Ankorstore raises $29.9 million for its wholesale marketplace

French startup Ankorstore has raised a $29.9 million Series A round (€25 million) with Index Ventures leading the round. Existing investors GFC, Alven and Aglaé are also participating.

Ankorstore is building a wholesale marketplace that connects independent shop owners with brands selling household supplies, maple syrup, headbands, bath salts, stationery items and a lot more. That list alone should remind you of neighborhood stores that sell a ton of cutesy stuff that you don’t necessarily need but that tend to be popular.

The company works with 2,000 brands and 15,000 shops. And the startup isn’t just connecting buyers and sellers as it has a clear set of rules. For instance, the minimum first order is €100, which means that you can try out new products without ordering hundreds of items at once.

By default, Ankorstore withdraws the money 60 days after placing an order. Brands get paid upon delivery. And of course, buying from several brands through Ankorstore should simplify your admin tasks.

Ankorstore is currently live in eight countries — France, Spain, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and Luxembourg. France is the biggest market followed by Germany. Up next, the startup plans to launch in the U.K. in 2021.

In many ways, Ankorstore reminds me of Faire, the wholesale marketplace that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in the U.S.

“There are a number of different retail marketplaces connecting retailers with makers and brands. Where we believe we differ is in our clear focus on the independent shop owner, offering the tools and the terms that make it really easy and cost-effective to discover and access some of the most desirable up-and-coming brands,” Ankorstore co-founder Pierre-Louis Lacoste said.

Given that the startup is working with small suppliers, chances are they’re only selling their products in Europe. So there should be enough room for a European leader in that space that I would describe as wholesale Etsy-style marketplaces with a strong focus on curation.

Image Credits: Ankorstore

from eCommerce – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2KVjas5
via IFTTT

Cyber Monday scams? Fakespot says it can identify fraudulent reviews and sellers online

The pandemic has made it all but impossible for a retail company without an online presence to survive. Yet while companies heavily dependent on foot traffic like J.Crew and Sur la Table have filed for bankruptcy this year, companies that are expert in e-commerce have thrived, including Target and Walmart. Amazon alone now attracts roughly one quarter of all dollars spent online by U.S. shoppers.

Unfortunately, as more shopping moves online, fraud is exploding, too. The problem is such that startups working with enterprises — flagging transactions for banks, for example — are raising buckets of funding. Meanwhile, one New York-based startup, Fakespot, is taking a different approach. It’s using AI to notify online shoppers when the products they’re looking to buy are fake listings or when reviews they’re reading on marketplaces like Amazon or eBay are a fiction.

We talked earlier today with Kuwaiti immigrant Saoud Khalifah about the four-year-old business, which got started in his dorm room after his own frustrating experience in trying to buy nutritional supplements from Amazon. After he’d nabbed his master’s degree in software engineering, he launched the company in earnest.

Like many other startups, Fakespot was originally focused on helping enterprise customers identify counterfeit outfits and fake reviews. When the pandemic struck, company spied an “opening crack on the internet,” as Khalifah describes it, and instead began catering to consumers who use platforms that are struggling to keep up (and which are often more focused on protecting sellers from buyers and not the other way around).

The pivot seems to be working. Fakespot just closed on $4 million in Series A funding led by Bullpen Capital, which was joined by SRI Capital, Faith Capital and 500 Startups among others in a round that brings the company’s total funding to $7 million.

The company is gaining more attention from shoppers, too. Khalifah says that a Chrome browser extension introduced earlier this year has now been downloaded 300,000 times — and this on the heels of “millions of users” who have separately visited Fakespot’s site, typed in a URL of a product review, and through its “Fakespot analyzer,” been provided with free data to help inform their buying decisions.

Indeed, according to Khalifah, since Fakespot’s official founding it has amassed a database of more than 8 billion reviews — around 10 times as many as the popular travel site Tripadvisor — from which its AI has learned. He says the tech is sophisticated enough at this point to identify AI-generated text; as for the “lowest-hanging fruit,” he says it can easily spot when reviews or positive sentiments about a company are posted in an inorganic way, presumably published by click farms. (It also tracks fake upvotes.)

If you’re curious where shoppers can use the chrome extension, Fakespot currently scours all the largest marketplaces, including Amazon, eBay, Best Buy, Walmart, and Sephora. Soon, says Khalifah, users will also be able to use the technology to assess the quality of products being sold through Shopify, the software platform that is home to hundreds of thousands of online stores. (Last year, it surpassed eBay to become the No. 2 e-commerce destination in the U.S., according to Shopify.)

Right now, Fakespot is free to use, including because every review a consumer enters into its database helps train its AI further. Down the road, the company expects to make money by adding a suite of tools atop its free offering. It may also strike lead-generation deals with companies whose products and reviews it has already verified as legitimate.

The question, of course, is how reliably the technology works in the meantime. While Khalifah understandably sings Fakespot’s praises, a visit to the Google Play store, for example, paints a mixed picture, with many enthusiastic reviews and some that are, well, less enthusiastic.

Khalifah readily concedes that Fakespot’s mobile apps need more attention. Though Fakespot has been focused predominately on the desktop experience, Khalifah notes that more than half of online shopping is expected to be conducted over mobile phones by some time next year, a shift that isn’t lost on him, even while it hinges a bit on the pandemic being brought effectively to an end (and consumers finding themselves on the run again).

Still, he says that “ironically, a lot of [bad] reviews are from sellers who are angry that we’ve given them F grades. They’re often mad that we revealed that their product is filled with fake reviews.”

As for how Fakespot moves past these to improve its own rating, Khalifah suggests that the best strategy is actually pretty simple. “We hope we’ll have many more satisfied users,” he says, adding: “No one else really has consumers’ backs.”

from eCommerce – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/3lj1Z04
via IFTTT

China’s tech firms rush to deliver solutions for grocery shopping

Nearly all of China’s largest internet firms have established a presence in online grocery. Just this week, news arrived that Alibaba co-led the $196 million C3 funding round of Nice Tuan, the two-year-old grocery group-buying firm’s fourth round year to date.

People in China shop online for almost everything, including groceries. At first, grocery e-commerce appears to have caught on mainly among the digitally-savvy who have grown reliant on the convenience of e-commerce and don’t mind paying a bit more for delivery. Many elderly shoppers, on the other hand, still prefer visiting traditional wet markets where ingredients are generally cheaper.

