Nearly 70% of European shoppers bought goods from outside their home countries, the 2017 UPS Europe Pulse of the Online Shopper study has found.

According to UPS the cross-border buying was “mainly because of better prices and the search for a specific brand or product”.

UPS said in a statement yesterday, “This demonstrates not only opportunities for retailers that connect with customers in different geographies, but that retailers also need to provide a personalized, broad range of services to meet online shoppers’ expectations.”

Other findings in the UPS study included that top considerations when buying goods from foreign online retailers were: payment security (75%), costs including duties and fees (72%), a good returns policy (63%), all prices stated in the shopper’s native currency (63%) and the speed of delivery (62%).

Abhijit Saha, vice president of Marketing, UPS Europe, commented: “The internet has made shopping truly global, enabling retailers to market and sell their products to customers worldwide. Our research shows that nearly three-quarters of European online shoppers buy from countries outside their own, so opportunity is rife for both small and large retailers looking to expand their businesses.”

In addition UPS found that 52% of online shoppers in Europe look at the number of shipping options offered, while 75% said that free return shipping is important. 63% of shoppers will have their goods shipped to an alternative address with extended hours should fees be less than shipping to their home address.