Page 24 - Cross-Border Magazine Nr.3

~ Coffee Corner ~

A CUP OF COFFEE WITH... Coffee or tea? logistic challenges of cross-border selling?

“I drink red bush tea in the morning with milk, and green
“No, I think many retailers in general are unnecessarily fear-
Patrick Wall, CEO of Metapack tea without milk in the afternoon.” ful to sell internationally with an integrator. They do want
to become more competitive, and there are so many options
As an e-commerce delivery management technolo- out there, but many of them are too timid, too concerned.”
gy supplier, Metapack hosted the annual conference,
The Delivery Conference, for the 8th time this year. What are your thoughts on Brexit in the context of
We like to have inspiring discussions about cross-border e-commerce over a nice cup of coffee (or What was your motivation behind this event? cross-border?
tea). During The Delivery Conference 2017 in London, we had the opportunity to meet Patrick “We found that a lot of the conferences held about delivery, “First of all, I think the impact goes beyond the UK. Fifty
be it cross-border or domestic, were quite inward looking percent of British exports go to Europe and twenty percent
Wall, CEO and Founder of Metapack and also the host of the event. We spoke about knowledge
(industry people talking to industry people), and they were of Europe’s export goes into the UK, there is a similarity
sharing, cross-border obstacles, open cooperative networks and the need for a common voice in quite happy doing it that way. It had a male-heavy attend- in total value. We all have an interest in ensuring that what
ance, who had all been in logistics a long time. Our ap- the customer wants, which is cross-border shopping, is not
e-commerce in the Brexit negotiations.
proach was to make sure that it became a joint conference caught up in the Brexit negotiation, which is more about
between retailers, brands and large national industries. The
delivery partners. We wanted consumer part should be able
“WE ARE INTERESTED
it to be an event that allowed to carry on regardless. I think
us to open up the conversa- if there is a collective voice
tion and not present it as a throughout the e-commerce
TO DRAW PEOPLE
user conference for Metapack, industry in the UK and con-
but as a user conference for tinental Europe, this should
the industry. We wanted to be one area where there will
TOGETHER SO THERE
improve the dialogue between be an early agreement. We
delivery partners and their have published a Whitepaper*
customers. We wanted to on this. We don’t want to
IS A COMMON VOICE”
bring a stimulation of ideas push ourselves forward as the
and a conversation through- spokesperson, but we are very
out the day, as people brought interested to draw people to-
different approaches and gether so there is a common
perspectives to the party.” voice and we will work through the existing institutions that
represent e-commerce and e-tailers across Europe and act as
Why is there such a great need for knowledge ex- a facilitator.
change in the industry?
“I think primarily because it is so fast-moving. It is very What are the top-trends you expect for this year?
hard to put together this kind of information through maga- “There will be faster delivery and more same-day delivery.
zines and so forth. We hold the conference at the beginning Moreover, there will be more voice-interaction with carriers.
of the year, so if people are going to change carrier partners Hermes is experimenting with Alexa, who you can talk to,
or delivery partners or if they want to plan for a peak period, to find out where your parcel is and find out what it costs
most of them can start preparation early on. Many retailers to deliver from a to b. Open systems and networks will
will sell 20-30% of their annual sales in a two-month peak become more common and so partners will have to work
period, so it is very crucial for them to get a clear picture.” more cooperatively. We will move away from the system of
many bilateral agreements. Traditional postal operators may
Many obstacles to cross-border selling and buying be the last to come on board, but the rest is going to form
are delivery related. What are your thoughts on that? open cooperative networks for delivery and returns. On the
“There is still a need in the market for consultants and technology and data side, everything is going to be much
knowledge providers to know how cross-border works. It more weaved together.” ••
can be quite complicated as there are lots of different op-
tions. You can do cross-border via postal, via an integrator * Interested in the Whitepaper on Brexit and e-commerce?
like FedEx, UPS, DHL, or you can use a direct injection. A Visit this link: http://go.metapack.com/Brexit
direct injection consolidator route is more fragmented, and
therefore more difficult to navigate. We do provide informa-
tion about that, but there is certainly room for advice on
how it works and to improve people’s knowledge. It can be
hard for brands to properly understand.”

Do you think retailers generally underestimate the

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