Is it Time to Go International?

Forrester projects the international market for U.S. e-commerce goods to grow at a compounded annual rate of 17 percent to $44 billion by 2018. With such strong demand, usage of international logistics vendors is growing rapidly.

However they do it, merchants incorporating cross-border capabilities should test and retest checkout flow to streamline for both domestic and international audiences. They should let consumers know throughout the shopping experience that they service countries outside the U.S., and offer multiple paths to setting the country.

At a minimum, they should let shoppers set their shipping destination from within the cart as well as at checkout, and integrate international destinations into estimated tax and shipping calculators so consumers can derive the total order cost up front, regardless of their location.

While the challenges to international e-commerce can seem significant, retailers that carefully assess overseas markets for their products, find the right partners to help them and are patient in assessing results will be glad they did.

Ken Burke is the founder and executive chairman of MarketLive, an on-demand e-commerce platform and solutions provider. Ken can be reached at ken@marketlive.com.