{"id":1289,"date":"2020-12-18T13:00:08","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T13:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shipbob.com\/au\/blog\/expand-ecommerce-to-europe\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T22:27:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T22:27:14","slug":"expand-ecommerce-to-europe","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.shipbob.com\/au\/blog\/expand-ecommerce-to-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Expand Your Business to Europe: How to Do It Successfully With an Online Shop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Table of Contents<\/p>

** Minutes<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Why more and more ecommerce businesses are expanding to Europe<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 4 factors that influence success in Europe<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The #1 reason business expansions fail in Europe? Bad logistics<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 ShipBob customers who succeeded after their European expansions<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How ShipBob makes European expansion easier<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partner with ShipBob<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The best part about owning an ecommerce business is that you can reach customers all over the world. Where there is demand, there is opportunity. And when direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands<\/a> based in the United States start to consider new markets to launch into, Europe is usually at the top of the list.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a ton of opportunity to expand your ecommerce business to Europe, but it can be a challenging process. If launching into European markets is part of your overall ecommerce fulfilment<\/a> strategy, much of the challenges will be based around navigating on cross-border shipping and logistics. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rules, regulations, and laws for selling in different European countries continuously change, and there are a lot of unexpected costs that can occur if you\u2019re not paying close attention. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, in this article you\u2019ll learn the ins and outs on how to successfully expand your ecommerce business to Europe and avoid unnecessary headaches along the way. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why more and more ecommerce businesses are expanding to Europe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Selling in Europe provides an opportunity to launch into all the countries that are part of the European Union (EU). This allows you to significantly expand your customer reach and offer products in less saturated markets. Here are some of the most up-to-date facts about the European ecommerce market. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

European ecommerce sales are projected to reach 717 billion euros in 2020<\/a>.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rise of ecommerce is a global phenomenon. What we\u2019re seeing in the United States is also occurring across Europe. The COVID-19 pandemic<\/a> impacted how consumers shop, pushing more people online than ever before. Although ecommerce has been growing for years, the pandemic sped up the growth at a rapid pace. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UK makes up a fair share of total sales (17.8%<\/a>)<\/a>, followed by Germany and France.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The United Kingdom continues to make up the vast majority of ecommerce sales in Europe, but there is also a lot of opportunity in other European countries including Germany (15.1%) and France (10%). Much of this is due to their larger populations as compared to other European countries. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Housewares and home furnishings online retailers grew 25.8% to $8.29 billion in 2019<\/a>.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The fastest-growing vertical marketin Europe is housewares and home furnishings, followed by food and beverage (22.9%), apparel (18.9%), consumer electronics (17.5%), and health and beauty (16.7%). These market trends differs by country, but if you\u2019re selling a high-demand product<\/a> in your home country, most likely there is demand for it in different countries and regions within Europe. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 4 factors that influence success in Europe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To ensure a smooth expansion into Europe, there are several factors you\u2019ll have to consider first, from identifying cultural differences in buying behaviour and regulations, to understanding complex cross-border shipping rules that differ by country. Here are the top factors that influence ecommerce success in Europe. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Cultural understanding<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Understanding cultural differences in buying habits, pain points, and personal needs can take some work. Do consumers in a particular country have a need for your product? You will need to do research and develop a marketing plan that will resonate with international customers. Additionally, not all products are considered acceptable in certain cultures or legal in certain countries. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking the time to research similar products sold internationally and other market trends will help you make better decisions on which products you should offer to European customers. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Marketing consistency<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When researching how different countries market and advertise, spend some time learning about how other ecommerce businesses in the country market and what channels have the most opportunity. You\u2019ll also want to keep an eye on your competitors \u2014 are any of them selling internationally? <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since your store\u2019s website is the buying hub, you might need to make some content changes or tailor your messaging based on different markets. Depending on the size of your business, you could open unique online stores tailored for each country or region. Another option is to optimise your current website for European buyers with a multi-language translator tool<\/a> or create <\/span>optimised landing page<\/span><\/a> that are tailored to buyers in different countries or regions.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Effective marketing in different countries can happen through channels you\u2019re not used to working with. For instance, paid social media might not be as effective in other countries where, for example, traditional TV advertising might work better. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. General demographics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Understanding demographics in different European countries and regions will help you navigate which European markets make the most sense to launch into. There are several tools and resources you can use to help get more insight into demographics in certain areas and regions, such as <\/span>worldometers.info<\/span><\/a>, which includes a thorough breakdown of European demographics. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n