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China is our biggest cargo market and the new VENUE declaration is just the latest outcome of our ongoing commitment to providing all our e-commerce customers with the best experience when using Schiphol as their European hub
Saskia van Pelt, Amsterdam Schiphol
Source: CH Robinson to restrictions on products with batteries, liquids and powders.“ So I don’ t know if you have any solutions on this, because the volumes are huge. And with these restrictions a lot of the time we have to switch to sea freight,” he added.
“ Online shoppers often select the least expensive shipping option. However, they also look for visibility, flexibility and control over when and where their packages are delivered. To succeed in today’ s dynamic retail environment, multichannel retailers are using their brick-and-mortar stores to reduce delivery time and cost,” observes Louis DeJianne, director for apparel, consumer goods and retail at UPS.
UPS works with retailers to develop end-to-end supply chain strategies that optimise their resources. Take for instance, the UPS My Choice, which gives consumers more control over where and how they receive residential deliveries, and the UPS Access Point network, which offers convenient delivery through more than 24,000 local retailers and delivery lockers in North America and Europe.
On the other hand, Amazon continues to filter the small and light delivery system to blunt competition from rival marketplaces that help Chinese merchants ship directly to US shoppers through the ePacket program. EPacket is an agreement between the US Postal Service and China Post that provides Chinese merchants cheap access to US shoppers on small packages weighing as much as 1.7 kg.
Chinese merchants selling on Amazon can ship orders through ePacket; this means Amazon gets less money than if it had handled packing and delivery, and those sales take longer to reach customers. Amazon pitches its quick delivery and proximity to US shoppers to encourage
8 | OCTOBER 2016 www. stattimes. com