European retailers to expand internationally within the next two years

According to a survey by ChannelAdvisor, a provider of cloud-based e-commerce solutions, 17 percent of European retailers are anticipating expansion into Asia within the next two years (in addition to 17 percent that are already selling into Asia), compared with 21 percent who expect to expand into North America (in addition to 34 percent that already sell into North America).

Findings also show that it is expected that a further 13 percent of European retailers will expand to South America in the next two years, increasing from the 23 percent who currently operate in this region today. However, retailers are not overlooking the UK and European e-commerce markets. The respondents are very active in these ‘home’ regions with 91 percent active in the UK and 71 percent active in other European countries.

Statistics published by another research company, namely Forrester Research, unveil that 8-10 percent of online sales in the UK are cross-border. The IMRG2 has also recently reported that cross-border sales in Europe are set to reach EUR 36 billion in 2013, while e-commerce sales in Asia Pacific have increased more than 33 percent in 2012.