Leading cross-border online shopping product categories 2023

Clothing, footwear, and apparel make up the most popular shopping product category to buy online from abroad, a 2023 survey showed. Nearly 40 percent of respondents had purchased these items across borders and via the internet in the previous 12 months. Consumer electronics and accessories was the second most-demanded segment, with 20 percent of the online shoppers surveyed.

Americans and cross-border shopping

Retail e-commerce revenue in the United States is forecast to exceed 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars by 2028. Even though cross-border shopping accounts for a minuscule portion of the U.S. e-commerce revenue, the North American country remains a highly relevant market for brands shipping products internationally and for consumers willing to pay an extra fee on their orders. When buying in foreign stores, China is the number one online shopping destination for U.S. Americans, accounting for nearly half of all U.S. cross-border e-commerce purchases in 2022.

From the Atlantic to the Pacific

U.S. Americans are not the only ones interested in shopping abroad. Chinese consumers also share this purchasing habit. In 2022, the Asian country had an estimated 168 million cross-border online buyers. In the same year, cross-border e-commerce players in China transacted more than 15 trillion yuan, while cross-border retail e-commerce imports approached the 500-billion-yuan mark.