Last Updated on May 18, 2016 by Luiza Libardi
As an ecommerce company owner, it’s important to stay on top of cross-country internet trends. You never know when you’re going to expand up north or move down south, so with the help of Get Elastic, we’ve compiled a few continental game-changers that are impacting the way that North America does ecommerce.
To kick off our trip around our continent, let’s start off with the biggest player of them all, America. According to the GetElastic.com blog post, “In the U.S. market, eMarketer predicts that mobile devices will account for 22% of all ecommerce sales and mobile will influence 1 trillion retail transactions.” If you just so happen to have read our previous blog post Going Mobile is a Must, you’ll know by now that having a fully responsive and compatible website is a necessity to make it big (or anywhere, really) in today’s ecommerce world. Even if your analytics show minimal sales from smartphone or tablet shoppers, remember that the majority of online buyers will merely browse products and verify inventory on their devices, and later switch to a desktop to complete their transactions.
Moving to our neighbors down south… although online shopping accounts for a small fraction of the overall spending habits of Mexican consumers, their e-market is growing and some noticeable trends are beginning to emerge. Most significantly, Mexican shoppers are all about affordable shipping and easy payment options. According to the 2013 Comscore study, 71% of shoppers in Mexico admit to spending more in order to qualify for free shipping and 53% have abandoned their carts strictly due to a lack of easy payment options. So, if you’re selling down south, consider including incentives and easy payment for your online shoppers.
As for our friendly neighbours to the north, Canada’s ecommerce environment is relatively similar to that of America. They love their online shopping and, if anything, they like it even more than Americans. The growth rate for online retail in Canada has hovered at around 17% each year – 3% higher than both the U.S. and U.K. who comfortably increase by about 14% each year. If you have yet to open your shipping options to Canada, you may want to reconsider.
Collectively, North America is an ideal place for any online retailer. Despite the varying ecommerce demands across North American ecommerce industries, all ecommerce companies can make the most out of their online retail space by offering accessibility in the form of easy payment plans/options, affordable shipping solutions, and overall website compatibility.
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