How-to guide: cracking Spanish ecommerce in three steps

With GDP predicted to grow 2.6% this year, whether you are already selling in Spain or thinking of expanding your ecommerce offering there, understanding what the Spanish consumer wants from their online shopping experience is vital.

Retail Week’s latest digital guide, Exporting ecommerce: How to thrive online in Spain, uncovers three key areas to focus on:

1. Payments: ensure you are offering the right options

A difficult payment process tops the list of reasons consumers abandon baskets in Spain, with 41% saying they would do so if a retailer charged for their preferred payment method and 39% saying they would leave if their chosen method wasn’t available at all.

PayPal is the most popular payment method, but perhaps most interestingly, 19% of respondents say cash on delivery is their preferred way of paying for goods ordered online.

It is a payment method almost unheard of in the UK and thus underlines the importance of understanding the nuances of each market in which you operate.

2. Marketing: utilise existing marketplaces to get your name out there

Marketplaces can be a good way to test the water in a new country with minimal risk.

Phil Booker, head of partnerships at UK-based international marketplace Fruugo, explains how UK retailers are entering Spain via the platform: “Retailers use Fruugo to test the market in Spain and if there is demand for a product in Spain then we will find the customer.

“Once demand has been established we often see retailers start expanding their own efforts into Spain to capture shoppers in other ways."

3. Logistics: collaborate with suppliers that already know the market

Some 52% of Spanish consumers say they want free delivery, but with a more varied geography than the UK and some areas of the country being off the mainland (for example, the Canary Islands), logistics can be a challenge.

Ben Fletcher, president for UK and Europe at UK-based footwear retailer Clarks, revealed its solution to this issue is collaboration.

“We partner with the national postal service of Spain, Correos. This means we’re using that local expertise for the last mile with a carrier that’s very adept, very experienced in Spain and also very familiar with consumers."