Now tech companies in China are scrambling to capture grocery shoppers of all ages. A new business model that’s getting a lot of funding is that of Nice Tuan, the so-called community group buying.

In conventional grocery e-commerce, an intermediary platform like Alibaba normally connects individual shoppers to an array of merchants and offers doorstep delivery, which arrives normally within an hour in China.

A community group-buying, in comparison, relies on an army of neighborhood-based managers — often housewives looking for part-time work — to promote products amongst neighbors and tally their orders in group chats, normally through the popular WeChat messenger. The managers then place the group orders with suppliers and have the items delivered to pick-up spots in the community, such as a local convenience store.

It’s not uncommon to see piles of grocery bags at corner stores wating to be fetched these days, and the model has inspired overseas Chinese entrepreneurs to follow suit in America.

What grocery startup Weee! learned from China’s tech giants

Even in China where e-commerce is ubiquitous, the majority of grocery shopping still happens offline. That’s changing quickly. The fledgling area of grocery group-buying is growing at over 100% year-over-year in 2020 and expected to reach 72 billion yuan ($11 billion) in market size, according to research firm iiMedia.

It sounds as if grocery group-buying and self-pickup is a step back in a world where doorstep convenience is the norm. But the model has its appeal. Texting orders in a group chat is in a way more accessible for the elderly, who may find Chinese e-commerce apps, often overlaid with busy buttons and tricky sales rules, unfriendly. With bulk orders, sales managers might get better bargains from suppliers. If a group-buying company is ambitious, it can always add last-mile delivery to its offering.

Chinese tech giants are clearly bullish about online grocery and diversifying their portfolios to make sure they have a skin in the game. Tencent is an investor in Xingsheng Youxuan, Nice Tuan’s major competitor. Food delivery service Meituan has its own grocery arm, offering both the traditional digital grocer as well as the WeChat-based group-buy model. E-commerce upstart Pinduoduo similarly supports grocery group purchases. Alibaba itself already operates the Hema supermarket, which operates both online and offline markets.

from eCommerce – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/37rFf96
via IFTTT

Cyber Monday: Up to $12.7B will be spent online, marking biggest-ever US shopping day

Thanksgiving and Black Friday online shopping this year had big gains on 2019, but both still fell somewhat short of expectations in what is proving to be a good if more muted holiday shopping season without the usual physical crowds to help enforce COVID-19 social distancing and many feeling the economic strain of the health pandemic.

Now all eyes are on “Cyber Monday,” which for the last several years has been the biggest online shopping day of the four-day stretch. Adobe predicts that it will be the biggest shopping day yet in the U.S., with between $10.8 billion and $12.7 billion spent, while Salesforce’s forecast is in the middle of that range at $11.8 billion. Globally, Salesforce believes the figure will be $46 billion.

The Adobe figure of 40% of sales on smartphones has been relatively steady all week. Shopify, which typically works with smaller merchants, has put the figure closer to 70%.

For some context, Black Friday came in at $9 billion and Thanksgiving at $5.1 billion this year, according to Adobe’s figures. And last year $9.4 billion was spent on Cyber Monday.

Salesforce was more optimistic: It said that digital revenues on Black Friday were $12.8 billion, with global figures coming in at $62 billion, while Thanksgiving was closer to $6.8 billion in online sales in the U.S., with the global figure around $30.4 billion.

Thanksgiving online shopping hits record $5.1B, up 21.5% on 2019, 47% of sales via mobile

“Cyber Monday is on track to break all previous records for online sales. Consumers will likely take advantage of the best discounted items today like TVs, toys and computers before price levels start creeping back up throughout the rest of the season,” said Taylor Schreiner, director, Adobe Digital Insights. “Shoppers are encouraged to do their gift buying soon as shipping in time for Christmas will get more expensive in the coming weeks.”

We will continue to update these figures as we get more data in. Adobe, for example, said that it believes that a whopping 29% of today’s revenue will come only between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. Pacific (after work is over for the day).

(Part of the disparity in the two companies’ figures is based on methodology. Adobe bases its figures on 80 of the top 100 retailers in the U.S., covering some 1 trillion transactions. Salesforce is using data gleaned from its Commerce Cloud, covering billions of engagements and millions of social media conversations, which it then combines with further analytics in its Shopping Index.)

One thing that is clear from both companies is that Cyber Monday continues to be the biggest day of them all. Why? It’s a perfect storm: The big rush of sales for the holiday season are up, but everyone is back at work, so they shop online instead of in person. Hence, big numbers on Cyber Monday.

As with the other days of the long weekend, one thing that has been impacting sales numbers is the fact that sales are starting earlier and earlier, but Adobe said that many consumers still believe that big bargains are laid on for the specific day. Some of the most popular shopping categories have included computers (marked down 30% on average), toys (20% discount), appliances (21%) and electronics (26%).

Black Friday online shopping comes in $9B, $3.6B on smartphones

Bigger businesses continue to reap the biggest spoils in online shopping — not least because they still provide the best range of delivery, pickup and return options to consumers, which become an even bigger set of priorities as you move further away from more amenable early adopters and into the more general population and potentially less experienced online shoppers. The conversion rates for big retailers (over $1 billion in revenues annually) are typically 70% higher than for smaller businesses.

Still, small businesses have tried to spend years catching up, boosted by various startups and companies like Shopify building tools for them to “be like Amazon” in their fulfillment, delivery and other features. Adobe said that Small Business Saturday, the newest of the Thanksgiving shopping holidays, saw $4.7 billion spent, a record for the day and up 30.2% on 2019. And to underscore just how tough times are for small businesses, Adobe said that the money small businesses were bringing in online this year was a whopping 294% higher than an average day in October.

So far some $23.5 billion has been spent during the holiday weekend.

from eCommerce – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/3oduT3F
via IFTTT

French administration suspects Wish of selling counterfeit products

A French administration in charge of consumer rights and fraud has investigated on Wish, the mobile e-commerce platform that recently filed to go public. While the company generated $1.9 billion in revenue in 2019, the French administration believes Wish could be selling products, such as sneakers and perfumes, with images incorrectly showing the logos of famous brands.

In addition to those wrongly labeled products, the administration says Wish pretends products are on sale while they aren’t. The platform could be displaying -70%, -80% or -90% on some products even though the original price is completely made up.

