New Forrester research by analyst Michael O’Grady reports that almost half of customers will consider or make a purchase from an international eCommerce website. The research points to the growing market as a whole: global eCommerce revenue expected to reach $627 billion in 2022. Customers are now comfortable with buying across hemispheres and are willing to wait out the longer shipping times for

Global Back-end Considerations

Diminished site speed and performance is the fastest way to lose international customers. When going global, your site will incur different seasonalities with international holidays, and traffic will flow to the site 24/7 through multiple time zones.

Ensuring that your server can scale to handle peak loads is crucial to preparing to launch a global expansion. Trust is crucial when launching an international eCommerce operation and a site that is perceived as slow or low-quality will not convert customers. 

Critical Functionalities for International Commerce

An open-source platform is the top choice for many international retailers because of the customizable nature of these platforms and the ability to implement extensions and add-on features to support unique needs. In addition to an extensive store of modules and extensions to enable international shipping and other global buying powers, Magento merchants can take advantage of features like:

• Multilingual Support
• Support for Worldwide Currencies and Taxes
• Localization and Targeted Personalization

The Outlook

“The ‘buy globally and sell globally’ paradigm of cross-border commerce will see significant change over the next five years, driven by e-commerce growth in Asia and the emergence of new e-commerce markets in Africa and the Middle East,” Forrest analyst Michael O’Grady wrote in his June 2017 report on the state of global eCommerce.

With markets saturated domestically, expanding to no-border eCommerce can open up your site to a brand new market. With so many brands already operating and known in their respective countries, it takes a bit more effort to win customers. Magento merchants should consider working with a partner experienced in global eCommerce operations expansion to ensure site stability and functionality across borders.

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