Ahead of E-Commerce Week next week (18-22 March), which encourages more of the UK’s small businesses to sell online, the Daily Update covers some of the latest e-commerce news and the Institute of Export & International Trade’s (IOE&IT) involvement in the campaign.
IOE&IT webinars
IOE&IT is supporting E-Commerce Week as part of its work with the E-Commerce Trade Commission, convened to advise the Department for business and Trade on how to get more SMEs trading online. This followed a report by the Social Market Foundation which found that there are currently 70,000 UK SMEs that could be selling internationally online but aren’t.
As part of the week, IOE&IT will be holding a pair of webinars designed to help SMEs capitalise on growing online trade.
Grace Thompson, IOE&IT UK public affairs lead, said:
“The first webinar will explore the connection between e-commerce and growth. The E-Commerce Trade Commission was convened by IOE&IT in June 2022 to find ways of boosting participation and support businesses towards trading via e-commerce platforms.
“Our valued Commission partners are: the Association of International Courier & Express Services (AICES), Alibaba, Amazon, eBay, the Federation of Small Businesses, Google, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and Shopify. The Department for Business and Trade also sits on the Commission in order to aid a smooth flow of feedback and ideas directly to policymakers.”
As part of the Commission’s business support mission, the week’s first webinar: ‘How businesses can use e-commerce to grow internationally’, will provide a panel session offering insight into a range of issues, including how businesses can get started in e-commerce exporting, the trade and customs requirements to be aware of and the support available from both industry and government.
The webinar is being held on 19 March, and you can register for it here.
We’ll be following this up on 20 March with another webinar considering ‘What is the social value of e-commerce trade?’.
Amid the rise of e-commerce, experts will discuss the risks arising from digital business environments, the importance of standards to protect consumers and how SMEs can grow online trade responsibly. You can register here.”
US TikTok ban
Last week the FT reported that US representatives had introduced legislation that would prohibit TikTok being sold via US app stores unless Chinese parent company ByteDance divest control in the social media platform.
If passed, the bill would pave the way for similar restrictions to be placed on social media companies based in China, Iran, Russia and North Korea.
Due to security concerns over data the Chinese company could capture, TikTok has been banned on government phones in the US, UK, EU and Canada.
TikTok have successfully challenged similar bans, such as a statewide measure proposed in Montana, on the ground that it’s unconstitutional.
The platform made similar claims in response to this latest attempt, stating:
“This bill is an outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much the authors try to disguise it.
“This legislation will trample the first amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5m small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs.”
Statistics suggest that the platform’s e-commerce side has rapidly expanded. Tech.co reported that TikTok Shop – the newly launched marketplace feature enabling sellers to promote their product to users who can then buy entirely in-app – had 200,000 users within days of launching.
Statista found that TikTok had converted a sizeable amount of its US users to buyers on TikTok Shop. By the end of the year, 30% of daily TikTok users were making purchases through TikTok shop and 29% of weekly users.
Temu-who?
Not a question that people will be asking for long, as the Chinese e-commerce giant continues to amass users, with 161 million monthly users globally, of which 51 million are from the US.
The Wall Street Journal profiled the emerging e-commerce app yesterday (11 March), noting how, in the space of just a year, Temu has gone from little-known to almost ubiquitous online.
While the company’s offer of providing cheap Chinese goods with the aim of acquiring vast market share is hardly a new idea, there are some notable features setting it apart.
In a lesson proven by the likes of Barbie, ‘marketing spend is destiny’. Temu spent an estimated US$1.7bn on advertising in 2023, with a projected $3bn on the cards this year.
WSJ also notes the way in which Temu has gamified the shopping experience for users, with cash prizes won upon joining with only a short time to spend.
Deviating from the approach of US e-commerce giants, which have prioritised a reduction in delivery time in recent years, Temu still focuses on keeping price points low with a higher than average door-to-door delivery time – 4 – 11 days at express option.
Air cargo boost
E-commerce has been cited as a key driver of the surge in air cargo over the past year.
Ocean and air freight analytics firm, Xeneta, found that February saw air cargo increase 11% on the previous year.
Speaking to Aircargo News, Niall van de Wouw, Xeneta’s chief airfreight officer said:
“Trends indicate more consumers are buying on e-commerce platforms and the intercontinental nature of these businesses, as well as the speed with which they are expected to deliver, is benefiting air cargo.
“For some airlines, e-commerce now makes up over 50% of their revenue ex-East Asia.”
Disruption to global shipping due to ongoing Houthi attacks to vessels travelling through the Red Sea was another reason for a jump in numbers, as international traders sought safer alternative routes.