Insights into Payments and Beyond Cross-Border Payments and Ecommerce Report 2020 – 2021 How to Sell Successfully Across Borders Endorsement partners: Key media partners: Cross-Border Payments and Ecommerce Report 2020 – 2021 How to Sell Successfully Across Borders Contact us For inquiries on editorial opportunities please contact: Email: [email protected] To subscribe to our newsletters, click here For general advertising information, contact: Mihaela Mihaila Email: [email protected] RELEASE VERSION 1.0 DECEMBER 2020 COPYRIGHT © THE PAYPERS BV ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TEL: +31 20 893 4315 FAX: +31 20 658 0671 MAIL: [email protected] Management Summary Nowadays, people spend more time than before looking for products online – and by comparing different products or services, they observe that there may be other marketplaces or retailers abroad that sell an even nicer, better, or cheaper product than they could find in their home market. At the same time, many merchants see a world of opportunity beyond borders, as the cross-border ecommerce market continues to grow at a fast pace and to gain in popularity. Estimates suggest that, by 2027, the global cross-border B2C ecommerce market will reach no less than EUR 3.9 trillion. Considering the current context, the Cross-Border Payments and Ecommerce Report 2020–2021 is highly relevant for all the players that want to gain a comprehensive view of the global payments and ecommerce market. The articles, the interviews, and the research encompassed in our report supply a sharp overview of the main challenges and opportunities that might arise when selling across borders. Our key objective is to help merchants succeed in expanding globally and growing revenue, by providing information on what it takes to flourish. With that in mind, together with our contributors, we have decided to touch upon trends and topics that are closely related to this market. Intrinsic developments within the industry In-store retail sales have continuously declined in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. This change of perspective allowed for an even steeper growth of the ecommerce industry, and the impact of the crisis upon consumer behaviour cannot be negated. Its effects, it seems, are here to stay, and in his contribution Jorij Ambraham of Ecommerce Foundation estimates that the industry will see a 40% growth in 2020, compared to 2019, registering one of the most impressive jumps in modern history. Raising the bar in digital shopping services to match consumers’ demands Worldwide, consumers across different generations changed their buying behaviour, as the lockdown that was in place in many countries forced them to reconsider their options and shop online. Therefore, the perfect time for expanding across borders is now! There are many factors that must be considered, especially since some of today’s consumers are relatively new to online shopping; but regardless of that, everyone just wishes to have a streamlined shopping experience, an optimised checkout page, virtual consultations, and so on. With retail websites reaching almost 22 billion visits in June 2020 (representing a huge 6 billion increase since January 2020), as the Payvision team states, it is vital to make the customer feel like home in the online space. This can be accomplished by personalising the online shopping experience as much as possible. Merchants need to localise their content, customise their offers, set up local customer support, or even tailor the checkout process to the customer’s preferences because a positive user experience is vital – 90% of marketers consider that personalisation is key when it comes to the future of online shopping, with 74% of consumers disliking it when the content is not personalised and 48% of consumers admitting that they spend more when their experience is tailored to their preferences. Localising the payments process – by understanding the regional payment preferences of the customers and integrating local payment methods into their checkout experiences – is also vital, as Arik Shtilman of Rapyd stresses upon in his article. He also states that, on average, 78% of all online shoppers around the globe abandon their carts, and abandonment rates are higher for cross-border transactions. There are other elements that should not be treated lightly, such as language optimisation and currency conversion – and by accepting payments in local currencies, businesses can also mitigate the risk of chargebacks. These payment-related steps that need to be taken can be cumbersome for merchants, and that is why we expect to see even more alliances with modern fintech and ecommerce solution providers that can streamline the process. Another vital aspect is represented by logistics, as some of the main things online and multichannel retailers should consider when selling across borders are making sure that the products sold are well-stocked and being able to rely on a speedy delivery service. ➔ 3 CROSS-BORDER Payments AND ECOMMERCE Report 2020 – 2021 | MANAGEMENT SUMMARY Management Summary Marketplaces – still on the rise Marketplaces are becoming more and more popular every year, mainly due to the level of trust they provide to the customer and their large number of products available at great prices. Accordingly, the technologies that have use cases in the ecommerce sector are continuously evolving; therefore, even though relevant developments in this space have been happening for years now, they continue to change in a split second. Most of the marketplaces categories already have established leaders in most regions – such as the US (e.g., Amazon, eBay), China (e.g., Alibaba, JD.com), Europe (e.g., Carrefour, Zalando, Otto), or Africa (e.g., Jumia). Features like shopping assistance, augmented and virtual reality, or voice commerce have a lot of potential and enhance the experience by making it more appealing to consumers. Other factors that can make a difference are whether a marketplace is mobile-friendly (considering the millions of smartphone users), whether it offers numerous payment methods (to satisfy all the customers), and whether it has a reviews’ section (which is relevant because customers usually want to check other people’s opinions on certain products or services prior to buying them). We estimate that most of these trends are here to stay, and we expect to see even more developments when it comes to online shopping platforms, in both horizontal and vertical markets. The report’s structure For this year’s edition of the Cross-Border Payments and Ecommerce Report, we have decided to divide the contributions into five chapters, each representing a main frame of today’s cross-border picture. COVID-19 impact on the global payments and ecommerce space The COVID-19 crisis has a massive impact on all businesses, be it positive or negative. However, even though this situation is unprecedented in the history of globalised trade, Limonetik argues that the introduction of technological advances and new business models will help businesses recover and adapt to the new standard. The silver lining is that, as PPRO reinforces, throughout 2020, we have seen an acceleration toward ecommerce, and the volume of global cross-border ecommerce grew by 21% in the first six months of this year.Banking Circle talks about the post-pandemic global banking scene, touching upon the important role of financial infrastructure providers, who deliver new technological solutions that play an increasingly vital part in the financial ecosystem, helping banks and payment businesses improve cross-border payments for their clients. Mark Beresford of Edgar, Dunn & Company suggests that cross-border payments are at a new crossroads following COVID-19, and from now on economies of scale, M&A, cost efficiencies, and new pricing strategies will be the new normal to secure new revenue sources. Joshua Chong from Kapronasia adds that when it comes to the actions taken by ecommerce platforms to streamline the process, the sales strategies designed to increase purchase amounts and basket sizes together with new features such as instant delivery (with the goal of improving the consumer’s experience) are worth mentioning. Therefore, ecommerce posts the best prospects for growth over the next years, while cross-border sales are expected to continue to increase their share, Euromonitor concludes. Taking the pulse of the cross-border ecommerce market The cross-border ecommerce space still shows an impressive growth potential, and some of the main aspects that merchants should consider are mobile enhancement, localising the payment and shopping experience, establishing trust, and making use of the latest technological tools. As Lazada displays in this chapter, livestreaming is one such example, representing a new frontier for online shopping, digitalising businesses, creating new jobs, and keeping brands and sellers connected to their consumers. What’s more, according to Euromonitor, a greater focus on virtual brand engagement and the consolidation of the fintech space are also among some of the key developments that are expected to take place in the near future. ➔ 4 CROSS-BORDER Payments AND ECOMMERCE Report 2020 – 2021 | MANAGEMENT SUMMARY Management Summary IMRG provides an insightful analysis based on a new index they launched in September 2020, with data from around 200 retailers on the Global-e platform – tracking online sales growth from UK retail sites to cross-border destinations. The regional perspective is taken even further