15. April 2017 | Press release

Cross-border tool for entrepreneurs goes live

The tool helps e-commerce entrepreneurs expand overseas, for example in France or Spain.

The threshold e-commerce companies must cross if they want to do business abroad is high. Entrepreneurs have to make decisions about whether to expand into one or more countries, designing a web shop and setting up shipments. 23 e-commerce professionals within the Cross Border E-commerce Expert Group of Shopping Tomorrow (from companies such as bol.com, Noppies, Salesupply and DPD) have assessed this material and developed an online cross-border tool.

Entrepreneurs to use this tool to obtain advise that is based on their own situation. This makes it easier for them to venture into a foreign country. The advice could concern areas such as marketing, regulations, shipments and setting up a web shop. The first advice available relates to a roll-out into France or Spain. The intention is to expand the tool with recommendations for other interesting e-commerce countries.

One of the experts, Sjoukje Goldman MSc (marketing strategy teacher, project leader from the ‘Crossborder Ecommerce in Europe’ project and doctoral candidate with the Digital Commerce research group of Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences) explains why these countries have been chosen: “France and Spain are in fourth and fifth place in terms of countries with the highest cross-border potential. This potential has been calculated on the basis of the revenue from cross-border consumer spending in foreign web shops. However, little is still known about France and Spain, making the choice for these countries an obvious one.”

How does the cross-border tool work?

The first question entrepreneurs are asked in the online tool is what type of entrepreneur they are: a starter in e-commerce, a starter abroad or a professional. They can also choose between France or Spain at this stage. After this, they are shown questions that are relevant to their ambition. The answers and input they give can then be used to create an advisory report. This personalised advice will support the most optimal roll-out of a successful expansion into France or Spain.

View the tool at www.crossbordertool.nl

Cross-border e-commerce trends in Europe

The European e-commerce market is developing rapidly – a fact that applies to entrepreneurs and e-commerce companies, but also to European e-shoppers. This was revealed by, among other things, a survey that Kantar TNS carried out for DPD Group among 23,450 e-shoppers in 21 countries. The study also clearly revealed the huge potential of this market and identified various cross-border e-commerce trends. View the findings and conclusions