As digital buyers keep rising every year, businesses can take advantage of ecommerce to expand internationally.
Christoph Baumgarten, senior expert sustainability at DPDHL DE Programs and Communications, said that in 2020, about 2 billion people purchased goods and services online, with e-retail sales surpassing 4.2 trillion US dollars worldwide.
“In the year of the pandemic, global retail e-commerce sales grew more than 25 percent… About 71 percent of retailers engaging (in) e-commerce expect the cross-border revenue to grow further,” he said during the International Trade Centre (ITC) SheTrades and DHL GoTrade webinar.
To take advantage of e-commerce opportunities, Baumgarten advised entrepreneurs to determine their product and target audiences.
“(Then go) into the analytics of feedback that you are receiving and then improve from there and you will see there is so much potential,” he added. “We have to (also) identify good service providers that can help with the business.”
Christian Osei Amponsah, area sales manager at DHL Express, said ecommerce businesses should have an analysis of their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT).
“So you don’t just go out and sell your products, but you also look at your competitors –what are they doing?,” he said. “You have to identify your weakness –what you do not do well that you have to improve so it becomes an opportunity to build up your business.”