Postal operators need to develop ‘flexible, seamless solutions’ for international e-retailers ifthey are to profit from a likely boom in cross-border B2C parcels as innovations in mobile
technologies and changing consumer behaviour drive an explosion in e-commerce over the comingyears, according to experts.This was a key finding from a senior-level roundtable on ‘Innovations in E-commerce’ co-hostedby International Post Corporation and the Stanford Graduate Business School Global Supply ChainManagement Forum that took place last week at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Theone-day roundtable brought together leading online, offline and cross-channel retailers like eBay,Wal-Mart, Gap and Safeway, key figures in the e-commerce value chain from the IT, logistics,and postal industries, as well as senior IPC executives and academics from the Stanford GlobalSupply Chain Management Forum.
The roundtable discussed and debated innovations, future drivers and emerging trends ine-commerce, and how to address the issues and challenges to which such innovations will give rise,IPC stated. A number of speakers provided insights into their perspectives on and experiences ine-commerce from their different standpoints along the e-commerce value chain. These were followedby two breakout workshop sessions to discuss the key questions of the transfer of retail fromoffline to online, and the impact of innovations in consumer technology.
The main findings of the one-day roundtable, according to IPC, were:
* The future of e-commerce and the logistics to support it will drive ever-increasingconvergence in technologies, and changing consumer demand. Greater convergence of brick-and-mortarand online/mobile is foreseen with the emergence of cross-channel retail experiences thatseamlessly combine physical and virtual aspects of shopping.
* Key trends are ‘social’ and ‘mobile’: global social media platforms like Facebook andTwitter will increasingly act as key drivers to e-commerce, and future growth will likely bepredicated on the strong role of mobile technologies that integrate a range of existing and newfeatures that will lead to the ubiquity of hyper-connected, always-on consumers.
* The predicted explosion in e- and m-commerce will offer immense opportunities to postaloperators – in cross-border e-commerce in particular. However friction points need to be resolvedto realise the full potential of international e-commerce. Among these are landed costs and returnssolutions. In order to become partners of choice for e-retailers, posts need to provide flexible,seamless solutions that offer greater cross-border visibility.
* Demand for free delivery is predicted to remain prevalent, posing challenges fore-retailers on how to address consumers’ perceptions of ‘free’ delivery while recouping the cost ofshipping.
* Meeting consumer demand for tracking solutions also implies costs. Consumers are likely toaccept the lack of tracking services – and relatively slow delivery times – for low-value purchases(e.g. of less than $10), whereas shopping cart purchase values of above this amount triggerconsumer demand for tracking services.
* Winning consumer trust is critical and e-retailers need to be careful not to break the bondwith consumers. A risk factor in this is the use of consumer details for promotional and marketingpurposes. Consumer opt-outs are generally not made as easy as they could be, but this is not byconsumers perceived to be a trust breaker. However any perceived misuse of personal data willlikely result in consumers blacklisting the company, and to a receptive and wide audience thanks tosocial media.
Speakers at the roundtable were: Mark Carges, Chief Technology Officer, eBay; Chris Curtin, VicePresident Digital Strategy, Corporate Marketing, Hewlett-Packard; Jane Dyer, Director Markets andCommunication, International Post Corporation; Hau L. Lee, Thoma Professor of Operations,Information and Technology, Stanford University; Paul Vogel, President & Chief Marketing/SalesOfficer, United States Postal Service, and Jin Whang, Jagdeep and Roshni Singh Professor ofOperations, Information & Technology, Stanford University.
The roundtable ended with a panel discussion on the future development needs of the globalsupply chain to meet emerging e-commerce needs, followed by a question-and-answer session.Moderated by Shoshanah Cohen, Codirector GSCMF, Stanford University, the panel comprised LiamCasey, Chief Executive Officer & Founder, PCH International; Randy Clark, Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Streamlite, Jin Whang and Paul Vogel.
