Canadian West Coast Strike Causes $19 Billion in Goods Backlog
The strike by port workers on Canada’s West Coast has caused $19 billion worth of goods to accumulate since Saturday, July 1, when the strike began. According to local time on July 4, the accumulated goods were worth up to $19 billion, and this number is expected to increase. The ports of Vancouver and Rupert are the two most affected ports, handling nearly 20% of U.S. goods, mostly from Asia. The goods passing through these ports mainly include critical auto parts (such as brakes), other automotive and manufacturing parts, holiday goods and consumer goods.
Temu Japan Station Officially Launched to Test Order Process and User Feedback
Recently, the cross-border e-commerce platform Temu was officially launched in Japan. As of now, including Japan, Temu has entered 23 markets including the U.S., Australia, Austria, Belgium, and Canada. Judging from the homepage, Temu Japan Station held a number of promotions at its opening, such as free shipping for a limited time and discounts up to 90% off. According to industry sources, Temu Japan Station will initially focus on testing the order process and user feedback by selecting stock from its existing European and American product libraries for testing. There are currently no clear external recruitment plans.
Amazon Australia’s Prime Day Online Spending Expected to Hit New High
According to Pattern’s latest research, online spending in Australia during the two-day Prime Day mega-promotion (July 11 and 12) is expected to hit a new high. The research found that over a quarter (43%) of Australians will visit the Amazon platform during the mega promotion. The report shows that home and kitchenware are the categories most consumers want to buy on Amazon, followed closely by electronics and computer equipment (57%) and books or e-books (55%). Consumer interest in buying sports, fitness and outdoor products (47%) as well as toys, children’s and baby products (44%) is also high. Compared to any other online market, high-income earners are most likely to shop on Amazon – 36% of Amazon shoppers are high-income earners, higher than the overall online market at 21%.
Flipkart Provides Loans to Platform Users
Recently, Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce platform under Walmart, has partnered with Axis Bank to begin providing loans to customers. The company said the move will boost sales and help it better compete with Amazon and Snapdeal. Currently, Flipkart’s platform has over 10 million sellers, accounting for 40% of India’s e-commerce market share. According to reports, Flipkart users can get up to 500,000 Indian rupees (A$9,000) in credit without submitting documents. Users can get this loan through the “buy now, pay later” option and co-branded credit cards.
The number of TikTok business users in Southeast Asia hits record high
Latest data shows that as of Q2 this year, the total monthly active users of TikTok in Southeast Asia reached 325 million, of which 15 million are business users. This shows that businesses are increasing their use of TikTok for marketing. In addition, a survey found that 97% of TikTok users in Thailand spent significantly more during the Mega Sales period. Their willingness to spend during this period was 3.5 times that of non-TikTok users, averaging between 10,000 and 17,600 baht. During the 2022 Mega Sales period, 80% of users shopped on TikTok Shop. The top three product categories on the platform were fashion and accessories (55%), beauty and personal care (46%), and food and beverage (40%). The main factors driving users to buy were free shipping during big markdown periods, coupon discounts and cash on delivery (COD).
Ozon Enters Armenian Market with Average Delivery Time of 7 Days
Ozon successfully entered Armenia, which means Ozon will sell tens of millions of goods from Russia in Armenia, with an average delivery time of about 7 days. The website covers almost all products in the Russian market – 196 million product names in more than 20 categories: from books, clothing to food or healthcare products. In the first phase, buyers in Armenia can receive goods through Omni Logistics delivery: through express delivery services and order issue points throughout the country. The average delivery time of goods is about 7 days. In the future, Ozon plans to develop its logistics infrastructure in Armenia, including its own delivery service, as well as receiving and shipping order points.
Amazon India Launches New Tool “Sale Event Planner”
According to foreign media reports, before the Prime Day promotion, Amazon India launched a new tool called “Sale Event Planner” to help sellers prepare for events that are about to be held and/or underway on Amazon.in. The tool is now available on the Amazon Seller App and will help sellers get event details in advance to ensure they have enough time to prepare. Sellers can use this tool to choose to offer great deals during promotional events and get recommendations on optimal inventory to stock up on, which are important steps to help increase sales during the event. Sellers using the Seller App and with at least one successful transaction can use this tool.
Meesho Partners with IISc to Develop Generative AI
At a time when generative artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) have become basic technologies in e-commerce, e-commerce platform Meesho has signed a one-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Visual and Artificial Intelligence Lab (VAL) of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) as an industry-academic collaboration. According to the cooperation, VAL will support Meesho in the development and progress in key areas such as generative AI and multimodal (LLM) large language models. Meesho’s goal is to expand in the e-commerce sector in the future. Based on this, Meesho’s data scientists will have the opportunity to work with researchers from the lab to jointly focus on advances in multimodal representation learning and generative AI.
