E-retailers in Europe plan to launch an ambitious ‘e-logistics platform’ combining transparency,
quality improvement and cost reductions in a wide-ranging initiative to improve cross-border parcel
delivery, the Ecommerce Europe association announced today.
The platform would include a ‘matchmaking’ database of retailers and delivery suppliers,
potential lower prices through volume consolidation, and information on contracts. The association
also wants to see “fair” distance-based cross-border pricing.
The organisation, which represents 16 national e-commerce associations and over 25,000
online retailers, presented the plans in a detailed position paper entitled ‘e-logistics: a need
for integrated European solutions’. Parcel delivery will feature prominently in the launch of the
European Commission’s ‘Digital Single Market’ strategy next month and will be the subject of an EC
review later this year.
Marlene ten Ham, Secretary General of Ecommerce Europe, commented: “Research amongst our
members shows that inefficient cross-border delivery is consistently in the top three of biggest
barriers for online merchants to sell in another Member State. High European delivery performance
is a key driver for the success of web merchants’ business models. I see it as our job to bring
merchants and the delivery sector together to come to workable solutions”.
The high cost and operational difficulties of cross-border delivery are one of the biggest
obstacles to more online shopping between EU member states, Ecommerce Europe argued. Particular
barriers for e-retailers include a lack of pricing transparency, a lack of delivery performance
information, long transit times, a lack of track-and-trace, complex customs and VAT rules, and
difficult reverse logistics, it pointed out.
“Merchants and consumers need a European-wide delivery system in order to create more
innovation and greater transparency in the logistic chain. Additionally, more options are needed,
including different offers, alternative affordable delivery options, more flexibility, more
information and transparency from delivery service providers,” the association wrote.
Ecommerce Europe welcomed the postal industry’s ‘Interconnect’ initiative, designed to link
up postal networks in order to provide common delivery products, but said the initiative should be
extended to all delivery service providers used by merchants, and should not remain within the
postal sector only. The association also regretted that prices, which are the highest concern for
merchants, “have not been considered as a priority within the (Interconnect) programme”.
The association said it wanted to “stimulate growth” by developing initiatives such as the
creation of an e-Logistics Platform. “The Ecommerce Europe e-Logistics Platform will have an
enormous impact on transparency, cost decrease and quality improvement. It will be the catalyst
power at the centre of the whole e-Logistics ecosystem”, claimed Stéphane Tomczak, Chair of the
Ecommerce Europe e-Logistics Expert Group.
Outlining the concept, Ecommerce Europe said the e-Logistics platform intends to be the most
comprehensive source for delivery intelligence in Europe and lists all delivery suppliers active in
e-commerce on the same website for the first time, with all necessary details allowing merchants to
quickly identify for free which operators are most suited to their needs. There would also be
detailed country-level information on relevant regulations and local market characteristics.
Moreover, the platform aims to help retailers in their supplier selection by integrating a ‘
matchmaking’ and marketplace feature that would display “the most relevant suppliers” based on
profiles of retailer needs. The e-logistics platform would also enable improved service by
providing standardised neutral analysis of delivery firms’ track and trace services.
In addition, Ecommerce Europe intends to incorporate a feature allowing merchants to combine
volume, both for first mile freight forwarding and for last mile volume discounts. “This feature
will be especially useful for SMEs that don’t have the necessary scale to inject their volume in
foreign networks and will hence be offered a much wider choice in service offering and much cheaper
options in cross-border delivery. Ecommerce Europe favours this freight pooling capacity between
retailers as it will improve the trucks fill ratio and will reduce the environmental impact of
delivery as well.”
Furthermore, the platform intends to help merchants in their decision-making process by
indicating benchmarks both for Service Level Agreements (SLA) and tariffs, by providing a guidance
in the contract drafting and by providing merchants with an overview upon the total cost of
service, which goes beyond the delivery cost itself, since it includes costs for non-quality as
well (contacts, claims, returns and reputation).
Ecommerce Europe also issued recommendations to decrease the costs of cross-border
deliveries, and called for a move towards distance-based pricing rather than based on national
borders. The cost of a delivery should consist of a fraction of the outbound country (first mile)
and a fraction of the inbound country (last mile), both calculated on a marginal basis, it urged.
“Borders, which have become only virtual in the European Union, still remain a strong
impediment to the transport of goods. By conceding to each other fair terminal prices for the use
of the fraction of their network, delivery operators would significantly reduce crossborder
delivery costs,” it said.
Ecommerce Europe also suggested that delivery ‘consortiums’ comprising local operators
specialised in particular areas or services could be set up to offer one-stop solutions for
e-merchants.
In addition, the association called for open standards in IT developments and better
dialogue between merchants and delivery operators to develop new delivery products more suited to
merchants’ and end consumers’ needs.
