E-commerce: maximising global opportunities by understanding local behaviour
by Kantar Media TGI
For e-retailers, the beauty of branching out into new markets is that there is no need to invest heavily – at least initially – in expensive local staffing and physical set up costs. This significantly reduces exposure to risk and can hasten ambitions to roll out a profitable enterprise globally.
However, there remains a key factor which businesses involved in online commerce still need to carefully negotiate in order to be successful and that is sensitivity to consumer needs and preferences by market. Our global in-depth network of TGI studies reveals a broad range of consumer online and offline behaviour which informs and enhances all aspects of traditional and digital marketing strategy. We reveal how consumers in different markets engage with e-commerce and highlight how, in each case, they should be targeted in order to maximise returns.
Understanding how attitudes to online information-seeking and purchase vary in key markets
The internet is the first port of call for most – or nearly most – consumers across the key western European markets, the USA and the BRICS. However, there remains significant variation, with over two thirds of consumers in several of these markets, most notably the US, going online as their first action to find further information. Those involved in e-commerce need to be mindful of this and acknowledge in some markets they may need to undertake more offline advertising and marketing to drive people to their site than in others.
Similarly, in some countries (e.g. Great Britain), the internet is the natural starting point for most consumers looking to buy something, but in others this is still far from being the case (e.g. China), indicating e-retailers may have to work harder here to convince customers to buy online rather than offline.
Frequency of online purchase reveals how comfortable consumers are buying online
Purchasing frequency online is a clear indication of how comfortable consumers are with e-commerce and the markets in which high frequency online spending is most established may prove to be the most attractive countries for e-retailers to target in the first instance.
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