M-commerce is becoming truly international with 75% of Brits, 77% of Germans, 78% of Spaniards and a whopping 86% of Italians shopping online, often via mobile, with retailers outside their home countries.
According to a study commissioned by Pepper.com, a global social shopping community that includes HotUKDeals in the UK, 32% of shoppers advised they shopped online with retailers based overseas because they were looking for a specific product only sold by that retailer; 2% advised they did so simply to test out the process; whilst 7% admitted that they weren’t aware the site was not a UK based retailer.
For those British consumers ordering from online retailers outside of the UK, the main reason for choosing so, according to 60% of consumers, was due to the fact the price was good – and supposedly better than that of UK retailers – even with shipping costs.
Since the EU referendum, increased prices have already been seen across some food and alcohol products in the UK, with some consumer technology items also increasing in price since the vote, such as speakers.
According to an article by Trusted Reviews in April 2017, the Sonos Connect rose from a suggested price of £279 in January 2017 to £349 in April 2017 – a 25.09% (£70) increase on the previous price. They also reported other price increases seen across products such as the iPad Pro, iPad Air, HTC Vive, One Plus 3 Smartphone and more.
One recent, hot deal posted by a consumer using HotUKDeals was for the Samsung Galaxy S8 that was available from Amazon.de for 499 Euro, which the consumer highlighted would be £449. This deal was voted hot by consumers (1418º) with those who purchased the smartphone advising that they were able to get free delivery and that the product was covered by Amazon’s EU warranty. Looking at data available on CamelCamelCamel, the cheapest the phone has been on Amazon.co.uk is £649 in January 2018.
Savvy shoppers find it increasingly easier to shop online with international sites, especially with the likes of Amazon where you can use your existing UK login details to shop at its foreign equivalents and use their returns policy which covers global store items. Consumers also feel more confident shopping abroad thanks to social commerce platforms like HotUKDeals where consumers share tips and answer questions any concerned shoppers have about the process.
