Cross-Border E-commerce and Supply Chain Management

Customer desire for fresh experience and products from foreign markets has fueled rapid growth of cross-border electronic commerce (CBEC). Selling online and delivering goods to customers in other countries presents many challenges. In addition to standard electronic commerce retailer (e-tailer) problems in domestic markets – such as the risk of not receiving a shipment and relatively low-customer loyalty – CBEC involves the need to communicate in different languages; legal and taxation conditions; forms of payment; payment currency; the cost, time, and quality of delivery; and handling returns. In this chapter, we examine the links between CBEC and supply chains highlighting several CBEC supply chain challenges. We provide some best practices that firms can use to improve their CBEC operations.