-commerce business and using data-driven insights to personalise the customer experience.
We welcomed our own Izabela Catiru, Product Marketing Manager to the Cross Border Stage to offer a masterclass in how to begin your cross-border journey with a risk-free strategy.
Did you know by 2022, cross-border shopping will make up 20% of EU e-commerce? The opportunity is vast. While 59% of UK retailers currently trade internationally, over 34% are looking at rolling out a cross-border strategy in the coming year. And with a growing number of marketplaces, channels, service providers & technical innovations — it’s easier than ever to experiment and optimise new markets.
If you missed Iza’s presentation – here are three things you need to know:
#1 Starter For 10 : Ask the right questions
Before taking the plunge to implement a cross-border strategy, you need to ask yourself these crucial questions:
- Expertise and resources > Do you have the required expertise and resources in house? If not, do you have a trusted partner?
- Market and Localisation > What markets to approach? What is the best channel mix for each market? Is my data optimised to sell cross-border
- Audience > Where are your consumers choosing to shop (not just generally but for your products specifically)?
- Product Selection > Do your items appeal to international buyers? What products to launch with
- Logistics and Legal > Do you have internal resources or a trusted partner?
- Marketing > How do I get my products to be visible in front of key audiences?
#2 Get The Right Channel Mix
Focus on developing a deep understanding of where your consumers are shopping. The best channel strategy is a mix of strong pan European players like Amazon, eBay and Zalando; alongside niche vertical or geographical players such as Allegro, Afound or Mano Mano.
Take advantage of the comprehensive overseas fulfilment programmes by the leading marketplaces designed to help you get started in new locales. Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) stores, ships and offers award-winning customer service in a local language. EBay’s Global Shipping Programme (GSP) offers a similar service—and both handle returns. Track where demand is highest to give you an indication of the countries worth targeting in future. Fulfilment is one of the key battlegrounds for e-commerce success internationally.
For inspiration on which marketplaces you should be looking at check out our whitepaper on Expand and Grow on European Marketplaces
#3 Make Sure You’re Visible In All The Right Places
If you are expanding cross-border through your website, the classic channels to consider are Google and Facebook. Your goal is to build brand awareness through social and top of funnel searches and move those audiences through to purchase.
But there are plenty of options to get your products visible on marketplaces as well.
For example, did you know that advertising has an impact on organic performance on Amazon because the more you sell, the better you rank. Another reason to look at investment in advertising for long term benefits.
If you want more information on optimising spend on Amazon, check out this comprehensive blog Amazon Advertising: Essentials of a Successful Amazon Account
For both your website and marketplace listings you can leverage advertising to drive visibility and sales. Have a strategy that will help you:
- Reach new audiences
- Protect your brand and listings
- Gain market share from competitors
- Re-engage customers or users that have performed important actions
- Give new products a push
If you want to discover proven strategies to increase visibility and build smarter campaigns across Amazon, Facebook and Google, download this eBook now for more tips from our team of experts.
And it wasn’t just stellar content we enjoyed, it was great to see such a buzz on the ChannelAdvisor stand and of course lots of great discussions about marketplaces, digital marketing and meeting your customers needs where-ever they shop. Thank you to all our customers, retailers, partners and exhibitors for making it such an interesting two days. See you next year!
