3 Reasons To Consider A Cross-Border Marketplace Strategy

By Jon Kapplow, SVP Consumer & Merchant Solutions, Pitney Bowes

A strong marketplace ecommerce strategy is especially important for brands that are entering new markets for the first time. Here are three reasons why.

Thanks to its huge share of the ecommerce market (around 40 percent, according to reports) Amazon has earned the moniker of “retail giant” here in the U.S. Well, if Amazon is a giant, what does that make Alibaba, which owns around 80 percent of the Chinese ecommerce market? A supergiant? 

Whatever you want to call it, you can’t deny the impact created by Alibaba’s influence on online shopping in China. Foreign retailers hoping to attract Chinese cross-border shoppers need to be aware of the huge local preference for marketplaces. In fact, our 2016 Global Online Shopping Study found that 83 percent of Chinese shoppers would prefer to buy from a marketplace instead of a retail website.

Does that mean cross-border retailers should forget about building a direct website? Not at all. A global retail website offers a home base for domestic and international shoppers who are already familiar with your brand or who want to be sure of product authenticity.