How Retailers Can Keep Cross-Border E-Commerce Moving in an Era of Permanent Trade Disruptions

International retailers have spent the past year navigating a trade environment defined by constant change. Tariffs shifted with little warning. Customs requirements tightened across major markets. Carrier conditions fluctuated week to week, forcing e-commerce teams to adapt in real time while still meeting customer expectations for fast, reliable delivery. Many brands anticipated some level of stabilization after peak season. Instead, disruption continued accelerating through the end of the year. In an analysis of 23.3 million cross-border shipments from U.S. companies, rerouting events tied to trade and tariff changes surged by more than 2,400 percent between January and December.

For e-commerce retailers, these disruptions are becoming harder to isolate from the customer experience itself. Delayed deliveries, inconsistent transit times, surprise duties, and stalled customs clearances all shape how shoppers perceive a brand long after checkout.

Delivery Problems Are Becoming Customer Problems 

Many retailers entered the year heavily dependent on a single international carrier. In calmer markets, that structure often worked well. Better pricing and simpler operations made the tradeoff worthwhile. The past year exposed how quickly those advantages disappear when service conditions change.

Carrier performance varied dramatically across regions and shipping lanes throughout 2025. In some periods, recent ePost Global data showed a 96 percentage-point gap between the best- and worst-performing carriers serving similar markets.

Retailers with access to multiple carrier partners could reroute shipments as delays emerged or capacity tightened. Others had fewer options once shipments stalled in customs or got caught in broader trade disruptions.

Customs Delays Are Harder to Work Around

Customs processing became a larger source of disruption than many retailers anticipated. In a growing number of cases, shipping problems started before the parcel ever entered a carrier network.

Incorrect product classifications, incomplete documentation, changing import rules, and duty calculation errors all contributed to delays throughout the year. Those breakdowns create immediate friction for customers, particularly when international orders arrive with unexpected fees attached.

Retailers using Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) models generally saw stronger delivery outcomes in higher-risk markets because duties and taxes were collected upfront during checkout. According to recent shipment data, pre-cleared shipments were more than 30 times more likely to successfully reach the customer.

When duties are pushed to delivery, many customers refuse the package. Retailers are then left absorbing return costs while trying to recover the customer relationship afterward.

The pressure around customs and landed-cost transparency is likely to increase over the next several years. The EU’s planned removal of low-value customs exemptions by 2028 will require retailers to provide more accurate duty calculations and stronger customs documentation earlier in the purchase process.

International Growth Requires More Operational Planning

Some product categories already face much heavier scrutiny than others. Electronics, luxury goods, and food account for about a third of cross-border shipping value but often require far more detailed documentation and product classification work before clearing customs internationally.

Automated classification systems frequently mislabel products or assign incorrect HS codes, especially in categories with country-specific restrictions. Retailers usually discover those problems only after shipments are delayed or rejected and often can’t trace back to the root cause. For retailers expanding internationally in high complexity categories, investing in specialized compliance expertise is as important as choosing the right carrier.

Retailers are also becoming more selective about international expansion plans. Market demand still matters, but shipping reliability and customs infrastructure increasingly influence where brands feel comfortable investing. And customers still expect fast, predictable delivery regardless of the trade or regulatory conditions behind the scenes. When delays happen, they rarely distinguish between a customs issue and a retailer issue.

Cross-border e-commerce remains a major growth opportunity, but the operational side of international shipping has become far more complex than it was even a few years ago. Retailers growing internationally in these conditions require logistics infrastructure built to withstand disruption.

Kelly Martinez is co-president and co-founder of ePost Global, a U.S.-based international shipping provider.