With 70 Percent of the World’s Purchasing Power Outside the U.S., Cross-Border eCommerce Can Take You There

In today’s global, post-pandemic world, companies wanting to become stronger, more successful and more profitable might take a serious look beyond the U.S. borders—at where 70 percent of the world’s purchasing power currently lies. You can stay local, and with the right eCommerce store or platform, sell products to virtually anywhere. Companies large and small—even start-ups from day one—can do it. It just takes the right knowledge and resources.

The Exponential Rise

Cross-border eCommerce has grown exponentially in recently years thanks to increased access to internet-enabled devices—from laptops to tablets to smartphones. These make it easy for U.S. companies to attract foreign buyers to access their websites and purchase products, and foreign buyers to browse and pay in their local currencies.

Other trends that have influenced this rise include:

• Consumers seeking brands or products not accessible in their home countries
• More competitive pricing on items that may not be available locally
• Growing middle class and rising overall incomes in other countries
• Governments worldwide encouraging international trade

Last year alone, a Statista report showed that cross-border eCommerce accounted for 22 percent of all e-commerce shipments, amounting to more than $3.5 trillion. And it’s only expected to grow as new and more advanced technologies reduce issues with international payments, long shipping times and language barriers—truly making it possible to stay local, sell anywhere.

The Business Benefits

For companies that do look beyond the U.S. borders, cross-border eCommerce can provide many benefits. Small businesses can attract new customers, which helps them to grow and diversify their revenue. Original equipment manufacturers can sell their products directly to consumers, providing a better customer experience and simplifying the supply chain.

Joshua Halpern, former U.S. Commercial Service Diplomat (Foreign Service Officer), is chairman and founder of Getting to Global. The organization started as an educational platform, offering training, insights and best practices in online global strategy, but evolved into the umbrella for a set of tools and platforms that help trade and investment organizations multiply their impact. “We’re living in a time of unprecedented opportunity for small businesses that know how to optimize their eCommerce channels,” says Joshua.

The co-owners of a company that builds iconic custom guitars have benefitted from this opportunity first-hand. They optimized their Shopify website to sell product all over the world, which has been fueled by word of mouth, email marketing, social media and digital advertising on Facebook and Instagram in overseas markets like Europe and Australia. One-hundred percent of their product is now sold online.

So has the founder of a B2B business that was almost entirely focused on resort and cruise line channels pre-pandemic. She successfully pivoted to become a direct-to-consumer global sportswear brand by leveraging government resources, optimizing her website and executing marketing campaigns with Google ads, for example, that celebrated her Latina heritage and targeted underserved markets in Latin America like Mexico, Columbia and Peru.

Joshua and his partner Patrick Perreault are now partnering with World Trade Center Northern California to build and launch an on-demand platform with knowledge and resources for trade acceleration predominantly through eCommerce. The platform will cover all faucets businesses need to succeed, including payments, logistics, duties and taxes, compliance and regulations, legal matters, digital marketing, marketplace strategies and more.

Interested in staying local, selling anywhere or already doing it but in need of extra knowledge and resources? Read on below to learn more!