{"id":189740,"date":"2017-08-02T13:58:05","date_gmt":"2017-08-02T11:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=189740"},"modified":"2017-08-02T15:31:46","modified_gmt":"2017-08-02T13:31:46","slug":"the-rise-of-cross-border-online-shopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/industry-news\/189740\/the-rise-of-cross-border-online-shopping\/","title":{"rendered":"The rise of cross-border online shopping"},"content":{"rendered":"

International express, parcel delivery and logistics services company Aramex is forecasting 57% customer growth for its Aramex Global Shopper<\/a><\/strong> (AGS) offering in 2017.<\/p>\n

The exponential growth of the AGS online shopping delivery service mirrors the rise of cross-border online shopping in South Africa, driven predominantly by people\u2019s desire for specialised products only available overseas.<\/p>\n

Mark Mahoney, Manager eCommerce Services at Aramex – a service that enables South Africans to purchase off international eCommerce sites that are often otherwise largely inaccessible because of lack of delivery options – attributes the increase in online shopping to South Africans becoming more trusting in making online purchases. \u201cPeople are increasingly seeing online shopping as a safe, convenient way to become fully fledged global citizens, with access to goods manufactured worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the PayPal Cross-Border Consumer Research 2016 Global Summary Report<\/a>, in 2018 South African online spend is predicted to exceed R53bn.<\/p>\n

The KPMG The Truth About Online Consumers<\/a> 2017 report finds the African\/Middle Eastern market imports 50% of all online purchases from other regions, making it the number one online importer worldwide.<\/p>\n

This is mainly attributed to fewer of the sought-after products being locally available and the big retailers being based overseas.<\/p>\n

Until recently, delivery concerns have been a major obstacle hindering cross-border shopping growth.<\/p>\n

AGS\u2019s 47% shipment growth from 2015 to 2016 indicates that more people are turning to personalised shipping services to eliminate concerns.<\/p>\n

In the second quarter of 2017, AGS shipment\u2019s quarter on quarter growth was 12.6%.<\/p>\n

Says Mahoney, \u201cIn the past, the international retailer\u2019s inability to ship to South Africa \u2013 or to ship for exorbitant prices \u2013 was a deal breaker. Our model eliminates this concern and makes shipping a faster, more affordable option.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the most popular online categories for global cross-border shoppers are: clothing and apparel (46%), consumer electronics (24%), digital entertainment and education devices (24%), toys and hobbies (23%) and cosmetics (20%), according to the PayPal report.<\/p>\n

China, the UK and USA are the most popular cross-border shopping locations. Mahoney has seen similar trends but he warns South Africans about shipping clothing due to high duty and VAT costs.<\/p>\n

Globally, most people are still using PC to make their purchases, with 63% of online purchases by the African\/Middle Eastern market made via PC, according to the KPMG report. However, the PayPal report suggests mobile is on the rise.<\/p>\n

Mahoney confirms this, \u201cPayPal suggests that mobile spend is likely to increase by 123% by 2018. As technology advances and internet connections become more accessible, smartphones will play a larger role. We have an AGS app that allows people to track their parcel\u2019s progress once shipping takes place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with shipping and internet access, a final cross-border shopping deterrent for South Africans is the perception that only a credit card can be used.<\/p>\n

KPMG\u2019s report shows that millennials feel less comfortable paying by credit card than with debit, COD or prepaid gift cards.<\/p>\n

This could simply be indicative of young people\u2019s reduced access to credit. However, one no longer needs a credit card to shop online \u2013 any smart card with a chip has this capability.<\/p>\n

AGS has partnered with FNB to give younger smart debit card holders increased purchasing power with free lifetime membership.<\/p>\n

Mahoney concludes, \u201cWe\u2019ve experienced exponential growth over the last few years in terms of our shipping and subscriber base. The catapulting growth of cross-border shopping shows little sign of abating \u2013 especially with the rise of mobile and increased internet access. We\u2019re proud to be helping South Africans to shop the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

How Aramex Global Shopper Works: <\/strong><\/p>\n

AGS helps make people global citizens by providing lifetime members with 22 personalised local addresses worldwide.<\/p>\n

When shopping cross-border, a member inputs the nearest AGS local address for delivery.<\/p>\n

The package is delivered to the address then costed for shipping according to its actual (not volumetric) weight.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s then shipped, and the member is charged for any customs duties as well as the shipping fee once it lands in South Africa.<\/p>\n

After payment is made, it gets delivered to the member\u2019s door, all within the space of five to ten working days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

International express, parcel delivery and logistics services company Aramex is forecasting 57% customer growth for its Aramex Global Shopper (AGS) offering in 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":189746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10459],"tags":[12106,26],"class_list":["post-189740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-aramex","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189740"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189800,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189740\/revisions\/189800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}