Cross border online shopping

I’ve tended to be wary of ordering goods online from companies based overseas, or at least outside Europe, during the pandemic. When looking at possible advertisers, we’ve not taken account of whether they offer delivery worldwide. In fact we’ve not promoted advertisers who show prices in currencies other than pounds sterling.

But during the pandemic cross border online shopping has boomed and British companies are among those to benefit.

A new international survey shows that two thirds of shoppers have bought from a site outside of their own country during the last year, and 20% of non UK customers have bought from a company based in the UK.

That would put Britain in third place as an online exporter after China (59% of non Chinese residents have bought from there) and the USA (51%).

Australians are the most likely to have ordered goods from the UK – 37% of them say that they have bought British, followed by US residents (29%), Germans (26%), French (24%) and residents of Singapore (23%).

The main reason seems to be that residents of these countries like British brands.

Residents of some countries that regularly buy from foreign companies – Russia, Turkey and Mexico – buy very little from UK companies online; suggesting opportunities for companies to expand into new international markets.

Our advice to buyers remains to check returns policies and reviews.

While civil aviation has ground to a standstill, the air freight business has been booming.

East Midlands airport is Britain’s busiest airport for cargo flights (although Heathrow usually carries more cargo in the holds of passenger planes). During the first lockdown when passenger aircraft were grounded, the increase in cargo flights puts the airport in the top ten busiest airports in Europe

It is a European hub for DHL (alongside Dresden), UPS (after Cologne) and Royal Mail and is served by Liege based TNT(Whistl). In December its cargo busniess showed a 40% increase on the previous year. The airport will be one of the new freeports announced in the budget.

One high profile British company keen to take advantage of the boom in international trade is M&S. They reported a 75%jump in overseas internet sales during the first lockdown and are now launching new websites in 46 more countries, which will bring their presence to over 100 countries in total.

If you’re outside the UK check out the delivery page of our advertisers – there is usually a link at the bottom of the page. Clothing retailers are used to moving clothes around the globe and are likely to offer worldwide delivery.

Among them are Evolve Clothing : Hype :

New regulations resulting from Brexit have caused problems for some companies delivering to the EU. So …

The My Memory website lists 29 countries outside the EU that they can deliver to. So if you live in the French island colony of Mayotte (off the coast of east Africa), no problem, but if you live in France they won’t deliver to your home. For the time being anyway. Cytoplan (nutritional suppliments) deliver worldwide, but ask customers to check local regulations (customs duties etc) before ordering.

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