If consumers cross national borders when shopping online, they have a much larger market available to them to satisfy their needs and find the apparently best price for the desired product. Hence, it is not surprising the share of cross-border online orders - online purchases made from online retailers abroad - is steadily increasing. This creates new challenges for retailers: On the one hand, the customer base will become more international or global, on the other hand, this also implies increased competitive pressure on the domestic market. However, compared to national online shopping, the international component makes cross-border online shopping much more complex for consumers and poses new challenges for consumer protection.

The objective of this project is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the growing phenomenon of cross-border online search and purchase behaviors by investigating its antecedents and effects on consumer-related outcome variables and to derive implications for both online- and multi-channel retailers.

Researchers

Professor Sascha Steinmann

Dr. Gerhard Wagner, University of Siegen, Germany 

Prof. Dr. Hanna Schramm-Klein (Chair of Marketing and Retailing, University of Siegen, Germany)