Trade agreements could see British retailers achieving great success selling and shipping to New Zealand.
We’ve looked at how Australia is a great target for British retailers but just a little further, New Zealand is also offering a brilliant place to expand your business.
Recent trade deals between the UK and New Zealand mean it is even easier than ever for British companies to export products over there. Highlights of which include a new ‘gold standard’ for digital trade and zero tariffs on various products such as chocolate, gin, clothes and even buses.
Tariffs are also likely to shrink or disappear on an even wider selection of goods if the UK joins the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Just like in New Zealand, global eCommerce sales are expected to increase over the next years. In fact, there’s been a 52% growth in online spending compared to 2019, as many New Zealanders embraced the safety and ease of online shopping.
They spent around NZ$3,567 each, resulting in a massive online only revenue of NZ$7.67 billion in 2021. Much of this is due to our close relationship with our antipodean cousins, similar cultures, and the fact we share the same language.
This does put you on the front foot with at least 96 percent of New Zealand's population speaking English as a native language. That’s almost five million people who will be perfectly fine with your current UK facing website and advertising creative, as well as capitalising on the ‘cool Britannia’ image that still resonates across the world.
But, what about the market size you could tap into?
First of all, the top products and categories for New Zealand ecommerce buyers include electronics, baby & children's supplies, entertainment and education, clothing and appliances and furniture. EcommerceDB also reports that New Zealand is the 48th largest market for eCommerce with a revenue of US$5.9 billion in 2021, placing it ahead of Portugal and behind Romania.
With a yearly growth rate of 16% between 2021 and 2025, New Zealand is even expected to outperform the global average of 10%.
Statista also has the following insights:
- Revenue in New Zealand’s eCommerce market is projected to reach US$7.71bn in 2023.
- In the eCommerce market, the number of New Zealand shoppers is expected to amount to 3.3m by 2027.
- User penetration will be 65.5% in 2023 and is expected to hit 64.2% by 2027.
- The average revenue per New Zealand shopper is expected to amount to US$2.39k.
This is all positive news for anyone looking to expand into the New Zealand market, but what are New Zealand customers like and what gets them choosing one brand over another?
Financial services company Visa carried out research into New Zealanders’ shopping habits and found:
- New Zealanders are highly digitally engaged especially via mobile phones, with 9 in 10 using the Internet every day
- There are 3.2million active social media users in New Zealand
- 45% of online spending is with overseas retailers
Despite their geographical location, New Zealanders are very aware of worldwide trends and open to new ideas, but like their antipodean neighbours in Australia, they do prefer a no-nonsense approach to sales and will do lots of research before deciding.
More on these specifics below, but generally, that’s why their experience on your website and in receiving the goods they’ve ordered is vital. Make sure at the very least you have the following:
- Lots of images of the products with honest and full descriptions
- An eCommerce platform that will work out tax and exchange rates automatically
- Delivery options that give then a chouse between speed or cost
- Packaging that keeps their orders safe and secure
- Free returns for peace of mind
- Offers in exchange for loyalty
There are several big British brands already doing well in New Zealand, such as Mulberry and Superdry, there are event some lesser-known businesses such as Actisense, a service company that manufacturers marine electronics that have secured big deals.
While these businesses will be securing a physical presence overseas, you might not be in apposition to do that independently just yet, which is why partnering with a business like Asendia can help.
With their own physical presence in NewZealand, in the form of a fulfilment centre, you can save costs for both you and your customers by bulk shipping your products ahead of time, so they’re stored locally and easily ‘picked and packed’ by Asendia, ready to be sent to your customers within the local postal network.
This means they can get what they ordered within a few days, rather than waiting weeks, or paying for expensive air freight.
Shipping is so important to customer experience and helping you gain and keep international customers
As we’ve mentioned above, you’re already ahead of the game as a UK company as you’re still talking to English speaking customers.
You need not do much to retain your image and localise it to your new target market.
You could change some of the text to use some New Zealand colloquialisms, and even mix it up with different landing page or hero images, but even if you don’t do that, your e-commerce platform, like Shopify, WooCommerce, or eShopWorld, will work out local currency, shipping, and taxes quite easily and you can still achieve success.
The biggest factor that New Zealand customers put above anything else, as with almost all customers is service. That means your new customers need to get what they’ve purchased quickly, cheaply and with confidence it can be returned easily and preferably for free.
New Zealand has a sophisticated and efficient ecommerce industry and to compete effectively it is essential that you are able to offer cost effective and timely local shipping options.
As an international parcel specialist, Asendia fully understand the importance of local laws and can adjust and evolve with them quickly, so you have peace of mind that whatever you’re sending down under won’t be delayed.
While Asendia don’t have their own delivery fleet in New Zealand, (or other countries), they do have strong partnerships with popular, local delivery companies. They will then handle the exportation by air or road and partner with best-in-class final-mile delivery companies.
Whether it’s a national postal operator, a nationwide courier, or an e-commerce parcel specialist in specific cities, retailers have a range of delivery options at checkout that are tried and tested and trusted. Offering shoppers familiar, reliable, and affordable delivery is proven to increase your conversion rate and reduce delivery queries and complaints.
Asendia handles the parcel shipping and returns handling for some of the biggest names in retail and thousands of smaller e-tailers too.
To hear how Asendia could help you make the most of New Zealand, drop us a line.
