Ecommerce has seen an unprecedented boom in recent years with annual growth soaring 18% from 2018 to 2019. Worldwide, ecommerce sales topped $3.5 trillion USD in 2019 (Statista, 2019), taking a 14.1% share of the global retail market as a whole.

This, coupled with consumers having more control over their purchasing and the places they purchase, has meant that an effective 3PL system is a necessity for any business wanting to succeed in a heavily crowded market.

INTERNATIONAL SPREAD

Ecommerce isn’t expected to slow down any time soon and with that comes the added bonus of increasing online sales and potentially lower overheads than a brick and mortar store.

It is also expanding rapidly into growing markets with China’s ecommerce sales increasing by 28.3% over the past year (eMarketer, 2019), a monumental statistic. China’s value to the ecommerce market cannot be emphasised enough with a huge 54.7% share, nearly twice the size of the next five countries combined.

Back in Western Europe, the UK holds the largest ecommerce market with a value of $141.93 billion as of June 2019. Having an e-commerce strategy for people wanting to make a mark in the UK markets is becoming a sure fire necessity. The importance and projected growth of UK markets, as well as the share of the market that e-commerce is predicted to have, mustn’t be overlooked.

93% of UK internet users are expected to shop online in 2020, the highest market penetration in Europe.

Bray can help here, our UK based 3PL service can help you to make a stamp in the rapidly growing market. This year we are hoping to increase our warehouse space by a further 50% on top of the 20,000 sq ft we added this past year.

ECO 2020

With Greta Thunberg being made Time’s Person of the Year, climate change and sustainability has never been higher on the agenda for companies. Last year we wrote about how we are accredited to ISO14001 which specifies the requirements of an environmental management system (EMS). An EMS is a systemic approach to handling environmental issues within an organization. The ISO 14001 standard is based on the Plan-Check-Do-Review-Improve cycle.

To reduce packaging waste and its fulfilment costs, Amazon is now charging fees to sellers that don’t comply with its packaging guidelines. Oversized or unnecessary packaging results in a $1.99 charge. The requirements include replacing boxes with flexible packages, using fully recyclable packaging, and better matching products with appropriate sized boxes.

This will be a huge trend going into 2020 and beyond so choosing a company that can provide and comply with strict regulations is essential to show that you are committed to helping with global warming, especially with younger demographics for whom climate change is a much bigger priority.

HOW BRAY LEAD THE WAY

Not only do we pick and pack for you, but we will also suggest the best warehouse packaging options for your business. The environmental stance is the same amongst all our packaging suppliers; that they recognise the need for sustainable development and continually aim to improve the environmental effect of activities.

We only source packaging from suppliers accredited with ISO14001. This standard is the most important standard within the ISO 14000 series. ISO 14001 specifies the requirements of an environmental management system (EMS). An EMS is a systemic approach to handling environmental issues within an organization. The ISO 14001 standard is based on the Plan-Check-Do-Review-Improve cycle.

SPEED OF FULFILMENT

Analysts predict that in 2020 65% of retailers will offer same-day delivery (GoPeople, 2019) and with the biggest reason for cart abandonment in the US being costly shipping, these two factors combined show the reason for needing a reliable and fast 3PL system.

Customers now use online as their option for a high range of options for events, food and products that cannot be easily accessed and so same-day delivery means that once far fetched items are now readily accessible across the country in a matter of hours, if not days.

Multiple research items and studies show that customers are willing to pay more for higher quality service, including same-day delivery or set hour delivery.

Using a 3PL service with a 99.8% pick rate, such as ourselves, who have the requirement to manage your entire warehouse solution is a great way to offer such highly demanding services.