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A new report from Forrester Research says the frontier of online retailing is going global. According to the "State of Retailing Online 2010: Key Metrics, Multichannel and Global Strategies Report," conducted by Forrester for Shop.org, nearly three quarters of retailers surveyed are already sending merchandise abroad from their home country's distribution center, with an additional 17 percent having an established foreign warehouse in place, MarketWatch reports. "International customers have visited U.S. retail websites for years," says Fiona Swerdlow, Head of Research for Shop. "While still in the early stages, U.S. retailers are starting to monetize that traffic by meeting global consumer demand for their products and services, which in turn should help to bolster their bottom line."

Recent developments in technology have made it easier for retailers to effectively cross-sell and upsell online, the report notes. More than one-quarter (27 percent) of web retailers say they have seen increases in units per transaction and nearly half (47 percent) have experienced a lift in their average order values. Forty-five percent of retailers surveyed say they have seen increases in repeat customer rates. Nearly one-third of survey respondents say they have seen a decrease in their shopping cart abandonment rates. The full report may be obtained at shop.org.

Article ID: 1379