Cross-border commerce is no longer reserved for large corporations. According to an article shared by Fintechnews.sg, one in four Singapore businesses now sells abroad through PayPal. That’s more than 90,000 merchants reaching international customers without leaving home.

Between April 2024 and March 2025, these businesses served 14 million overseas shoppers and completed over 60 million transactions. For a small market like Singapore, those numbers show how far digital-first SMEs can now reach with the right infrastructure.

The sectors driving the trend

Three industries dominate Singapore’s cross-border e-commerce story: gaming, beauty, and fashion. Together they generated over US$1.6 billion in international sales.

Gaming accounts for roughly US$593 million and 1.7 million monthly purchases, with most buyers coming from the United States, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and France. Beauty follows with US$411 million and nearly 900,000 monthly orders, mainly from Mexico, the United States, Australia, and China. Fashion leads in value with US$636 million and 737,000 monthly transactions, driven by shoppers in the United States, Mexico, Japan, and Germany.

Beyond those sectors, digital goods and software brought in another US$276 million, showing that intangible products continue to play a strong role in cross-border trade.

Where the buyers are

The United States remains the largest destination for purchases, representing more than US$830 million in sales. But Mexico stands out as a fast-growing market, generating 7 million purchases worth about US$370 million, particularly in beauty and fashion. For founders, this suggests that opportunity may come from unexpected regions.

What is fueling the growth

PayPal credits part of this momentum to its expanding suite of business tools such as PayPal Ads and PayPal Rewards, which help merchants attract and retain global customers. Yet the broader picture is that small businesses can now sell internationally with minimal barriers.

Singapore’s strong fintech ecosystem and reliable payments regulation make it easier for merchants to go global. Challenges like currency conversion, foreign payments, and fraud protection are increasingly managed by platforms rather than merchants themselves.

A sign for fintech founders

The takeaway is not that cross-border trade has become effortless. Taxes, logistics, and compliance still matter. But the path is clearly more accessible. For fintech startups building solutions in payments, e-commerce, or merchant analytics, this trend highlights real, data-backed demand for global enablement tools.

Key takeaways for fintech startups

Here are the main lessons from PayPal’s findings:

• International sales are now part of everyday business for Singapore SMEs.
  
  
• Gaming, beauty, and fashion lead cross-border growth, followed by software.
  
  
• Emerging markets like Mexico are becoming important buyer bases.
  
  
• Payments platforms that add marketing or reward tools gain strategic importance.
  
  
• Simplifying tax, logistics, and compliance remains a strong value proposition.

If you want to explore how your fintech can scale cross-border or support global merchants, contact Your Fintech Story for strategy and growth support.