How local heroes can unlock global ecommerce expansion

Jorrit Steinz, CEO and founder of ChannelEngine

For the first time, global ecommerce sales are set to exceed five trillion dollars in 2022. This astronomical figure is a clear indication that the staggering growth of online shopping – a trend significantly accelerated by the pandemic – is set to continue leading the way for the foreseeable future.

While we’ve undoubtedly entered a golden era for online buying and selling, the battle to stand out among competitors is now fiercer than ever before. So how can brands ensure they’re doing all they can to reach as many potential consumers as possible?

With thousands of marketplaces and platforms across the globe, and new ones popping up every single day, there’s an ever-evolving list of opportunities for ambitious businesses to grow ­– and grow fast. But where to begin?

Finding value in local heroes

As the global powerhouse marketplaces become more and more saturated, brands must also tap into the variety of local markets dotted worldwide to complement their existing online presence.

These local names – a combination of niche vertical-focused platforms and regional leading general marketplaces – often boast incredibly loyal customer bases and offer an incredibly effective and potentially lucrative way of filling gaps left by more familiar marketplaces, outperforming them by significant margins. Due to the way things have progressed over the past few years, it’s crucial to be present on as many of these as possible to maximise both your brand exposure and revenue on a global level.

With current legacy solutions, it can be difficult to manage more than two or three marketplaces at the same time, making the prospect of managing hundreds of platforms worldwide somewhat daunting.

That’s where marketplace integrators such as ChannelEngine can prove priceless in streamlining and automating the expansion process, removing the hurdles that may once traditionally have restricted brands from growing into new marketplaces.

Using their existing back-end systems, a brand can connect to the integrator, which then optimizes existing content in accordance with the various technical requirements and automates all e-commerce processes needed to sell on a specific marketplace. Once connected, this process can be almost instantly repeated time and time again, making swift expansion a painless process.

That means regardless of whichever platforms emerge or the region they’re based in, the merchant is prepared to immediately capitalise, leveraging them alongside traditional marketplaces to truly supercharge their growth.

ChannelEngine empowers brands, retailers and wholesalers to operate across global marketplaces and sales channels. Through seamless connection to a combination of the world’s biggest marketplaces and local platforms all over the globe, ChannelEngine’s cutting-edge integration and management software equip partners with everything they need to rapidly grow their customer base and cross-border sales.

Book a demo and learn how to sell more on the most promising global marketplaces at channelengine.com