The administration in charge of the investigation is the direction générale de la concurrence, de la consommation et de la répression des fraudes (DGCCRF), an administration that reports to the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance. They have transmitted the report to a court in Paris.

Now, it’s up to the court to decide whether the allegations are right or unfounded. “The court can subpoena Wish or offer to plead guilty. We should know in the coming days,” France’s digital minister Cédric O told me.

On Twitter, Cédric O highlighted one case in particular. “Wish already stood out during the first lockdown by selling facemasks that don’t meet safety standards. French people who are using the app to find low-cost products should know that they’ll mostly find scams,” he tweeted.

.@WishShopping s’était déjà distinguée pendant le 1er confinement en vendant des masques ne respectant pas les normes. Les Français-e-s qui utilisent l'application pour y trouver du low-cost doivent savoir qu'ils y trouveront surtout des arnaques. @alaingriset @BrunoLeMaire

— Cédric O (@cedric_o) November 30, 2020

If Wish is found guilty, the company could risk up to 10% of its annual revenue in France. In particular, it’s going to be interesting to see whether Wish is responsible for products sold by third-party merchants.

The timing of the case is a bit odd as Europe’s upcoming Digital Services Act should overhaul the e-commerce directive from 2000. All eyes are on content moderation, but the Digital Services Act should also focus on counterfeit sellers, the liability of marketplaces and more.

Wish files to go public with 100M monthly actives, $1.75B in 2020 revenue thus far

from eCommerce – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2VjAEQO
via IFTTT

Shopify sales reach $2.4 billion in record breaking Black Friday

Shopify have announced that this year they have had a record breaking Black Friday with sales of $2.4 billion from the independent and direct-to-consumer brands on the platform worldwide.

According to Shopify from the start of Black Friday in New Zealand through the end of Black Friday in California, Shopify-powered businesses saw a 75% increase in sales from Black Friday in 2019, and by 8:00am EST, before most North Americans had breakfast, merchants on Shopify collectively had crossed $1 billion in sales making it a truly record-breaking Black Friday.

Shopify Black Friday highlights

• $2.4 billion in Black Friday sales globally, a 75% growth in sales from last year

• New York, London, Los Angeles were the top-selling cities worldwide on Black Friday, with top-selling countries including US, UK and Canada

• Mobile sales on Black Friday were 67% compared to 33% of sales made on desktop. In 2019, 69% of Black Friday sales were made on mobile and 31% on desktop

• Top product categories globally during Black Friday were apparel and accessories with health and beauty and home and garden

• Average Black Friday cart price globally was $90.70, an increase of 11% from last year

• 14% cross-border orders placed on the platform on Black Friday

• 20,000+ tonnes of carbon emissions offset from the delivery of every order placed on Shopify’s platform on Black Friday

Real time Shopify data map

To highlight the success of their Merchants on the Black Friday and Cyber Monday events Shopify have also released a dynamic, real-time view of commerce on their platform. The new feature allows you to watch Shopify business owners around the world connect with their customers in real time. The map can be seen here.

The post Shopify sales reach $2.4 billion in record breaking Black Friday appeared first on Tamebay.

from Ecommerce – Tamebay https://ift.tt/36lDStf
via IFTTT

Black Friday on track for $8.9B+ in online sales as shoppers stay away from brick-and-mortar stores

Black Friday — the day that launched 1,000 other shopping holidays — may have lost its place as the “start” of the Christmas shopping season by now (it gets bigger and earlier with each passing year). But the day after Thanksgiving still pulls in a crowd of buyers looking for a bargain and remains a major bellwether for tracking how sales will progress in what is the most important period for the retail and commerce sector.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, this year was definitely slimmer when it came to actual, in-person crowds — kind of a refreshing break from those times when you feel like it’s the worst of humanity when people are breaking out into fights over TVs at a local Walmart — but online it seems that sales did not disappoint.

Figures from Adobe, which is following online sales in real-time at 80 of the top 100 retailers in the U.S., covering some 100 million SKUs, said that we are “on track” for a new sales record for the day, with between $8.9 billion and $9.6 billion expected in sales online for Black Friday, a jump of 20%-29% on last year.

For some context, in 2019, Adobe tracked $7.4 billion in online sales, and yesterday it said that shoppers spent $5.1 billion on Thanksgiving, with more than $3 billion spent online each day in the week leading up to Thursday.

Adobe was still tallying the final numbers for the day as of this morning European time, so we’ll update this post with the final numbers as and when we get them.

Its analysts say that the evening tends to be big for online shopping — which makes sense since people might have been either going out in person during the day, or just doing something else on a day off.

Not all are in agreement that night time is the right time, however. Figures from Shopify — which analyses activity from the 1 million-plus merchants that use its e-commerce platform — said that the peak shopping hour on its platform was actually 9am Eastern, when there were as many as $3 million in sales per minute. The average cart size for US shoppers was $95.60, it added.

Interestingly, Shopify’s per-minute sales number underscores how the long tail of merchants are still quite a ways behind the very biggest: Adobe noted that its figures, across the sites that it tracks (which have at least $1 billion in annual sales) tally to $6.2 million spent per minute on Black Friday.

In either case, smartphones continue to be a major driver of how sales get made. Adobe said that as of 4pm Eastern some 41.5% of all sales were on handsets, a bit lower than the day before but 7% higher than in 2019. And just as was the case yesterday, it seems that smaller retailers are attracting more shoppers on mobile: Shopify said that some 70% of its sales are being made via smartphones.

We’ll see how all of that plays out later today also with the initial figures from “Small Business Saturday”, which is the latest of the shopping designations added to the holiday weekend, this one trying to hone focus more squarely away from major chains and big box merchants.

One big takeaway from the bigger weekend figures will be that offering items — electronics, tech, toys and sports goods being the most popular categories — at the right price will help retailers continue to bring in sales, in what has proven to be an especially strong year for online shopping after many have opted to stay away from crowded places due to the pandemic, but also a critical year for retailers because of the drag that the pandemic has had on the wider economy.

Cyber Monday is likely to continue to be the biggest of them all, expected to bring in between $11.2 billion and $13 billion in e-commerce transactions, up 19%-38% year-on-year.

Perhaps because of the shift to more online shopping, and the concern over flagging sales, it’s interesting that “holiday season” has also been extended and now comes earlier. Adobe said a survey of consumers found that 41% said they would start shopping earlier this year than previous years due to much earlier discounts. Recall too that Amazon’s Prime Day was delayed to start in October this year, an ‘event’ that many treated as a moment to get a jump start on holiday shopping.