New Seller Growth on Wildberry Down 4%
Tinkoff E-commerce, an online sales growth platform, released its second annual study on Russia’s popular markets and sales of goods. Between 2019 and March 31, 2023, new seller growth on Wildberry declined 4%. In the first quarter of 2023, sellers most often chose Ozon as the first platform to start trading, while a year ago Wildberry was the leader. In the first quarter of 2023, the proportion of sellers trading on Ozon increased from 23% to 34% in one year. Wildberry remains the most popular platform, but in the first quarter of 2023, the share of active sellers dropped from 64% for the full year to 52%.
Young Spaniards Aged 16-34 Are the Main Forces of Online Shopping
IAB Spain’s recent e-commerce report shows that fashion has become the most purchased category in online commerce, with up to 77% of digital buyers choosing this product category. The study highlights the stability of the number of online buyers. 77% of adult internet users (aged 16 to 74) use the internet as a purchasing channel. Female (80%) penetration rates remain significantly higher than male (75%). Young people aged 16 to 34 remain the main force of online shopping; the purchasing power of older buyers is lower. Platforms such as Amazon, eBay and AliExpress are still the main destinations for buyers to search for products. Two-thirds of buyers (59%) search for information directly on these platforms.
Singapore to Impose New Measures on Sellers Due to Increase in E-Commerce Complaints
According to Singapore media reports, in order to improve the pain points faced by consumers when shopping online, the country’s consumer association plans to formulate a new CaseTrust assurance mark framework for e-commerce practitioners covering the process from pre-sale to after-sales, which is expected to be launched in the second half of this year. The report said that in the first five months of 2023, the Consumers Association of Singapore received 1,408 complaints related to e-commerce shopping, accounting for more than 55% of the total complaints last year. Last year, CASE received a total of 2,530 related complaints, an increase of 15% year-on-year. The chairman of the Consumers Association of Singapore, Yeo Guat Kwang, revealed the above data and pointed out that after the new law is passed, government agencies can issue instructions to better combat online fraud cases.
The scale of e-commerce in France ranks second in Europe
Recently, the French E-commerce Sales Federation (Fevad) released the 2023 Annual Report on E-commerce in France. According to the report, the scale of e-commerce market in France ranks second in Europe, second only to the UK and ahead of Germany, and e-commerce has become an important driving force for the French economy. In 2022, e-commerce sales in France reached 150 billion euros, up 13.8% year-on-year, and online sales accounted for 12% of total retail sales. However, this growth was mainly driven by the growth of online sales in the transportation, tourism and leisure sectors, while merchandise sales declined, but increased by 33% compared with 2019.
CMA CGM Announces Increase in FAK Ocean Freight Rates on Asia-North Europe Routes
Recently, CMA CGM issued an official notice announcing that it will significantly increase FAK ocean freight rates on Asia-North Europe routes starting August 1. CMA CGM said the move is to “continue to provide reliable and efficient service to customers.” The new rates will take effect on August 1 until further notice. Starting August 1, FAK rates for all ports in Asia (including Japan, Southeast Asia and Bangladesh) exporting to ports in Northern Europe (including the UK and all routes from Portugal to Finland/Estonia) will increase to US$1,075 per 20-foot dry container and US$1,950 per 40-foot dry container/refrigerated container.
A total of 8,641 China-Europe cargo trains have operated so far this year, up 16% year-on-year.
From January to June this year, a total of 8,641 China-Europe cargo trains were operated, transporting 936,000 TEUs of goods, up 16% and 30% year-on-year respectively. Of these, 4,620 trains and 499,000 TEUs were outbound, up 16% and 29% year-on-year respectively; 4,021 trains and 437,000 TEUs were inbound, up 16% and 31% year-on-year respectively. So far, China-Europe cargo trains have operated more than 73,000 trains and transported 6.9 million TEUs of goods, reaching 216 cities in 25 European countries.
The global headphone market is expected to reach $184.61 billion by 2032
According to a new study by ResearchAndMarkets.com, the global in-ear headphones and over-headphones market is expected to reach $184.61 billion by 2032, driven by the increasing popularity of multimedia devices such as tablets, smartphones, iPods and MP3 players. The Asia-Pacific region has become the leading market for headphones and is expected to continue growing at a trajectory over the forecast period.
