Becoming an international business is an impressive accomplishment, but not every brand or retailer is ready for the challenge. Before opening your online shop to overseas markets, there are many considerations to ensure your preparedness. For example, there’s the question of timing. Enter a market too quickly and your could find that your e-commerce business lacks the ability to scale properly, [...]
Becoming an international business is an appealing prospect for e-commerce brands and retailers. Expanding into new markets with your online store translates into additional revenue and a chance to build a truly global brand. But deciding which markets to enter can be challenging. Some regions are friendlier to cross border e-commerce than others. It’s important to know the pros and cons [...]
An anti-holiday that started out as a way for young, single college students in China to have fun with friends has transformed into the biggest online shopping day in the world. Over the last decade Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has successfully made Singles Day, held every year on November 11, an online shopping extravaganza. In 2017, Alibaba’s online marketplace, Tmall, broke [...]
Covering these three aspects of global shipping will help close the sale. When international online sales are falling flat, it’s natural to question every aspect of the effort. But before you disrupt what may for the most part be a winning formula for cross border e-commerce, the culprit might just be the way you’re setting global shipping preferences. How you display [...]
If there is one word to describe the current status of Brexit, it’s “uncertainty.” The original date for the departure of the U.K. from the European Union (EU) was March 29, 2019. But now, even that date is in flux. To buy more time to orchestrate its departure from the EU, the U.K. has agreed to a 21-month transition period to [...]
The rise of cross border e-commerce offers exciting new opportunities for brands and retailers expanding into new markets. However, it is also placing unprecedented pressure on global customs operations. Cross border e-commerce makes it easier than ever for smaller businesses with limited understanding of international regulations to sell to customers in new global markets. World Customs Organization (WCO) Secretary General Kunio [...]
At this year’s Shop.org event in Las Vegas, retailers, vendors and media were buzzing about the debut of the Innovation Lab. This special section of the Shop.org exhibitor floor included a carefully selected ensemble of 30 retail technology companies that the National Retail Federation (NRF) believes will define the next generation of both in-store and e-commerce shopping experiences. The level of [...]
You’ve conducted the research, weighed the pros and cons and analyzed the competition. Now, your brand is ready to make the leap into new global markets. But there are still factors to consider. Our experts here at Flow have assembled a package of useful resources to help brands and retailers with every aspect of global commerce, from finding the right international [...]
When working on a cross border e-commerce strategy, questions often come up: How much will it cost to ship my products to other markets? How much should I charge my customer for this service? For a domestic brand expanding into lucrative global markets, shipping can be one of the most complicated and delicate hurdles to creating a smooth international operation with [...]
At Flow, we understand that it is not practical for retailers and brands to handle all aspects of cross border e-commerce internally. To be able to scale internationally, you need to find the right provider to handle factors like currency conversion, international shipping, duties and tax, and international payment methods. The best solution must also seamlessly integrate with the brand existing [...]