“Black Friday is headed for record-breaking levels as consumers flock online to shop for both holiday gifts and necessities,” said Taylor Schreiner, director, Adobe Digital Insights. “Concurrently, it’s also worth noting that this year, we’re seeing strong online sales momentum across not only the major shopping days like Thanksgiving weekend, but throughout the holiday season as consumers spread out their shopping across several weeks in reaction to continued, heavy discounting from retailers.”

from eCommerce – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/36cxk07
via IFTTT

UKEF support helps UK fashion firm secure Urban Outfitters relationship

As retailers prepare for a busy day of Black Friday trading, UK fashion firm, Rustin and Mallory, has secured its relationship with Urban Outfitters with the support of UK Export Finance (UKEF).

Selling vintage and printed women’s fashion, Rustin and Mallory are an experienced exporter selling wholesale to customers in the USA, Europe and Australia as well as retail sales through their website.

Since the start of the pandemic, their exporting business has soared. 35% of their profits now come from overseas, up from 15% at the start of the year, enabling them to double their staff numbers at their warehouse in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.

Their biggest overseas customer is Urban Outfitters, who have been clients for 15 years. However, through no fault of their own, the financial uncertainty caused by the pandemic caused them to lose insurance cover. This risked damaging their relationship with a key customer and potentially lose business.

Luckily, their financial provider Bibby Financial Services put them in touch with UK Export Finance, the UK’s export credit agency, who were able to quickly provide the required insurance to enable Rustin and Mallory to keep trading.

“Without UK Export Finance’s help we could have lost one of most important customers. UKEF was extremely supportive and obtaining the insurance policy from them was quick and easy. Now we can keep selling to Urban Outfitters, supplying British fashion to the US market.”
– Harvey Morrison, Financial Controller, Rustin and Mallory

UKEF’s mission is to ensure that no viable UK export fails for lack of finance or insurance, while operating at no net cost to the taxpayer. If your business could benefit from their support, visit their website here.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has seen demand for our export insurance policy triple, as UK companies look to continue trading overseas. UKEF is here to support exporters like Rustin and Mallory to win overseas contracts, fulfil orders and get paid through these difficult times.”
– Phill Potter, Senior Export Finance Manager, UKEF

The post UKEF support helps UK fashion firm secure Urban Outfitters relationship appeared first on Tamebay.

from Ecommerce – Tamebay https://ift.tt/37gljGj
via IFTTT

Bigblue wants to automate e-commerce fulfillment in Europe

Meet Bigblue, a French startup that just raised a $3.6 million seed round (€3 million) to build an end-to-end fulfillment solution in Europe. If you sell products on your own website and across multiple marketplaces, you can use Bigblue to handle everything that happens after a transaction.

Bigblue doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Instead, it partners with existing logistics companies so that you only have to manage one relationship with Bigblue. It means that Bigblue works with several fulfillment centers to store your products as well as multiple shipping carriers.

Essentially, Bigblue lets you improve the experience for your customers. When you start using Bigblue, you send your products to a fulfillment center and you integrate Bigblue with your online stores. The startup has integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Wix Store, Prestashop, Fastmag and Amazon’s marketplace.

When a client orders a product from you, it is packed and shipped directly from the fulfillment center to your customers. Bigblue customers pay a flat fee per order and don’t have to deal with anything. Some packages might be delivered through DHL, others might be sent out using Chronopost, etc. It is completely transparent as Bigblue chooses the right carrier for you.

The startup also gives you more visibility into your shipping process. Retailers get an overview of their operations and can see the inventory from Bigblue’s interface. Clients receive branded delivery emails.

While it’s hard to build a good logistics network if you’re a small e-commerce company, Bigblue lets you compete more directly with Amazon big e-commerce websites. You can level up the customer experience without putting together an in-house logistics team.

Samaipata is leading today’s funding round. Bpifrance is contributing to the round. Plug and Play, Clément Benoit, Thibaud Elziere and Olivier Bonnet are also investing.

With the new influx of funding, the startup plans to hire 50 people and improve its product. You can expect more integrations with e-commerce platforms, ERPs and marketplaces. Bigblue is also going to build out its own shipment tracking pages and email personalization toolkit. The company will also improve product returns and delivery ETAs.

from eCommerce – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2KKbfh9
via IFTTT

Tier 3 or Tier 2 means few freedoms as England Lockdown ends

The Government has announced which areas will fall into Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 restrictions when England comes out of lockdown after the 2nd of December. The bad news is almost all of England is in at least Tier 2 with even more in Tier 3 than before the lockdown started. The good news (trying to be positive), is that for many lockdown restrictions will relax very slightly into Tier 2 and online retail will be bigger than ever.

Only the Isle of Wight, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly will be in Tier 1 allowing for indoor mingling for groups of up to 6. That’s if you fancy it and you trust each other not to be infected for which there is no certainty – mixing is certainly not compulsory.

30 odd million living in England will now find themselves in Tier 2 where there’s no indoor mingled allowed barring families and your support bubble, although children of separated parents can still move between households and up to six can meet outside. Liverpool, the first council to accept Tier 3 at the earliest possible opportunity, is now in Tier 2.

Sadly Liverpool are an exception and most areas that were in Tier 3 prior to the lockdown remain with these restrictions, plus a host of other areas previously in lower Tiers. In Tier 3 which includes around 23 million people, you can only meet up to 6 others outside in certain public spaces like parks – your mates can’t even hang out in your garden.

For many, the move from lockdown to the new Tiers, with even more tough restrictions than previously, won’t seem much different. Even in Tier 2 many businesses won’t be able to open profitably – only in Tier 1 can pubs open, in all Tier 2 areas of the country they can only serve alcohol with a substantial meal and in Tier 3 it’s takeaway only.

There is a full list of activities that are allowed and prohibited, depending upon which Tier you reside in, available on Gov.UK

The criteria for deciding which Tier your area is in

• Case detection rates in all age groups
• Case detection rates in the over-60s
• The rate at which cases are rising or falling
• Positivity rate (the number of positive cases detected as a percentage of tests taken)
• Pressure on the NHS, including current and projected occupancy

This is going to be a very long hard winter for the nations’ health and relaxing restrictions over Christmas can only make things worse. For online this means delivery companies are going to be under more pressure than ever before. For the NHS the Christmas Covid spike will likely hit in January.

