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A study that has been carried out across Europe has revealed some interesting findings regarding PSD2, the new EU Payments Service Directive. This new regulation means customers have to undergo new security measures on online transactions that are more than €30. The research revealed that 88% of European retailers believe customers are aware of PSD2, but found that 76% of consumers are unaware of the regulation. These figures demonstrate a stark contrast between businesses’ expectations of what their customers know and what consumers are actually aware of.

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European businesses and their consumers could suffer because of the fact they have conflicting levels of knowledge on PSD2. The new directive may lead to higher rates of cart abandonment with it lengthening the checkout process, and so to reassure customers businesses need to continue to provide an excellent service in order to make PSD2 as painless as possible for them.

FedEx’s E-commerce subsidiary, FedEx Cross Border, has expanded its business to three new locations, one of which is in Venlo, The Netherlands. By expanding their facilities to Europe, FedEx Cross Border can supply online merchants with tools to grow their E-commerce business and expand their international customer reach. The CEO of FedEx Cross Border, Carl Asmus, has said “This expansion enables FedEx Cross Border to help merchants reach new customers in over 200 countries and territories around the world.”

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FedEx Cross Border’s new location in Venlo, The Netherlands opens up many opportunities for merchants who wish to sell across Europe – located only 3 miles from Germany’s border and less than 60 miles from Liège Airport in Belgium (which is quickly developing into an E-commerce hub), this new expansion will make delivery easy and cost-effective for online merchants.

US retailer Abercrombie & Fitch is the first company to utilize Instagram’s new check out feature which enables consumers to purchase directly from the app. Abercombie & Fitch and its subsidiary brand Hollister, have both incorporated the latest social media feature to its respective pages. Followers of both brands can now click on their desired products that feature on the Instagram accounts.

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Instagram is an excellent channel to use when targeting millennials which make up of the population. Millennials are very particular in what they want and how they want to be contacted. So, it is good that companies are making amendments to their business so that they meet the requirements of their target audience, such as Instagram’s new check out feature.

To ease the flow of cross-border E-commerce across Europe, E-logistics company ViaEurope has opened a brand new e-Hub in Liège Airport, Belgium. This is the second e-hub the business has opened, with the first one located in Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands. The CEO of ViaEurope, BJ Streefland, has said “Cross border e-commerce is growing rapidly, with millions of parcels entering the EU from China and the United States every day. To create, from this tsunami of parcels, a seamless cross border experience for the consumer, technology will be key.”

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Having two e-hubs in Europe will make selling cross-border to European countries much easier. Procedures such as customs clearance will be completed quicker, and Liège and Schiphol are considered two of the most E-commerce friendly airports in Europe.

According to studies conducted by Capterra, 62% of shoppers said that they would consult online reviews when making purchasing decisions as opposed to expert advice and opinions from friends and relatives. And, a further 70% of respondents confirmed that they mainly look at the content of a review as opposed to 16% of the respondents who only refer to the star rating. Positive reviews were found to be 14% more trusted than negative ones, and 46% of respondents said that they would only trust items that have between five to twenty reviews.

J&P Comments:

Reading product reviews before making purchasing decisions is very common in this day of age. Especially when it comes to high-value purchases because you want to ensure that the product is fit for your purpose, otherwise you’ve just wasted a heap of money. Product reviews are also ideal for new product launches since it examines the pro and cons of a product from a non-biased perspective, which may influence the consumer’s purchasing power.