Ep 226: Will Brexit and the STOP Act kill cross-border e-commerce?

Feb 1, 2021

Is seamless global cross-border e-commerce a thing of the past? Brexit has already disrupted international parcel delivery. Martyn Noble and David Spottiswood, co-founders of Hurricane Modular Commerce join me to discuss:

• Barriers coming up in cross-border e-commerce
• How data can facilitate a return to seamless cross-border e-commerce
• The “wild west” days are over! Data is now hugely important
• The size of the global cross-border market - and how much is being carried by the world’s postal operators
• Going from a hybrid paper/data international model to a huge scale market that requires data and digital processes
• The doorstep surprise - customers having to pay extra duties/customs charges to the delivery company for receipt of their cross-border purchases
• Mainstream media coverage of the doorstep surprise phenomenon
• The need for cost transparency at the point of purchase
• What happens to refused deliveries? The costly and inefficient returns process - in a very tight air cargo market
• Delivery companies, retailers, and 3PLs having to respond to Brexit, ICS2, Stop Act, and new VAT regulations
• Carriers don’t want to deal with payments at the customer’s doorstep
• ICS2 coming into effect on 15 March - implications for selling into the EU
• The importance of the UK and EU markets
• STOP Act - new implementation date of 15 March
• Risk of non-compliance with STOP Act for articles bound for the USA - could up to 750m parcels be rejected per year?
• Have retailers been lulled into a false sense of security over cross-border compliance?
• Item data: Product description, commodity description, customs coding, consignee/consignor information
• Regulation - cost or opportunity?
• 2021 is not the end of increasing regulation of cross-border e-commerce, including duty on inbound parcels
• China’s increasing interest in compliance
• New export controls - including denied parties - for parcels coming out of China
• Increasing scrutiny of description of goods - “gift” will no longer be acceptable!
• An example of how bpost is already enforcing this at the post office counter (harmonised codes, HS6, etc)
• The importance of data in driving customs codes and customs inspections
• The first file to the last mile