A complete guide to global eCommerce and expanding to foreign markets

Despite the speed and conveniences presented by the latest technology, cross-border expansion might still seem intimidating. However, embracing greater risk and complexity can also help you reap greater rewards. Use this guide as a practical roadmap—it’s time to go global with confidence.

What is global eCommerce?

Global eCommerce is the act of using digital infrastructure to perform business across borders around the world. However, it can’t be summed up as simply shipping internationally. Successful strategies also require careful consideration around currencies, taxes, duties, logistics, customer service, and more.

When you’re ready to go global, think about localized experiences, such as language considerations, cultural nuances, and local preferences and tastes. It’s also important to consider regional operations and how they might have unique needs. For example, different regions might have different tax rules, regulations and requirements. On a similar note, the aim isn’t to sell everywhere but to be strategic to discern which markets align best with your brand. 

Global eCommerce vs. domestic eCommerce

While selling globally via eCommerce can be far less complex than selling solely offline in regions across the globe, when it comes to global vs domestic eCommerce, there are key differences to keep in mind. Markets can vary widely in terms of the currencies they use, local regulations and logistics, and even the types of duties and taxes might come into play; these are also factors that can be in flux, for example, tariffs can shift due to new legislation. Customer expectations can also vary widely in terms of what payment methods they can use and what the most convenient or popular payment methods are in their corner of the globe, what languages should be used, and even the expected caliber of customer service. 

Needed components to sell online globally

There might be a lot to consider but you can succeed in eCommerce on a global scale by getting the foundational elements right from day one. Platforms like NuORDER can help you get everything in place. Here’s a checklist of everything to accomplish before you expand your business into different regions around the world.

Global-ready online storefront

To truly go global, choose a B2B storefront that makes it possible to customize your catalogs with multiple languages and currencies based on where the retail stores are based. It should be easy to apply regional rules. You should also be able to access the same level of customization when it comes to both merchandising and content management so your teams can localize assortments and messaging without reinventing the wheel with custom builds.

International payments 

When you offer local currencies, you offer buyers greater convenience and ease—it’s an excellent way to become a valued brand partner. You also remove the friction associated with currency conversions to save buyers money and time. It’s so important that in some scenarios, not accepting local currencies could be a dealbreaker or the buyer might simply decide to purchase less. 

In addition to local currencies, get to know the preferred payment methods in various regions so you can further streamline the sales process, reduce friction, and encourage repeat sales. Finally, offer visibility into everything that impacts their invoices; think transparent pricing and clear representations of every associated duty and tax. 

Cross-border shipping and logistics

No matter how long you’ve been fulfilling and shipping orders domestically, dispatching successful deliveries across borders will always call for different considerations. Work with reliable carriers and be crystal clear about the shipping options you have to offer. When buyers access your online storefront, they should be able to see which SKUs are available for delivery during which timeframes; predictable delivery windows are a must. 

Finally, it’s really important to provide buyers with pre-calculated duties and taxes, along with landed cost estimates so they won’t be hit with any surprise expenses or fees that could be detrimental to their margins and/or budgets. The easier you can make it for buyers to make informed decisions and succeed, the better the foundation you’ll create to build lasting and mutually beneficial partnerships.

Worldwide customer support and service

Selling around the world underscores the importance of selling 24/7 but also offering responsive support across time zones. Don’t ask buyers to conform to your schedule; offer multi-channel support across email, chat, and phone so they can get the answers they need while you sleep. 

Take it a step further by offering multilingual support. Even if buyers can do business in English, many people feel more comfortable (and can work far faster) if they can access customer support and knowledge bases in their native or preferred languages. With the right platform, this can be simple to achieve but it goes a long way in enhancing your relationships with international buyers.

Tax, duties, and compliance

If taxes and regulations can be complex selling domestically, imagine how much more complicated it can be across the global stage. Don’t take a manual approach; use technology to accurately calculate and disclose all the fees and taxes associated with every transaction at checkout. Import duties and regional tax rules can be nuanced and regulations often change; use agile processes and smart tech to maintain up-to-the-minute compliance.

Benefits of expanding to global eCommerce

The business case for expanding into global eCommerce is undeniable. Going global exposes your brand to exponentially more people and helps you tap into new markets. Selling across borders also helps you diversify your revenue streams and reduce your dependence on any single region. It also helps you amplify the reach and recognition of your brand and so much more. When you go global, you can increase revenue, reduce risk, increase market share, improve margins, and elevate the value of your brand—and with the right tech and partners, you can capture these benefits without overwhelming your teams.

Tap into new markets

There are only so many people in any given area who fall within your target market. When you enter a new region, you instantly increase the size of your target audience and the amount of exposure you can obtain. However, no two markets operate exactly the same so there’s even more to gain. You can discover new segments of buyers and new verticals to serve and reap the benefits of fulfilling a previously untapped demand.

