Utilizing warehouses overseas brings online buyers and sellers closer geographically, while creating more cross-border trading opportunities in Hong Kong, a new report from e-commerce firm eBay Inc reveals.

The report also finds that the rise of warehousing improves the current cross-border logistics landscape. The report covers trends that reveal how sellers are both creating local shopping experiences for buyers and initiating more cross-border e-commerce opportunities.

Sellers in Hong Kong started using overseas warehouses as early as 2005, says eBay. Hong Kong sellers' total gross merchandise stored in overseas warehouses increased by 64% in the three months to December 2014 compared with  the quarter to December 2012.

By the end of fourth quarter last year, more than one-fourth of Hong Kong's commercial sellers, whose annual gross merchandise volumes are above US$10,000, were leveraging overseas warehouses to streamline and grow their business. Around 48% of sales for the sellers were attributed to more than half of their total gross merchandise, and 36% had warehouse gross merchandise volume taking up 80% of their total gross merchandise volume.

"With the growing popularity of cross-border e-commerce and rising shopping expectations from overseas buyers, export logistics are facing a huge challenge. However, overseas warehousing helps localize the shopping process and further improve buyers' shopping experience," says Michelle Leung, eBay's general manager for Hong Kong and Taiwan Cross-Border Trade.

The report also finds that overseas warehousing expedited deliveries according to 78% of sellers surveyed, while 45% say overseas warehousing helped raise product prices. About 72% say the sales conversion rate of products stored in overseas warehouses was higher than that of direct delivery products, and 78% note their account performance noticeably improved after using overseas warehouses.

Leveraging overseas warehousing simplifies the traditional cross-border delivery process into two steps: sorting and delivering. The simplified process also reduces package damage and loss rates, while providing additional real-time tracking and delivery services, making sure the package can arrive safe and undamaged.