It’s probably not too much of a stretch to say that if you decide to ignore the rules and meet up with multiple friends and family to exchange gifts over Christmas, the most likely gift you’ll receive this year could end up being Covid.

The post Tier 3 or Tier 2 means few freedoms as England Lockdown ends appeared first on Tamebay.

from Ecommerce – Tamebay https://ift.tt/2HFfE3P
via IFTTT

2021 UK & EU ecommerce VAT overhaul webinar with Avalara

Watch this webinar with VAT expert, Richard Asquith, VP Global Indirect Tax at Avalara to learn how the ecommerce VAT overhaul and obligations for sellers and marketplaces in the UK & EU will impact your business. This is be a practical insight into the changes from the perspective of a marketplace seller giving actionable steps to take away.

What’s happening in the ecommerce VAT overhaul?

The UK’s HMRC ecommerce VAT overhaul kicks in on the 1st of January 2021. This is at the same time as the end of the Brexit transition period, which brings separate VAT and customs changes. The new UK ecommerce reforms puts new VAT calculation and collections obligations on UK and overseas sellers. It also makes online marketplaces (‘OMP’) responsible for the VAT on certain transactions by their sellers.

To follow, on the 1st of July 2021, the member states of the European Union (EU) will introduce sweeping reforms to the VAT obligations of B2C ecommerce sellers and marketplaces.

How the ecommerce VAT overhaul will impact your marketplace business

In this webinar you will learn how these changes will affect your business when:

• You list on a UK marketplace and an EU citizen buys from you
• When you list directly on a marketplace across the UK-EU border
• When you use a marketplace with fulfilment services across the UK-EU border
• If you are outside the UK and EU and sell on UK or EU marketplaces

This webinar provides an overview of the major reforms, and how it will affect sellers and marketplaces’ obligations, both in the UK and EU. Watch below or on TamebayTV.

The post 2021 UK & EU ecommerce VAT overhaul webinar with Avalara appeared first on Tamebay.

from Ecommerce – Tamebay https://ift.tt/39l9VeO
via IFTTT

New working capital solution launched for Newegg sellers

Newegg have recently announced a partnership with funding platform Payability to launch Newegg Capital, an integrated toolkit of working capital solutions to Newegg’s third-party marketplace sellers.

Newegg Capital will make use of Payability’s market-leading products, Instant Access and Instant Advance, to give sellers the financial tools needed to accelerate their business. By leveraging Payability’s technology-driven funding solutions, the new platform provides Newegg sellers with access to working capital so they can strategically invest in inventory, marketing, and any additional resources needed to grow their businesses.

“We are thrilled to launch Newegg Capital with Payability. Our seller base needs the resources to expand their businesses and keep up with increased demand. Payability’s seamless platform allows us to quickly and efficiently launch a financial solution for our seller base, and we’re excited to partner with them to bring these tools to market.”
– Robert Chang, CFO, Newegg

Sellers will have access to accelerated daily payments to take advantage of growth opportunities and maximize cash flow, and Instant Advance, a capital advance product for sellers to make investments in inventory or marketing. Payability doesnt require credit checks but instead considers eCommerce-specific factors like sales history, product category, and supply chain to make their funding offers in as little as 24 hours.

“At Payability, we understand that access to capital is now more important than ever. Newegg Capital eliminates friction for sellers who need access to working capital by connecting them directly to financial tools within their seller ecosystem. We are thrilled to be partnered with Newegg as they continue to invest in and expand their seller marketplace.”
– Keith Smith, Co-founder, and CEO, Payability

The post New working capital solution launched for Newegg sellers appeared first on Tamebay.

from Ecommerce – Tamebay https://ift.tt/367ZJV7
via IFTTT

ShipStation Guide to impact of delivery experience on customer satisfaction

The sharp increase in online shopping in 2020 has made the delivery experience more influential. It’s the final interaction consumers have with retailers, so greatly impacts the overall ecommerce experience and repeat purchase decisions.

ShipStation surveyed over 500 ecommerce customers across the UK to better understand how events in 2020 have reshaped their delivery expectations.

This Guide provides you with insight into ShipStation’s findings and delivery experience strategies you can implement to increase customer conversion, satisfaction, and retention.

Our key findings include:

• Online shopping is up 31% this year, with 60% of consumers attributing this to COVID-19.
• 77% of consumers say a poor delivery experience (such as late delivery or damaged merchandise) negatively impacts their perception of a retailer – even if it was a carrier issue.
• 80% of customers consider the ease of returns more than they did pre-COVID.
• 40% of consumers are more likely to pay for express delivery now than they were pre-COVID. This is up from 31% last year.

Download your copy today.

The post ShipStation Guide to impact of delivery experience on customer satisfaction appeared first on Tamebay.

from Ecommerce – Tamebay https://ift.tt/3q5gqZl
via IFTTT

Warehousing and Logistics in Central Europe post UK Transition

With the UK’s transition period coming to an end on the 31st of December 2020, many online retailers are considering locating stock in Central Europe European warehouses to fulfil continental orders.

Central Europe, and especially Poland and Czech Republic, has grown to be a significant logistic hub and so it’s no surprise to see Amazon with fulfilment centres in these countries. That should give you a hint that, whilst Germany and France might seem obvious choices it might be worth considering other Central Europe locations.

Due to excellent geolocation, vast offer of warehouses, technological development and attractive labour force, Central Europe has become a leading destination for ecommerce leaders like Amazon, Zalando or The HUT Group. The region’s industrial space is ever more in demand as more UK retailers and e-retailers are seeking to move part of their stock to continental Europe with end of transition period.

Together with industrial and logistics experts from Cushman & Wakefield, DIT Poland brings you this webinar on the offer of the warehousing and logistics sector in Poland and Czech Republic. Dedicated to all UK business who looking for smooth access to their customers and suppliers post EU Exit.

The post Warehousing and Logistics in Central Europe post UK Transition appeared first on Tamebay.

from Ecommerce – Tamebay https://ift.tt/3o2j4gj
via IFTTT

Setting up for success in this year’s early seasonal rush

When it comes to ecommerce, 2020 has been a year like no other and there’s no sign of that yet abating. With many supply chains struggling to get goods out on time during lockdown earlier this year, the IMRG recently issued a warning to shoppers that they should plan their Christmas shopping early to avoid disappointment.

