How to Grow E-Commerce Business and Make a Profit

After the pandemic pushed retailers to sell online or bust, global e-commerce grew at an astonishing rate, with global industry revenue 19% over the forecasted rate in 2020, and 22% over forecast in 2021.

The rise in demand for e-commerce products has been particularly impressive in places like Brazil, India, and Mexico. During 2021, online sales in Latin America grew by an astonishing 37%.

The global e-commerce landscape has evolved dramatically since the pandemic, and 2026 presents even greater opportunities for brands ready to scale. Whether you’re a DTC brand in the U.S. or a growing startup in Southeast Asia, growing your e-commerce business in today’s global economy requires strategic thinking, reliable logistics, and the agility to serve international customers with ease.

However, handling international fulfillment poses more of a challenge. Whether you choose localized or cross-border fulfillment, you will need to navigate the details of international logistics and figure out what licensing requirements and customs duties your products will be subject to.

As demand remains low this year, retailers have been using multimarket strategies to mitigate their risk as inflation continues to soar and demand remains low. However, keep in mind that going abroad isn’t as easy as buying a plane ticket for your brand strategy. 

Let’s walk through a proven, data-driven approach to scaling globally—while navigating the logistics challenges that come with it.

Explore more: Wayfindr’s Flexibile 4PL Logistics Services

Why International E-commerce Expansion Still Matters in 2026

In 2024, cross-border e-commerce transactions reached over $3.6 trillion, according to Statista, with projections to surpass $5.4 trillion by 2028. Regions such as Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East are showing rapid adoption of online shopping, presenting ripe opportunities for sellers willing to go global.

However, consumers have rising expectations around fast, transparent shipping and localized experiences. That means your international growth strategy needs to be more than just setting up a marketplace listing.

How to form a market expansion strategy? Take a three-step approach

Before you begin mapping out your market expansion, it’s important to establish why you want to get into a new market in the first place and what your goals are.

Goals like expanding on already existing market share, dipping a toe into the market by dropshipping or selling a small number of items cross-border, or establishing a brand image specific to that region are all great. However, make sure that you have used real data and analysis to determine whether your efforts toward those goals are likely to be fruitful.

Do your market research

Does your brand already have a multimarket presence?

Before entering any new country, research is crucial:

• Is there demand for your product?
• What’s the market saturation for similar items?
• Are shipping costs and import regulations manageable?
• Can your brand adapt to local consumer preferences?

Use tools like Google Trends, regional keyword search volumes, and platform data from Amazon Global, Shopee, or MercadoLibre to assess market fit.

Tip: Work with a cross-border 4pl logistics service who has experience in the market you’re exploring.

Is your drive to expand driven by data?

Before expanding, you need to have strong data supporting the idea that you will be profitable in that market. 

This is especially important for those looking to establish operations in-country, but also an important consideration for those who will be using time and resources to ship parcels for cross-border fulfillment. 

Entering a region where there is interest in your product and a growing group of prospective clients is tempting— but you need to do your homework to make sure that you can turn a profit.

Some important data you’ll want to analyze include:

• Your market share in the target market
• The size of the market
• The current level of saturation for your product in that market
• Local market conditions

RELATED: E-Commerce Selling Abroad: Should You Choose Localized or Cross-Border Fulfillment?

Develop your strategy

Once you’ve done your research on the market and established your goals, you need to develop a plan of action. 

Marketing & rebranding for local consumers

This is where you get to put your market research to work. The ubiquity of social media platforms makes international marketing easy and inexpensive, with very little barrier to entry. 

However, the marketing campaigns and site content that works on your home turf may not be so effective abroad; be careful what gets lost in translation, as it could result in lost market share.

Building a network of supply chain providers

Depending on your current supply chain operation, you may or may not need to do a good amount of restructuring to accommodate the new market. 

Whether or not you choose to continue manufacturing with the same provider, you will definitely need to arrange new logistics providers to get your stuff where it needs to go. You will need to decide if you’d rather 

1. Fulfill orders from your home base and pay the shipping costs to get parcels cross-border

2. Invest in fulfillment operations in-country for a localized fulfillment tactic

Depending on which fulfillment method you choose, you may also require any number of the following fulfillment and freight services:

• Warehousing
• Customs clearance and port services
• Freight forwarding
• Third-party ie fulfillment centers
• Local carriers
• Air & ground transportation

Strategy	Best For	Pros	Cons
Cross-Border	Small brands or market testing	Low upfront cost, fast setup	Slower delivery, high international shipping
Localized	Scaling brands with high volume	Fast delivery, lower cost per shipment	Higher initial setup, requires trusted partners

In 2026, localized fulfillment is more accessible than ever through global 4PL services like Wayfindr, who manage multi-country fulfillment networks without requiring you to build your own.

Execute your expansion

Getting everything rolling is a stressful yet exciting part of market expansion. 

Every e-commerce business owner hopes that there will be more excitement and less stress here. While there is no guarantee that you will turn a profit, the best way to make that happen is to come prepared and remain as agile as possible.

Agility in your business comes from having full visibility into your operations and data to show you whether your market expansion moves are paying off or holding you back. 

How can you gain the agility and visibility that you want to take your business international? Work with a trusted 4th-party logistics provider.

Wayfindr helps e-commerce brands scale with confidence by providing an all-in-one fulfillment and logistics solution tailored to global growth.

Let Wayfindr guide your market expansion journey

Maybe you’ve heard that Wayfindr (formerly CBIP) is a 4PL that chooses from our global network of logistics providers to design the ideal logistics operation for you.

What you may not know is that we pride ourselves on being attentive partners too. At Wayfindr, we’re committed to consulting you on where, how, and if you should expand to a new market 

We will help you analyze your company honestly, and investigate all the little details so that you don’t experience any surprises when moving operations abroad.

Whether you just want to fulfill cross-border or you’d rather go all-in and fulfill locally within the new market, we’ll handle all your logistics, all over the world. On top of that, we’ll provide you with crucial operational data on our centralized platform so you can make informed business decisions.

Curious about how to get started on your market expansion strategy? Contact Wayfindr today for a consultation call, completely free of charge.