Expanding your horizons...
Feb 19, 2015
In recognition of the importance 'cheap delivery' plays in eCommerce the US Postal Service is going head to head with the big logistics companies with the aim of stealing ecommerce business. Despite loud protests from its competitors with phrases such as 'unfair' and 'monopoly' being used the Postal Service has won approval from its regulators to significantly reduce its prices. It will be interesting to see how this plays out on the battlefield.
For US retailers wanting to realise their global aspirations it is also an exciting time. European consumers continue to be excited by American brands and with 50 countries, high internet usage and some of the world's wealthiest consumers Europe is fast becoming an opportunity difficult for US retailers to ignore.
Russia, in particular, is an area which offers significant opportunity. According to Morgan Stanley the Russian eCommerce market will grow by 35 percent reaching $36 billion in 2015 and $72 billion by 2020. With such significant growth opportunities it is no surprise that the region has attracted the interest of the global retail industry. However, it is not without its challenges. Legislative developments this year have made it more difficult for retailers to sell to this market. Priding ourselves on a 'learn first and adapt fast' approach when entering a new region we quickly identified that customs was going to represent a significant hurdle for retailers and, in order to overcome this, set about developing a bespoke technology solution. Developed in partnership with wnDirect's local partner, SPSR, the solution enables end-to-end tracking with all communications delivered in the local language and manages all of the customs and ID requirements. As a result of this we are still the only carrier about to clear customs in this region.
So if you're interested in saying welcome, bievnenue, welcommen, benvindo, or velcommen to 740 million new customers then perhaps you should give us a shout?
