With a hard Brexit looming, 2020 will be the peak of cross-border ecommerce penetration in the UK, according to our latest forecast. This year, 22.8 million people in the UK will have made a cross-border ecommerce purchase, representing 46.0% of internet users and 50.2% of digital buyers.
Next year, that figure will decrease 7.3% to 21.1 million. We anticipate declines in the number of UK consumers making cross-border retail ecommerce purchases through the end of our forecast period in 2022.
We define cross-border retail ecommerce buyers as internet users ages 14 and older who have purchased goods online from a seller in a foreign country either directly or through an intermediary (i.e., marketplaces) at least once during the calendar year via any digital channel.