Unlock additional revenue streams

One of the best ways to safeguard the future of your brand is to diversify your revenue across multiple channels. It changes everything when you go from only generating revenue from your direct, wholly-owned channels such as your websites, stores, and social media platforms to also selling your products in different marketplaces and brick-and-mortar and eCommerce retailers around the globe. Due to the diversity of climates around the world, you can enjoy greater stability and reduce risk when it comes to selling goods that wear well in certain weather. And if you sell in both hemispheres, you can prolong the sales window for your designs for different seasons too.

Reduce regional dependency

Even broader economic effects tend to impact different regions in very different ways. Never be over-exposed to any single market’s economic cycles or regulatory changes; it can rattle your business overnight. Global eCommerce reduces your dependence on any single region which further reduces risk and opens the door to new opportunities. For example, in one booming region, consumers might be making more fun, personal purchases due to access to more disposable income, while a region with a slower economy might see consumers largely stick to the essentials in the same year.

Achieve greater economies of scale

Large corporations hold one of the greatest competitive advantages in the world: economies of scale. They’re able to purchase so many quantities of basically everything they produce and procure that they’re able to spend far less on any single item. Your brand can also take advantage of considerably lower costs and negotiated rates when you produce more quantities per SKU to sell in different markets around the globe. Use centralized catalogs, inventory, and data to improve your purchasing power, reduce your workload, and get a higher ROI from your technology investments.

Build a stronger brand and recognition

There’s something about having a brand presence in multiple markets around the globe that enhances its credibility. Elevate your brand image by selling in multiple regions and by gaining loyal clients around the globe. A global reputation can help you attract better retail partners, distributors, press coverage, and more.

Test markets digitally first

If you’ve been thinking about opening stores in other markets, consider launching your eCommerce global strategy first. It’s a low-risk way to validate demand and gain valuable insights before investing in a physical presence of your own. Use a platform that helps you access quality data and speak with your retail partners to learn more about those markets’ unique preferences and needs.

Common global eCommerce challenges

Even though eCommerce has so much to offer in the global arena, it’s important to proceed with a plan. The outsized rewards come along with a greater degree of complexity which can stall or derail your plans for expansion if they’re not properly addressed. Thankfully, you can set yourself up for success by putting the right strategy and platform into place. But it’s always a great idea to get familiar with the risks; here’s a look at some of the most common pitfalls brands encounter on their journeys to going global.

Complex global regulations

Do your due diligence before you dive in. Too many brands have been met with incredible financial and legal difficulties because they simply entered a new market without learning what their local obligations would be. Different markets have different legal, data privacy, and product compliance requirements, as well as different fines and punishments for falling out of compliance. Manually tracking regulations simply won’t do; find a platform and/or partner that can help you stay compliant as regulations vary across countries and regulations often change.

Managing international fulfillment partners

Choose your international fulfillment partners wisely. Research and ask for referrals and references. You have to be ready to coordinate multiple warehouses, third-party logistics providers (3PLs) and distributors. Look for consistent communication and service, streamlined, modern operations, total visibility into your inventory at all times, and other signs of capability and trust. Finally, make sure your partners’ solutions can integrate seamlessly with your platform; it’s something many brands overlook but it’s essential to sell globally successfully, and at scale.

Cultural and language barriers

With all of the translation tools on the market, it might seem deceptively easy to adapt your eCommerce presence for a multitude of languages. But if you ask anyone who speaks more than one language, they all have hilarious or uncomfortable stories about translations that missed the mark. Avoid a similar fate; use a trusted platform to ensure your translations make sense but also to ensure your messages are appropriately tailored to the local market. Think culturally relevant messaging, local insights, and adaptable content versus one-size-fits-all campaigns. 

Supporting local payments and currency     

How many times have you abandoned online purchases when you realized they didn’t support your preferred ways to pay? The same frustration rings true for buyers. Be sure to offer sufficient payment options, as well as the preferred payment methods of any given region to create a convenient experience and to reduce the risk of abandoned carts. Similarly, sometimes the local currency isn’t the preferred way to pay—research is key. Balance local payment and currency expectations while being mindful of taking on additional complexity and costs.

How to develop a global eCommerce strategy

It’s important to move from idea to execution in a measured way. One of the best things you can do when you launch your global eCommerce strategy is to pilot, learn, then scale. It makes it far easier to course-correct, adapt, and pivot than attempting to achieve everything at once. 