Jim Herbert, general manager of BigCommerce EMEA, shares his advice with retailers on how to optimise – and handle – this exacerbated seasonal rush.

Communicating with customers

It’s clear that shoppers are already picking up on the perceived need to get their Christmas shopping done early. According to a survey conducted by OnePoll, two-thirds of Britons will have completed their holiday shopping before the end of November. Similarly John Lewis has reported its Christmas shop sales are already 63% higher than the same time in 2019.

While creating demand through techniques like showing online shoppers how many other people are looking at the same product are powerful, balanced messaging this year will be important to avoid panic buying. In such an uncertain climate, communication is key and reassuring customers that there is still time to get what they need will be more meaningful than promoting a sense of FOMO. Site stickiness – in short keeping customers on your site for longer – is beneficial too. Highlighting engaging content to entertain and attract attention is great for “stickiness” and is particularly important with physical shops being closed.

To ensure you’re able to keep up with the rush, time any customer offers around slower points in your operations and consider starting reductions earlier than usual. With social distancing also putting pressure on warehousing spaces, creating a steadier flow of sales will help you deliver a more consistent service across the whole festive period.

Strength-testing your platform

Ecommerce websites will be under more pressure than ever this year, with the BRC reporting that in the three months leading up to October 2020, non-food retail sales increased by 4% and continued to grow year-on-year over the course of the month. According to Google, a delay of five seconds on load speed can increase bounce rate by 90%. Optimising site speed is a must.

Similarly avoiding downtime during key shopping periods is paramount. Site downtime can cost businesses $5,600 per minute according to Gartner research. Do as much testing of your site as possible in advance, from capacity to functionality, to ensure a seamless performance on the night.

Optimising the sales process

With the shops shut, a lot of pre-Christmas shopping will take place online this year. Without physical factors of parking and store location to take into account, the digital marketplace will be more competitive and crowded than ever.

Firstly, make sure your products are easy to find. Ensure they have clear descriptions and attractive photography. Based on the popular Hick’s Law, many industry experts believe simply-designed ecommerce websites could have higher conversion rates. Avoid cluttering the site with too many sources of conflicting information or products, and outline clear calls to action, such as “buy now” or add to basket.

Optimising your omnichannel approach is also important. It is forecast that by 2021 the global social commerce market will grow by 31%, with 87% of consumers taking an action after seeing product information on Instagram. Ensuring you understand where your audiences are and engaging with them in their native environments is beneficial. Marks & Spencer has seen over one million new customers, following the relaunch of its loyalty app in time for Christmas and Black Friday. Consistency in brand experience is key to nurturing loyalty, so only take on the channels you know you can manage to a high standard.

Lastly, checkout and returns. Again, here it’s about convenience. Offering multiple payment options at checkout and removing the need for shoppers to have a card to hand speeds up the process significantly. Choice here is key and the more methods you can provide, the better. A peak in online shopping is going to see a surge in returns and with movement once again limited, couriers and postal services are addressing this challenge. Royal Mail recently announced its new ‘Drop and Collect’ service, a first for the company, which allows customers to have parcels collected from their doorstep for just 72p.

Driving festive cheer and business success

Whether you’ll be seeing family and friends in person or are looking to Hermes or the Royal Mail to play Father Christmas, showing your loved ones you’re thinking about them will be more important than ever for many of us. Online retailers will be in demand this year. Keep front of mind the role you can play in bringing a little magic to everyone’s festive season, while ensuring your business is set for success.

The post Setting up for success in this year’s early seasonal rush appeared first on Tamebay.

from Ecommerce – Tamebay https://ift.tt/363iskE
via IFTTT

Amazon expands IP Accelerator to Europe after US SMBs register 6,000 trademarks

As we head into the biggest shopping period of the year — which this year may well have an even stronger online component than usual because of Covid-19 — Amazon has launched its latest effort to combat the sale of counterfeit goods on its site.

The e-commerce giant today announced that its IP Accelerator in now live in Europe — specifically France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands and the United Kingdom — to help SMBs selling on Amazon obtain trademarks on their intellectual property, protect their brands and tackle the sale of counterfeit goods, connecting companies with recommended legal firms to carry out work. Joining the IP Accelerator is free, while the legal aid is provided as “low-cost assistance”, with those costs coming in the form of “competitive, pre-negotiated rates,” Amazon said.

The European launch — in Amazon’s six biggest markets in Europe, covering more than 150,000 small and medium businesses selling on Amazon’s platform, which account for more than half the products sold in the region — comes just over a year after Amazon kicked off an IP Accelerator in the U.S., in October 2019.

Amazon today said that the U.S. effort has so far yielded 6,000 trademark applications submitted to the US Patent and Trademark Office by SMBs working through the program.

Amazon has long struggled with counterfeit and other illicit items sold through its marketplace — which brings in third-party sellers and is built on the very concept of economies of scale, offering a vast array of choices to shoppers, and the IP Accelerator comes on the heels of a lot of other proactive efforts to battle the situation.

They have included Amazon filing a number of lawsuits — both on its own and in partnership with others, and most recently, just this month, being the plaintiff in a case that interestingly extended outside its own platform to target online influencers.

It also has built a lot of technology also to help track and spot illicit goods.

And it’s working with government authorities, most recently in an initiative to halt the import of counterfeit inventory before it gets sold or delivered to buyers.

It’s a Sisyphean task in some regards: Amazon’s growth means more sellers, and more goods to triage, and more chances for dodgy items. But it’s one that is very much in Amazon’s interest to get right: if it can’t protect IP, the best brands will stay away, and consumers will start to lose confidence in the platform, too.

That’s where initiatives like the IP Accelerator come in, where the idea is that it gives sellers who are smaller more direct control over their own brand destinies.

The focus on SMBs is very specific and not just because of their collective selling power on Amazon. They are most often not in full possession of their legal options, and perhaps also worried about the costs of getting involved in trademarking, with a recent report from the European Intellectual Property Office finding that just 9% of SMBs have registered IP rights, versus 36% of larger companies.

“We know from our conversations with small business owners that there is often confusion about why IP rights are important and how sellers can secure them,” said Francois Saugier, Vice President for EU Seller Services, Amazon, in a statement. “As part of our broader commitment to supporting small businesses, we have set up IP Accelerator to make the IP registration process as easy and as affordable as possible for entrepreneurs in the early days of their businesses.”

