Father’s Day is a newer tradition than Mother’s Day in most countries. In the U.S., it became an official, nationwide holiday in 1972, 58 years after Mother’s Day. Dads still don’t receive quite as much love as moms when it comes to gift giving: in the U.S. consumers have typically spent less for Father’s Day than Mother’s Day. (Consumers were expected [...]
In the U.S., the summer season officially kicks off Memorial Day Weekend. Americans take their long-awaited summer vacations and their shopping habits typically slow down. Some retailers report as much as a 30% drop in sales during the summer months. Optimistic retailers may view June, July and early August as a good time to prepare for the impending frenzy of back-to-school [...]
The 2018 holiday season was one of the best in recent years, exceeding expectations by the National Retail Federation (NRF), who predicted a U.S. sales growth rate of between 4.3% and 4.9%. The reality was higher. Total spending between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday in the U.S. was up 5.4% at $998.32 billion. E-commerce sales during the five-day period from Thanksgiving [...]
Latin America is a top region for emerging e-commerce growth, due to rising internet penetration rates and a growing middle class demanding foreign goods and services. But with 27 separate nations or territories and a variety of currencies and payment preferences, market entry in Latin America for cross-border retailers can be complex. That’s why the Global E-commerce Leaders Forum (GELF) is [...]
Flow recently conducted a research study surveying global consumers regarding their cross-border shopping expectations and behaviors. Sixty-seven percent of global consumers surveyed said they have made a purchase from a retailer outside their home country. This percentage rate is higher in certain locales such as Brazil (86%), Australia (85%), Canada (83%), and France (79%). While cross border e-commerce is on [...]
In Western countries, including the U.S., Mexico, Canada and the U.K., Christians are preparing their Easter celebrations for Sunday, April 21. This is a time when e-commerce retailers have been offering special promotions on last-minute items associated with this holiday: spring clothing, shoes, and of course, Easter-related gifts and candy. According to a recent NRF study, eight in ten adults in [...]
Brands and retailers know all too well how rapidly the state of e-commerce is evolving. For domestic online merchants, keeping up with technological innovation and increasingly higher consumer expectations is difficult. But for cross-border e-commerce retailers, meeting these challenges is even harder. There are numerous friction points along the customer journey that become barriers to making cross-border purchases. To gain more [...]
Brands are increasingly at the mercy of global tech giants like Amazon, Google and Facebook (Instagram) to access customers. The sales that occur on these large platforms tend to be less profitable compared to purchases made directly through a brand’s website. This is, in part, due to commissions and marketing costs that contribute to the cost of a sale and impact [...]