How online retailers grow their international business

The increases in sales in e-commerce have decreased despite rosy forecasts.  This is why online retailers are breaking new ground abroad.  But they struggle with internationalization strategies.



 At the 100 largest online shops in Germany, sales only increased by 7.7 percent in 2013.  Many entrepreneurs will take a deep breath when they hear the word 'only' in this context.  But in relation to the e-commerce industry, which is used to success, the relativization is justified.  Because in the previous year the plus of 12.3 percent was clearly in the double digits, according to a study by the Cologne retail research institute EHI and the statistical platform Statista.



German online retailers want to expand into other European countries


In view of the flattened growth and strong competition, German shops want to expand their international business.  A survey of 1,000 German online retailers by Become Europe GmbH found that 77 percent of shop operators are currently discussing expansion abroad, 36 percent of them are even planning to expand to foreign markets.  The European market is particularly attractive, but online retailers are also keeping an eye on Russia and North America.  Currently more than half (55 percent) also deliver to other European countries, but the dealers only generate five percent of total sales through foreign business.  The respondents consider legal uncertainties (50 percent) or cultural discrepancies (language / lifestyle) to be the greatest obstacles to the internationalization of e-commerce businesses.


Strategies for internationalization in e-commerce


 But how does the globalization of an online shop succeed?  The Springer authors Franziska Stallmann and Ullrich Wegner show in the book chapter "Strategies of Internationalization" with the examples Trendboxx, Apple, Douglas and Toys "R" Us, which solutions are available for the internationalization of e-commerce businesses.  A key question in international market segmentation is the decision between standardization (globalization) or differentiation (localization), i.e. the question of whether online retailers want to offer their products and services identically worldwide or differently worldwide.



 According to the authors, mixed strategies dominate in B2C e-commerce practice.  But not only the decision as to whether the establishment of individual country shops or the establishment of a central shop that addresses cross-border target groups is crucial (page 200).  The form of internationalization also had to be defined.  The authors differentiate between (page 218 ff.), The higher the risk level:



 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Retail: Ceconomy intends to significantly expand its position in online retail

Düsseldorf  - Thanks to its booming online business, electronics retailer Ceconomy (Media Markt, Saturn) has come through the Corona crisis relatively well so far.  Now the retail giant wants to increasingly open its e-commerce platform to other retailers and build it into the largest omnichannel marketplace for consumer electronics in Europe, as it announced on Tuesday. Despite the corona-related six-week closure of the shops in the spring, sales of the largest German electronics retailer in the 2019/20 financial year ended at the end of September were only 1.8 percent below the previous year's level at 20.8 billion euros.  Because the failures in the stationary business were largely absorbed by the booming online business. Online sales rose by more than 44 percent to 4.2 billion euros and thus accounted for a good 20 percent of total sales.  The group also benefited from the pandemic-related increased demand for technical equipment for working, learning and living ...
Read more

Hugo Boss wants to massively expand online business

Fashion retailer Hugo Boss wants to increase its online sales to more than 400 million euros.  To this end, the central online shop will be opened for new markets.  Hugo Boss wants to massively expand and grow online business  The fashion retailer Hugo Boss wants to expand its online business significantly.  By 2022, online sales are to be increased from 151 million euros in 2019 to more than 400 million euros, Hugo Boss announced on Wednesday in Metzingen.  This is to be achieved both via the company's own online shop and via the concession business with partners.  "The growing importance of online business has become even clearer in 2020. Our industry is confronted with an unprecedented situation and the purchasing behavior of customers is increasingly shifting from stationary to online," explained Matthew, the manager responsible for the e-commerce business  Dean according to dpa with a view to the corona pandemic.  Hugo Boss therefore wants to...
Read more

Rewe wants to grow online business

In addition to the existing e-commerce shops for wine and animal supplies - weinfreunde.de and zooroyal.de - the retail giant is also planning an Internet offer for cosmetics, as Rewe boss Alain Caparros revealed in an interview with “Wirtschaftswoche”.  Above all, however, the company has expanded its online ordering service, rewe.de, and now delivers groceries in 70 cities.  “We have to be there, otherwise others will take over the business from us,” said Caparros, referring to Amazon.  The Rewe boss assumes that the American e-commerce giant will soon also start its Amazon Fresh grocery service in Germany: “Something will come.  We know that Amazon has looked at warehouse locations and employees are currently being recruited. "  Caparros sees new players like Amazon as a “wake-up call to invest even more and to experiment”.  But the manager also sees growth potential in stationary retail - for example in city shops for quick needs, as Rewe has developed ...
Read more