5 Challenges and Opportunities Facing Retailers Establishing a Global E-Commerce Supply Chain

2. Investigating developing markets

Challenge: Developing countries may have inadequate transportation infrastructure outside their major cities.

Opportunity: Although infrastructure may currently be lacking, analysis shows that online sales in developing countries will increase over the next five years, and that by 2017, nations like Indonesia, India and Mexico are expected to experience the highest growth rates in B-to-C e-commerce sales. Meanwhile, in countries like Russia, where brick-and-mortar retail stores are also undeveloped in outlying areas, internet sales may well leapfrog physical retail growth.