Over the past few years, online shopping platforms have witnessed a significant popularity increase, mostly due to the fact that they facilitate secure, convenient transactions. The B2C cross-border eCommerce market is expected to report a considerable growth, reaching the $1 trillion milestone in 2020 from the 230 billion dollar value calculated for 2014. This prediction was made public by Accenture and AliResearch in a recent report entitled Cross-border B2C E-commerce Market Trends. 
 

The global B2C shopping market is expected to reflect a 27.4% annual growth

The same report indicates that the B2C shopping market will record a 27.4% growth globally, on an annual basis, over the course of the next five years. The B2C shopping sector will most likely double its rate as a whole, during this timeframe. As more and more consumers will turn to overseas retailers to purchase a wide range of goods, the acquisitions made by online shoppers on a global scale will represent approximately 30% of the overall number of B2C transactions worldwide, five years from now. Also, over 900 million individuals will become cross-border online shoppers, contributing to the remarkable growth witnessed by this flourishing sector.

Cross-border shopping represents the most attractive viable option on several emerging markets counting numerous prospects who are having a difficult time trying to identify cost-effective imported products sold by local merchants. Under these circumstances, online cross-border shopping becomes a convenient solution that can be implemented to gain access to a broader selection of affordable goods. In this context, shopping from premium marketplaces, like Alibaba Group’s popular Tmall.com, constitutes an appealing alternative worth exploring. This particular B2C Chinese website gathers reputable merchants from different parts of the globe and gives buyers plenty of freedom of choice.
 

China is expected to become one of the most prominent cross-border B2C shopping markets by 2020



The same report indicates that China will most likely contribute to the substantial growth of the global cross-border eCommerce sector. This prediction is based on the fact that the ever-growing, large middle class of this nation is constantly craving for original, world-class foreign products. This segment of potential buyers is the size of the total U.S. population. Based on the numbers provided by McKinsey, a management consultancy firm, China’s powerful middle class has high odds of hitting the 630 million people milestone by 2020. The Accenture-AliResearch report also reveals that China is expected to become one of the largest and most potent cross-border B2C markets over the next five years, as more than 200 million consumers based in this country will become cross-border shoppers.