Guest Article | Julius Fox - Boxer
Julius Fox is the Head of Partnership Business Development at Boxer. We found out all about Boxer over drinks one afternoon with a girlfriend who raved about the business and the change it was delivering in creating confidence for shoppers - wherever in the world they are buying from - to provide confidence that their product is going to be delivered. By adding Boxer to cart they are by your side to makegood if the product isn’t delivered, your product isn’t genuine or the product is faulty. We are delighted to have Julius tell us more about this ground-breaking service for online shoppers.
Global e-commerce is growing rapidly, but not without its hurdles. Removing shopper barriers to cross-border buying can position your online business to claim a bigger piece of the pie.
Cross-border e-commerce is on the rise. According to Internet Retailing, cross-border will account for 38% of online sales, or $2.1 trillion, by 2023. Thanks to marketplaces like Amazon and Wish.com, who sell all kinds of things across the globe, 13% growth is expected between 2022 and 2023 alone.
But cross-border sellers currently benefitting from this boom may be unaware of barriers still preventing overseas shoppers from purchasing – and sellers from making more sales:
An ESW study found that even ‘power shoppers’ feel anxious about shopping across borders: 26% of this high-frequency, high-value group expressed worry that their order wouldn’t arrive. Among all cross-border shoppers, this figure was 18%.
Other concerns included high shipping costs (33%), poor product quality (18%) and the possibility of their order arriving damaged (13%). Think with Google found that 69% of cross-border shoppers were also worried about problems with faulty products.
A closer look at the power shopper
Power shoppers, who spend more than $500 USD a year cross-border, were much likelier to look overseas for variety and unique products and were less driven by cost. Like cross-border shoppers as a whole, they expected localised e-commerce models, including transactions in their own currency and customer support in their own language.
Shopping mostly for clothing, beauty items and luxury goods, often from retailers and brands directly, this Millennial-heavy group spent twice as much across every product category. When satisfied, power shoppers were also far more likely to become loyal customers. Removing barriers for this group is particularly advantageous and could also capture cross-border shoppers overall, who felt the same across all measures.
Sustainability matters more and more
In a 2021 IBM survey, 93% of global consumers said that the pandemic had affected their views on sustainability and that environmental issues have become even more important to them since then.
IPC found that 47% of cross-border shoppers prefer recycled packaging while 48% agree or strongly agree that they’d rather their cross-border parcels be carbon-neutral. Moreover, 12% said they’d changed their buying behaviour because of sustainability concerns.
Millennial and Gen Z shoppers, who bought cross-border at triple the rate of Baby Boomers, were also more concerned about the environmental impact of product returns (21% and 24%, respectively) than Gen X and Boomers (at 16% and 17%). Free returns and a simple, reliable returns process were expected by 57% of all cross-border shoppers.
Meet Boxer, a global shopper’s best friend
Boxer is a single service that supports shoppers if their cross-border purchase is faulty, not genuine or isn’t delivered. If the shopper experiences any of these issues, the Boxer team can handle it for the seller and even cover shipping costs while Boxer is resolving an issue.
Our local network in the countries we operate in – the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Israel and Singapore – means the issue can be taken care of closer to the customer’s home. Shipping the item locally for assessment or repair, instead of overseas, is more convenient for the customer, aids faster resolution and is kinder to the planet.
Boxer also carbon-offsets emissions from shipping the product from the seller to customer as well as any local shipping journeys arising while Boxer is resolving an issue, a service included with every Boxer cover purchase.
Lower price sensitivity and an appetite for luxury goods make the power shopper the ideal customer for value-added services. Boxer addresses top-of-mind concerns around non-delivery, possible counterfeits, and faulty merchandise and can be applied to almost any product you sell. Facilitating returns and offsetting shipping emissions are just the icing on the cake!
To learn more about how you can remove cross-borders barriers for your high-value shoppers and collect margin doing it, visit goboxer.com/business or contact Julius Fox, Head of Partnerships & Business Development at Boxer Julius.fox@goboxer.com
