DHL: 2023 Global Online Shopping Consumer Survey Report

DHL released the "2023 Global Online Shopping Consumer Survey". The survey covered 11,500 online shoppers in 23 markets. The results showed that most online shoppers around the world (55%) are happy to shop cross-border. North America is the least likely region to buy from other countries (45%), and the United States lags behind in particular.

About 39% of U.S. shoppers surveyed shop cross-border, one of the lowest rates among the 23 countries surveyed, behind only Argentina (35%) and the United Kingdom (31%). The exception is Poland, where 97% of shoppers report having purchased cross-border goods.

The countries that U.S. consumers are most likely to buy from are China (35%), the United Kingdom (27%) and Canada (17%).

The relatively low percentage of U.S. cross-border shoppers may be due to the perception that everything they need can be found within the U.S. For example, while 35% of global respondents said they made a cross-border purchase because the product or brand was not available in their country, fewer U.S. respondents said so (29%, second only to France at 28%).

This may also be due to a preference for buying American brands: recent research shows that 23% of American adults often consider whether a product is made in the U.S. or produced by a U.S. company when making a purchase decision; another 40% say this sometimes influences their decision. DHL's report shows that 35% of American respondents choose not to buy from abroad because they prefer to support their own economy, which is higher than the average of 23 countries (29%).

The top reason U.S. online shoppers buy from other countries is lower prices, cited by 43% of U.S. online shoppers. Interestingly, 39% say they buy from abroad because they had a good experience before, which is higher than the global average (32%).

Finally, the main factors that make global shoppers more confident about cross-border shopping include: prices are in their local currency (50%) and returns are free and easy (49%).