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E-commerce: Click and collect usage increases by 8.2% in the UK
J&P comments
There’s no surprise that click and collect usage in the UK is growing since it allows consumers to bypass delivery charges, and collect their purchase the same day.
E-commerce: Amazon to Open New Fulfilment Centre in UK
Amazon has announced that it will be opening a brand new fulfilment centre which will be located in Darlington in the North-East of England. This will be the 22nd Amazon fulfilment centre in the UK, and the opening of the fulfilment centre is expected to create over 1,000 new jobs. Amazon’s vice president of UK customer fulfilment, Stefano Perego, has said “We are delighted to expand our operations in the North East with this new team.”
J&P Comments
It has been a successful year for Amazon in regards to its UK expansion. As well as announcing the opening of the new fulfilment centre in Darlington, Amazon opened a facility this year in Kegworth, located in the East Midlands. These facilities open up many new job opportunities and allow Amazon to increase the efficiency and strength of its UK network.
E-commerce: Asos Extends partnership with Klarna
The UK fashion E-commerce Company Asos has strengthened its partnership with payment giant Klarna, which now offers users to pay for goods in three instalments over 60 days. Shoppers can pay a third of their purchase at checkout, and pay another two payments at either 30 and 60 days automatically scheduled to align with their monthly payment schedules, interest and tax-free.
J&P comments
Many fashion retailers are adopting Klarna’s innovative payment plan, which makes purchasing goods more affordable by spreading the cost over a period of time. However, there is a great concern over the rise of rising credit and financial stress that is associated with ‘buy now, pay later platforms’.
E-commerce: Online Swedish Store Chiquelle to relocate to the Netherlands
One of Sweden’s top online fashion brands, Chiquelle, has announced they are going to relocate their warehouse and move it from Arlandastad (just outside of Stockholm) to the Netherlands. This is to extend the company’s reach to the rest of Europe. The move will also mean that Chiquelle will double their current capacity and greatly reduce their CO2 emissions, as the new warehouse has an energy-efficient lighting system and will have solar panels.
J&P Comments
Chiquelle is not the only European fashion brand that has recently expanded to the Netherlands – online fashion marketplace Vinted launched there in August, and during the same month Zalando expanded its beauty range to the country. It is obvious that fashion is popular amongst Dutch shoppers, and the central location opens up opportunities for fashion brands to sell to the rest of Europe.
E-Commerce: 4 in 10 Swedish customers won’t pay for same-day delivery
A market research firm recently conducted a study on 1,000 people in Sweden and discovered that 40% of online shoppers in the country don’t want to pay for same-day delivery. However, it was also found that some age groups are more willing to pay for same-day delivery than others. 41% of consumers aged 18-29 are willing to spend €4.87 for same-day delivery, whereas 57% of participants aged 60+ aren’t prepared to pay anything extra for the service.
J&P Comments
Looking at the differences between age groups and whether they would pay extra for same-day delivery demonstrates how the consumer habits of E-commerce shoppers in Sweden vary greatly depending on age. It is important for companies to take this into consideration if they are trading with Sweden.
E-commerce: Klarna launches new hub in Berlin
Klarna’s “buy now, play later” scheme is expected to expand to Berlin during early 2020, including a new tech hub which will house more than 500 members of staff. The new tech hub will encompass a 7’400 square metre site in a repurposed car garage situated in the centre of Berlin’s thriving technology scene in Mite. In addition, the workforce for its new tech hub will be five times the size of older sites with employees primarily focusing on product, engineering and commercial growth.
J&P comments
Despite Klarna’s global expansion there is great concern over the rise of “buy now, pay later platforms” which is associated with rising credit debt and financial stress to deferred payment schemes. According to studies, 56% of millennials said that buy now pay later programmes have encouraged them to spend money that they can’t afford, and 27% said that they have experienced financial stress after it.
