“E-commerce has been in very turbulent situations lately. It hasn’t been easy in cross-border [trade]. It’s a very interesting moment with all the new legislation with Brexit, the pandemic, and more. But we see these things have also helped the markets to stimulate online buying,” says Astrid van Reempts, senior global product manager at Landmark Global.
The e-commerce market has seen massive growth in the US, Asia, Europe, and the UK. “For us, Eastern Europe is a newer market where we’re focusing to see how that can evolve,” says Van Reempts during a RetailX webinar.
She says new e-commerce markets are also popping up in Southeast Asia and Latin America. Experts are anticipating growth in certain cross-border trade. “We see consumers [are] willing to buy everywhere at each moment. And we need to provide these solutions to these consumers and to make sure that they can shop wherever they want,” says Van Reempts.
Performance increase
“Our clients in Europe and the UK, overall in all these companies, the level has increased from a performance perspective,” Van Reempts says carriers and logistic providers need to take note of this.
She tells RetailX that retailers are now offering more choices to customers. Using the popular furniture company IKEA as an example, Van Reempts says the company is transparent about using the COVID-19 pandemic to reinvent its strategy.
During the pandemic, retailers, including IKEA, experienced new heights of online shopping. It more than doubled to the level of Black Friday. IKEA accelerated its digital transformation and increased its e-commerce growth within weeks. Something that usually takes years or months.
IKEA converted closed stores into fulfillment centers. It also enabled three contact click-and-collect services along with increasing the capacity to manage large web traffic volumes and online orders.
“So it’s not only collected from store, but we also see it shipped from a store that more and more shops are also thinking about how to do the fulfillment in the shop, and even going further to also see how can they work on the sustainability and have other options.”
Fourth industrial revolution
Industries are entering the fourth industrial revolution – capitalizing on digitalization. This is revolutionizing the way business is conducted within value chains. Technology, which includes the internet, automation, and optimization, enables productivity and profitability, reducing human errors.
Digital transformation reshapes business strategies, changing how they operate and deliver to customers. These days, with most people sleeping with their smartphones next to them or on the pillow, it’s time companies rethink their digitalization strategies.
About the author
Mia is a multi-award-winning journalist. She has more than 14 years of experience in mainstream media. She's covered many historic moments that happened in Africa and internationally. She has a strong focus on human interest stories, to bring her readers and viewers closer to the topics at hand.
