Innovations in mobile technologies and changing consumer behaviour are expected to drive an explosion in e-commerce over the coming years, providing unique opportunities for postal operators around the world to leverage the predicted accompanying growth in cross-border e-commerce. However in order to benefit from the anticipated boon, posts need to develop flexible, seamless solutions for international e-retailers.
These were just some of the findings to emerge from a senior-level roundtable on Innovations in E-commerce co-hosted by International Post Corporation and the Stanford Graduate Business School Global Supply Chain Management Forum that took place last week at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
The one-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 Global Supply Chain Management Forum.
The roundtable discussed and debated innovations, future drivers and emerging trends in e-commerce, and how to address the issues and challenges to which such innovations will give rise. A number of speakers provided insights into their perspectives on and experiences in e-commerce from their different standpoints along the e-commerce value chain. These were followed by two breakout workshop sessions to discuss the key questions of the transfer of retail from offline to online, and the impact of innovations in consumer technology.
The main findings of the one-day roundtable were:
* The future of e-commerce and the logistics to support it will drive ever-increasing convergence in technologies, and changing consumer demand. Greater convergence of brick-and-mortar and online/mobile is foreseen with the emergence of cross-channel retail experiences that seamlessly combine physical and virtual aspects of shopping.
* Key trends are 'social' and 'mobile': global social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter will increasingly act as key drivers to e-commerce, and future growth will likely be predicated on the strong role of mobile technologies that integrate a range of existing and new features that will lead to the ubiquity of hyper-connected, always-on consumers.
* The predicted explosion in e-commerce will offer immense opportunities to postal operators - in cross-border e-commerce in particular. However friction points need to be resolved to realise the full potential of international e-commerce. Among these are landed costs and returns solutions. 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 for e-retailers on how to address consumers' perceptions of 'free' delivery while recouping the cost of shipping.
* Meeting consumer demand for tracking solutions also implies costs. Consumers are likely to accept the lack of tracking services - and relatively slow delivery times - for low-value purchases (of less than say $10), whereas shopping cart purchase values of above this amount trigger consumer demand for tracking services.
* Winning consumer trust is critical and e-retailers need to be careful not to break the bond with consumers. A risk factor in this is the use of consumer details for promotional and marketing purposes. Consumer opt-outs are generally not made as easy as they could be, but this is not by consumers perceived to be a trust breaker. However any perceived misuse of personal data will likely result in consumers blacklisting the company, and to a receptive and wide audience thanks to social media.
Speakers at the roundtable were: Mark Carges, Chief Technology Officer, eBay; Chris Curtin, Vice President Digital Strategy, Corporate Marketing, Hewlett-Packard; Jane Dyer, Director Markets and Communication, International Post Corporation; Hau L. Lee, Thoma Professor of Operations, Information and Technology, Stanford University; Paul Vogel, President & Chief Marketing/Sales Officer, United States Postal Service, and Jin Whang, Jagdeep and Roshni Singh Professor of Operations, Information & Technology, Stanford University.
The roundtable ended with a panel discussion on the future development needs of the global supply 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 Liam Casey, Chief Executive Officer & Founder, PCH International; Randy Clark, Chief Executive Officer, Streamlite, Jin Whang and Paul Vogel.
Source: International Post Corporation ( Press Release, 10.02.2011)
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