The Rise of cross-border eCommerce
Cross-border eCommerce, the practice of selling products to consumers overseas through online platforms, has been growing exponentially in recent years. Before long, it is highly likely to account for a large percentage of global tangible product shipments. Major players like Amazon, Alibaba, and eBay are driving this growth. The appeal of cross-border eCommerce lies in its accessibility both to physical store owners and purely online businesses, opening up a lucrative path towards international expansion.
The benefits and challenges of cross-border eCommerce
Cross-border eCommerce offers powerful opportunities for international expansion, with round-the-year demand, and enhanced brand visibility. An ambitious business can expand its global footprint by exploiting this model. Nevertheless, there are potential pitfalls to avoid – mis-managing foreign currencies, poorly-adapted payment methods, complications with shipping logistics, and especially, lack of localisation of content for widely differing markets. Brands wanting to stand out in cross-border operations must address these complexities successfully to take full advantage of a holistic global strategy.
PIM: The backbone of successful cross-border eCommerce
Product Information Management (PIM) systems play a crucial role in effective international eCommerce. Because PIM solutions centralise and manage product data, they eliminate the risks associated with manual data processing. PIM ensures consistency across sales channels and can meet a practically infinite variety of product data requirements and best practices in order to succeed in diverse markets.
Localising product data: The key to successful global expansion
Localised product data is absolutely pivotal to succeed with a global eCommerce strategy. This means translating product descriptions and other content as well as adapting pricing, measurements, and digital assets to local cultural norms and expectations, not to mention the myriad legal requirements across different jurisdictions. Accurate, compliant and culturally localised product information not only enhances the international customer experience but also generates many positive outcomes, such as reducing the risk of product returns, increasing revenue, and internationalising your brand as reliable and attractive – compelling arguments for purchasing.
Overcoming eCommerce challenges with PIM
A number of challenges are entirely avoidable using modern PIM solutions with automated functionalities built in: they can streamline internal workflows and provide a unified view of product data across multiple systems. Improvements in data accuracy, reduced errors, and faster time to market address many of the challenges posed by inconsistent product data, or manual updating. They also impact positively on SEO, ensuring data control and completeness, and guaranteeing real-time updates across all global channels.
As both B2C and B2B purchasers look far and wide for growth potential, and lower shipping costs make overseas purchasing more attractive for customers, successful cross-border eCommerce is set to cater to rapidly increasing demand. That means opportunities for brands to expand globally. By integrating a robust PIM solution, businesses are well-positioned to manage the complexities of international eCommerce, ensuring that they can scale up in an efficient and cost-effective way. Maintaining high-quality and accurate product information is a foundational part of such a strategy.