A report by FinTech Rapyd has found 93% of businesses see cross-border commerce as a high priority for 2022 and beyond.
The report – titled The 2022 Global State of Cross-Border Commerce – sought to assess the level of organisational readiness amongst businesses for cross-border commerce. The study was based on a survey of over 900 cross-border commerce decision makers from SMBs and large businesses across a wide range of industries in the US and Europe.
Rapyd found that 51% of companies who were surveyed believed cross-border commerce was necessary simply to keep up with their competitors. Other key reasons to prioritise cross-border commerce included an awareness of new opportunities outside of existing markets – with 57% agreeing – while 42% said requests from prospects outside of current markets was key.
Existing markets being fully penetrated was backed by 33% while sales decline in existing markets and experiencing economic slowdown was voiced by 26% and 24% of respondents respectively.
The report found that new customer acquisition is the biggest operational challenge for 36% of companies followed closely behind by risk management on 35%. On the topic of what is most important for growing their cross-border commerce, respondents suggested managing data security and the ability to accept local payments were most important at 52% and 49% respectively.
Other findings from the study were that localising digital experiences was critical to conversion and that companies should integrate cross-border initiatives into an overall business plan. Firms were recommended to also outsource risk management to specialised vendors.
Rapyd CEO and co-founder Arik Shtilman said, “There is no denying that cross-border commerce is exploding, and while businesses large and small acknowledge it is a priority, there are serious operational challenges that many organizations need to resolve in order to reap the benefits of this massive opportunity.
“Of the 52% that ranked risk management as most important for cross-border growth, only 27% of those businesses have succeeded in fully implementing a solution. This gap exists across our findings, that despite businesses knowing what they need to do, they have yet to implement the critical tools necessary to successfully access billions of new customers around the globe.”
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