In addition to legal assistance, SMBs in the program can then join the Amazon’s Brand Registry. This currently covers some 350,000 brands and gives businesses the ability to manage and track their brands, using automated algorithms built by Amazon and giving participants a hotline to reporting and acting on potential copycats and other trademark criminals.

One IP publication, IP Watchdog, describes how the IP Accelerator is a particularly disruptive concept in part because of that quick access to the Brand Registry: Previously, a company would have had to have a trademark approved by the patent office before joining. Now, it seems that as long as the application is in progress — via the legal firms that have been picked to be a part of the IP Accelerator — you can join the registry. Businesses generally try to join it to get a leg up on their marketing, and critics see the Accelerator as one way to potentially game that system.

(The other way that the IP Accelerator is disruptive, according to the article? By forcing a pricing structure for trademarking services that departs from the norm, for a potentially very large audience of customers, which also could lay the groundwork for a wider set of legal services for businesses.)

The business of providing business services to SMBs on the platform is an interesting one.

We’ve seen a number of startups emerge in recent times that are looking to acquire and roll up the best of the SMBs that sell on Amazon with big ambitions of their own.

Their plans are to use economies of scale to run these businesses better, with better supply-chain management, marketing, IP control and more. That strategy is predicated on the fact that those small businesses are finding it a challenge to take their enterprises to the next level on their own.

In that regard, Amazon’s IP Accelerator potentially gives those smaller sellers another helping hand to stay independent (or at least grow their businesses enough to catch the attention of these consolidators).

“Great ideas are the core of every good business. Turning those ideas into a reality relies on IP,” said Pippa Hall, director of Innovation and Chief Economist at the UK’s Intellectual Property Office, said in a statement. “Understanding, protecting and getting the most out of your IP is a crucial ingredient of success. A good IP strategy should sit at the heart of every good business plan.”

from eCommerce – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2V7kaeh
via IFTTT

How to win the big sale events in Chinese ecommerce

Bigger than Black Friday, learn how to win the big sale events in Chinese ecommerce in this webinar presented by the DIT.

More than £30 billion is spent online on imported (35%) and domestic consumer brands during China’s version of Black Friday, which takes place on 11 November every year and is referred to as “11.11”.

There is also a second shopping sales festival in June referred to as 6.18 which triggers similar spend. These huge sales events are a brilliant way to maximise sales for UK businesses.

During this webinar, hosted by the DIT and Avenue51 – China’s biggest online retailer of British consumer goods – you will hear from proven C-level experts in Chinese ecommerce.

Content will include exactly how British brands including Waitrose, Cow & Gate and ThisWorks are operating in China.

The webainr will cover how they successfully win sales and market share during these festivals. It will also show you the basic building blocks that your business can put in place to enter China, participate in these events, and win sales.

This is a must attend webinar for every British consumer brand that wants to enter China.

The post How to win the big sale events in Chinese ecommerce appeared first on Tamebay.

from Ecommerce – Tamebay https://ift.tt/3l51Qx1
via IFTTT

Number of 2020 Christmas cards sent boosted by pandemic

In a year tinged by separation and restriction, more than half of Britons (55%) believe that sending Christmas cards to loved ones is more important than ever, according to new Royal Mail research. That’s good news if you sell cards online and even better news if you sell personalised cards as 2020 Christmas cards will be more in demand than ever.

One in ten UK adults plan to send up to ten more 2020 Christmas cards than they usually do, as a direct result of lockdown restrictions.

Of those who do plan to send more cards, the results showed little difference between age groups. 15 per cent of 18-24 year olds will be sending more Christmas cards this year, compared to just under one in ten (8%) of those aged fifty five plus.

The Enduring Appeal Of The Christmas Card

Three quarters of UK adults believe that sending a Christmas card is a more meaningful way of letting loved ones know that you are thinking of them than a social media message or a text. Previously released figures reveal that more than six in ten also preferred receiving a Christmas card over any other form of festive greeting, including via social media (4%), text message (3%) or even face-to-face (19%).

Moreover, when asked why Christmas cards are so synonymous with the festive season, over half love displaying them in their homes. 45% look forward to reading the messages inside, and 45% also enjoy the particular thrill of receiving something through the post.

Just under half of 18-24 year olds prefer Christmas cards as a way of spreading festive cheer than via any other medium, including text (38%) and WhatsApp messages (24%).

London, the East of England, the North West and the East Midlands (12%) are where most people plan to send additional Christmas cards this year, as a result of lockdown restrictions. Figures released in 2018 also suggest that the residents of Newcastle (91%), Birmingham (86%), and Leeds (86%) place the most value on Christmas cards in the UK.

Who’s on your 2020 Christmas Card List?

Loved ones living on their own are key priorities for the nation’s Christmas card lists this year. Extended family members living outside the sender’s household are most likely to receive a card (71%), followed by friends (65%), parents, current or ex work colleagues (25%), grandparents (17%) and great-grandparents (2%).

Local postmen or women are also popular additions, along with other community key workers, including nurses, doctors and teachers.

“This has been an immensely challenging and sometimes isolating year for so many, which is why it is more important than ever to find a truly meaningful way of letting loved ones know that you are thinking of them – even if you can’t be there in person. There’s something inherently festive and heart-warming about sending and receiving a physical card through the post, that someone has lovingly taken the time to write. Put simply, sometimes a letter or card is better.”
– Mark Street, Head of Campaigns, Royal Mail

Last posting dates for 2020 Christmas cards

Festive wordsmiths are reminded to post their letters and cards with enough time to spare for Christmas. The last posting date for 2nd Class mail is Friday 18th December, and Monday 21st December 2020 for 1st Class mail. For Special Delivery, it is Wednesday 23rd December.

