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E-Commerce: $37 million Raised by Flow, Startup which supports Cross-Border E-commerce Businesses
E-Commerce: European Consumers Prefer to Pay by Card
According to research that has been carried out, 87% of European consumers feel comfortable paying by card. The study also demonstrated that merchants feel comfortable paying by card too, as 90% of retailers agreed that the benefits of card payments outweigh the costs. For consumers, the top benefits included convenience, speed, insurance, retailer acceptance and cash back on purchase. For merchants, the main benefits they saw with card payments include guaranteed payment, increased sales and access to a broader customer base.
J&P Comments
Studying these results, it makes sense that consumers and merchants prefer to pay by card as there are many more benefits to paying by debit or credit card than paying by cash or with a mobile application. Payment providers such as Paypal may also face significant competition as a result of Europe’s preference for paying by card.
E-commerce: Europe Is Top of the Charts in Global E-commerce
On the B2C E-Commerce Index of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, countries are ranked on the level in which they engage in E-commerce. It has been reported that European countries hold eight of the top ten spots on this list. The countries in the index are scored on factors such as access to internet servers, reliability of postal services and how many internet users there are. Singapore and Australia are the only two countries outside of Europe on the list.
J&P Comments
We can conclude from these results that Europe’s engagement in E-commerce is consistently gaining strength over non-European countries’ E-commerce engagement. The index also demonstrates that Europe has the upper hand when it comes to internet access, reliable postal service and number of internet users.
E-commerce: Ocado partners with Japanese retailer Aeon
Japan’s largest supermarket group Aeon has signed a partnership deal with British grocery pioneer Ocado to develop its ecommerce business in attempt to fend off Amazon as most customers purchase their groceries online. The partnership will require Aeon to use Ocado’s customer fulfilment centres and end-to-end software applications, as well as offering click and collect services from selected sites. Aeon didn’t confirm how much that they are paying Ocado but the agreement did include upfront fees, in addition to later payments which will depend on sales performance and capacity installation.
Comments
Aeon’s partnership with Ocado will provide the business with even greater levels of convenience and choice to its customers.
E-commerce: Black Friday E-commerce sales reach record of $7.4 billion
According to figures published by Adobe Analytics, E-commerce sales in the US hit a record value of $7.4 billion on Black Friday this year. This is a 19% increase from last year, as $6.22 billion sales were reported for Black Friday 2018. It is not only E-commerce sales figures that have increased – mobile sales also reportedly reached $2.9 billion and the average order value for Black Friday 2019 increased by 5.9% to $168.
J&P Comments
The significant increase in people purchasing online on Black Friday rather than visiting a store is indicative of the digital era we are currently living in – many people who want to shop during the holiday sales would rather do it from the comfort of their own home instead of visiting stores that are extremely busy with people searching for deals.
E-Commerce: Amazon Will Open Pop-Up Store on Chinese platform Pinduoduo
The world’s largest E-commerce platform, Amazon, will be launching a pop-up store on one of China’s most popular online marketplaces, Pinduoduo. The pop-up store will be open until the end of December, and will feature a range of deals for consumers to engage with. Amazon has stated “The Amazon pop-up store on Pinduoduo provides customers with a professionally organized selection of about 1,000 overseas products with competitive prices, authenticity guarantee and convenient shipping.”
J&P Comments
Introducing a pop-up store is an effective way for Amazon to further extend their reach into the Chinese market and continue to improve the online shopping experience for Chinese customers.
