Businesses in the UK are struggling to prepare their eCommerce platforms for Britain’s departure from the European Union, according to a new study commissioned by Greenlight Commerce, a digital commerce agency.
The study, which questioned 200 UK based eCommerce decision-makers from Business-to-Business (B2B) and Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) brands, found that 78% of decision makers don’t believe their organisation’s eCommerce platform is fully prepared to cater for whatever the outcome of Brexit brings.
Key findings:
• 78% of businesses’ eCommerce platforms are not fully prepared for Brexit
• 62% of organisations’ appetite for eCommerce projects has been impacted by Brexit
• 91% of eCommerce decision-makers believe a no-deal Brexit will impact their organisation’s eCommerce offering
Organisations are particularly worried about how a no-deal Brexit will impact their eCommerce offering, with over nine in ten (91%) believing this scenario will have an effect. The main impacts of a no-deal Brexit identified are confusions about regulations (48%), a difficulty to trade with EU customers (48%), increased delivery times (34%) and a decrease in transactions (27%).
The survey reveals the measures organisations are taking in an attempt to get their eCommerce platform prepared for Brexit: 47% of respondents have seen their eCommerce budgets increase in response to Brexit, whilst 78% have seen the threat of Brexit lead to changes made to their eCommerce offering.
Kevin Murray, managing director at Greenlight Commerce, said: “The survey results clearly show that the threat of Brexit is having a significant impact on Britain’s B2B and D2C sectors. Organisations are worried about the effect a no-deal Brexit could have upon their eCommerce offering, with changes to regulations and a difficulty selling to EU customers seen as the biggest challenges.
“In the meantime, businesses need to ensure their eCommerce platform is optimised and fully-functional. During periods of change and uncertainty, an agile eCommerce platform can help alleviate some of the pressures on an organisation, by showing real-time stock availability and enabling updates to be made easily, for example. It is good to see that the majority of organisations understand this and are investing in eCommerce accordingly. eCommerce won’t fix all of the problems created by Brexit, but a platform that can change quickly to meet changing business needs will certainly help.”