A History Of Christmas Cards

• Across Europe, people have distributed wood prints with religious themes for Christmas since the Middle Ages.
• The custom of sending Christmas cards as we know them today started in Britain from 1840, when the first “Penny Post” public postal deliveries began,
• The first Christmas card was commissioned in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole who had helped to introduce the Penny Post service three years earlier. It was designed by John C Horsley. It was printed and then hand-coloured.
• One of the original 1,000 cards sent is also the most valuable in the world, according to Guinness World Records. The card, which was originally sent by Sir Henry Cole to his grandmother in 1843, was sold at an auction in Devizes, Wiltshire for £20,000 on 24 November 2001. Another was sold in December 2005 for £8,500.
• By 1860, the custom of sending Christmas cards was well established in Britain, and cards became more accessible.
• The late 19th Century saw the creation of increasingly intricate designs, often highlighting the celebration of Christmas. Cards sent from the Western Front during the First World War offered hand-stitched festive greetings, whereas the era of rationing was reflected in cards sent in 1940 during the Second World War.
• Christmas cards in the 1950s and 1960s were more simply illustrated with plainer colours and patterns.
• From 1980 to the present day, Christmas cards have been more indicative of the time, reflecting the shift in society towards humour and satire. Although the designs over the past few years have had a greater emphasis on contemporary rather traditional imagery, the message of spreading Christmas wishes has stayed the same.

The post Number of 2020 Christmas cards sent boosted by pandemic appeared first on Tamebay.

from Ecommerce – Tamebay https://ift.tt/368nfkZ
via IFTTT

VAT overhaul webinar for marketplace sellers today 2pm

Come the 1st of January, what is your VAT and tariff liability if someone in the EU buys from you as a UK seller (or vice versa). On the 1st of January, everything changes – the UK transition agreement with the EU expires and as if that wasn’t enough both the UK and the EU have a VAT overhaul coming in 2021, the UK on the 1st of January and the EU on the 1st of July.

There’s a lot going on so we’re thrilled to be joined in today’s webinar by Richard Asquith, VP Global Indirect Tax at Avalara. Richard brings a lifetime of experience and (unusually as he himself says) as a VAT expert everyone wants to talk to him at the moment… and 2pm today is your chance to hear directly from him.

The UK and EU VAT overhaul coupled with the ramifications of Brexit means that this is one webinar that’s crucial for you to attend. The penalties for getting it wrong range from very upset customers who will never buy from you again when their purchases get stuck in customs or arrive with an unexpected bill, right up to fines from VAT authorities.

This webinar is for:

• UK sellers selling to the EU
• EU sellers selling to the UK
• Worldwide sellers selling to either/or/both the UK and the EU

Richard manages to take the complicated taxation landscape and in today’s webinar will convey the information you need to know in plain speaking easy to understand English.

Sign up here to attend the webinar in person at 2pm today, Thursday the 25th of November or to receive a playback link if you’re unable to listen live.

The post VAT overhaul webinar for marketplace sellers today 2pm appeared first on Tamebay.

from Ecommerce – Tamebay https://ift.tt/3m8RRbq
via IFTTT

Square Kitchen Display System (KDS) for Square Restaurants subscribers

Square is launching Square Kitchen Display System (KDS) for Square Restaurants subscribers today – Square’s first product-line extension for restaurants improves efficiency, communication, and accuracy for restaurant sellers of all sizes. The software seamlessly displays and organises order tickets no matter where they’re placed – whether that’s from a restaurant’s point of sale or Square Online site.

With restaurants balancing uncertain re-opening schedules, customers ordering take-aways whilst shielding at home and razor-thin margins, it’s more important than ever that they stay organised and don’t miss a sale. This is where Square KDS comes in as it has been built to help restaurants with front and back of house communication, improve ticket times and manage order flow from one central location, regardless of what the future holds.

Square Kitchen Display System is useful for any restaurant that manages a high volume of orders across multiple channels and wants a solution to replace paper tickets. With customers ordering in more ways than ever before and with increases in home delivery orders, in-store pickups and with the expected return to indoor dining when the second lockdown expires, Square KDS helps businesses improve order efficiency, speed and most importantly, reduce sunk costs due to returns or refunds.

It provides restaurant owners with increased insight into their business. Ticket timers allow restaurants to stay ahead of the dinner rush, and kitchen performance reports show how long stations are taking to complete orders, resulting in faster, more accurate performance. As every restaurant is different, Square KDS also allows owners to customise ticket layouts and text sizes based on their kitchen’s unique needs and route specific items to different stations quickly and efficiently, helping to manage kitchen flow in real-time.

Square Kitchen Display System is just the latest product Square has built to help restaurant sellers continue serving their customers this year. Every business has different needs, and with Square, sellers can fulfil orders however it makes the most sense for their business – whether that’s via curb side pickup, local delivery, or self-ordering through QR codes.

The post Square Kitchen Display System (KDS) for Square Restaurants subscribers appeared first on Tamebay.

from Ecommerce – Tamebay https://ift.tt/3nSWxmo
via IFTTT

We’re actually reading junk mail due to lockdown boredom

Spending more time at home during lockdown has resulted in a huge upswing in the amount of engagement customers are giving to physical mail, according to new Royal Mail research. What many of us used to consider junk mail is now a welcome diversion and what’s more we’re taking advertisers up on their offer.

Whilst many marketplace sellers stay purely online with perhaps some email marketing, social media and paid search campaigns, now might be the time to consider sending some good old fashioned snail mail to your registered users or even a more widespread mail drop, the chances are higher than normal that they’ll welcome a bit of additional junk mail.

Royal Mail say that consumers engaged with 96% of all mail during lockdown. In fact, 88% of people said they paid as much or more attention to mail during lockdown. And they interacted with each item of mail an average of 4.5 times.

There was also a 70% year on year increase in the number of people going online as a result of something they read in a mailing2. The growing appeal impacted all age groups, with growing levels of engagement among the young. Just under one in four (24%) of those that did engage with mail more in lockdown were in the 18-34-year-old bracket.

The move comes as local businesses place growing importance on keeping in touch with customers during lockdown. With a large percentage of the population currently spending a lot of time at home, and with this trend set to continue, the impact of mail is predicted to be greater than ever.

The authority and trustworthiness of mail has also been recognised by Government – sending key communications via letter during the pandemic. Royal Mail was entrusted with delivering the letter from the Prime Minister to every household in the UK at the start of the coronavirus lockdown.

“It has never been a more important time for brands to strengthen their relationships and build connections with their customers. The pandemic has meant that home has become and will remain an important and safe place for people creating the ideal environment for them to engage with direct mail more deeply than ever. Now is the perfect time for brands to deepen their customer relationships and drive revenue through mail.”
– Amanda Griffiths, Head of Communications Planning, MarketReach, Royal Mail

The post We’re actually reading junk mail due to lockdown boredom appeared first on Tamebay.

from Ecommerce – Tamebay https://ift.tt/2HtYE0a
via IFTTT