International ecommerce is popular amongst Europeans with 71% saying that they have made a purchase across borders. That’s according to the UPS Europe Pulse of the Online Shopper survey. The full report is available as a free download.
Not only is the percentage of shoppers who have experience shopping from sellers cross border surprisingly high within Europe, but 57% say they have bought from countries outside the EU.
As the UPS report notes regarding international ecommerce:
“Seven out of ten European online shoppers have made a purchase from an international retailer outside their home market, and the top two motivating factors for doing so are better prices and the search for a speci c brand or product. The internet has levelled the playing eld, enabling retailers to connect with customers in di erent geographical locations and, in turn, enticing customers to make the leap of buying from beyond their home market. European consumers are globally minded and are willing to make online purchases from anywhere in the world, as long as some key conditions are met. The top two considerations when making an international purchase are payment security and the total cost of the order including duties and fees.”
The report also examines the importance of marketplaces and why online shoppers often prefer them. When questioned why they shopped at an online marketplace rather than directly with a retailer, two thirds of shoppers cited better prices, while 43% said that they like the broader selection. In all surveyed countries, Amazon and eBay are the top two marketplaces, except for Poland, where Allegro (91%) and Zalando (43%) dominate online shopping.
The findings are based on a survey conducted in the third quarter of 2017 by Comscore questioning 6478 shoppers in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK who had made at least two online purchases in the previous 3 months.