Be sure to include market selection, localization, operations, technology, and measurement in your strategy:

1. Define clear, attainable goals, then prioritize 1-3 target markets based on demand, market fit, and ease of entry.
2. Get familiar with local buyers and regulations. This will help you understand expectations, requirements, and potential obstacles or inhibitors in each market.
3. Decide how you’ll localize your offer for those markets. Plan in terms of product, pricing, language, content, and promotions.
4. Build your eCommerce stack then configure it to support multiple currencies, multiple languages, shipping, tax, and integrations.
5. Set up the best fulfillment, returns, and customer support processes for the local market’s expectations and needs.
6. It’s launch time! Start with a focused pilot, then measure performance and iterate before you expand to more regions.

Global eCommerce trends for 2026

You’re making major strides in future-proofing your brand just by going global. But it’s important to think even further ahead; take a forward-thinking view to build a strategy that will continue to be effective for years to come.

In this section, you’ll discover three major trends that your brand should be planning for over a period of the next 12-24 months: AI-driven global personalization, the acceleration of social media shopping, and the rise of cross-border customer demand. And remember, when you have a flexible eCommerce tech stack with modern infrastructure, it makes it even easier to stay ahead of shifts like these to quickly pivot and adapt.

AI-driven, global personalization

AI can tailor assortments, pricing, and experiences by region and by the profiles of buyers. And the entire industry is familiar with the strength of personalization in B2B sales—it has the power to grow your average order sizes and deepen your relationships with buyers. Using AI to personalize your global eCommerce strategy is a game changer; studies show AI‑driven personalization can lift eCommerce conversion rates by as much as 10%.

Start exploring how you plan to share intelligent recommendations with buyers based on buyer attributes such as store sizes, regions, and whether specific retailers also carry adjacent categories, such as footwear. Find out how AI can help buyers reorder faster while helping you increase bottom line and research how smart tech can help you localize your assortments for various markets. There are many use cases; focus on what can make the biggest impact for your growth strategy and your ROI. 

Acceleration of social media shopping 

We’re witnessing a rapid evolution in the role of social media platforms when it comes to consumers’ shopping decisions. Social media continues to be a realm of discovery but it’s increasingly serving as a serious conversion engine too. The numbers are staggering; the global social commerce market was valued at $1.6 trillion in 2025 and is projected to quadruple by 2030.

What’s the role of social media when it comes to wholesale? It’s important to connect your wholesale, eCommerce, and social channels to ensure your inventory and assortments stay aligned. Truly omnichannel operations (also known as connected commerce) increase visibility, reduce the risk of potential error, improve service, and help you create a better experience for both consumers and your retail partners.

Rising cross-border customer demand

Merchants are increasingly comfortable with placing buys across borders and they expect nothing less than seamless experiences. The better you can get at solving cross-border friction, the greater the competitive advantage (and customer loyalty) you can gain. The numbers are telling; cross‑border eCommerce was worth over $1.2 trillion in 2025 and already accounts for close to one‑fifth of global online sales.

Your tech stack makes it possible for buyers to place orders 24/7 from almost anywhere in the world but don’t stop there. Explore how you can create an even better experience with up-to-the-minute calculations for delivery times, shipping fees, taxes, duties, and more. The easier it becomes to buy from you, the more you’ll position supporting your brand as a no-brainer.

Why use a global eCommerce platform?

It can be tempting to build a homegrown solution but it’s a gargantuan investment that often leads to many problems. For example, some brands did well with their proprietary solutions until key employees moved on, updates were needed, or industry tech evolved faster than their limited tech teams could keep up. Sometimes brands reach for a combination of tools instead of a robust platform with the aim to reduce their costs.

Unfortunately, a patchwork of tools in their tech stack often run into technical issues, integration errors, and other resource-intensive hurdles. The challenges of both homegrown solutions and patchworks of tools only multiply when brands start to scale into multiple regions. 

When you use a true global eCommerce platform, you’re accessing the strength of a unified platform that centralizes data, catalogs, orders, and workflows across multiple markets and teams. It simplifies and speeds up your operations as a single source of truth.

The benefits are plenty. You can launch into markets much faster, you can reduce your operational costs, and you can improve internal processes for your teams while you simultaneously produce better experiences for buyers.

Partner with NuORDER for global eCommerce

NuORDER by Lightspeed is a strategic partner for brands that want to scale to global B2B eCommerce markets with confidence. NuORDER’s two-way sync platform empowers brands with access to unified B2B storefronts, global-ready workflows, and dedicated support designed to help them get the most out of the platform and elevate their relationships with retailers. The tech solution can also integrate with over 100 systems so you can reference the latest, most accurate product, inventory, and order data to inform your eCommerce global decisions.

There’s a lot to consider when you’re scaling on the global stage. NuORDER removes technical headaches, operational hurdles, and regional-specific guesswork to help brands turn their global ambitions into an attainable reality.

Discover why NuORDER is the leading partner for brands that are ready to expand into global B2B eCommerce.