Today we talk about Intercultural Competences, a core topic for the success of any business wishing to be international, and we do so with Jenny Izaguirre, an expert in Corporate Culture and Intercultural Competences. Let’s go! 🚀

Our expert guest today is: Jenny Izaguirre

Find out more about Jenny here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-izaguirre/ ✨

The post INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCES: The key to global success! 🌎 quickFIX Podcast 🎙️ appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

TikTok might be planning to launch a live shopping service in the U.S. according to a news release by Semafor.

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According to the media outlet, TikTok is trying to bring a version of China’s $400 billion live shopping industry to the United States. 

The information was exposed as ‘internal company information reviewed by Semafor’ The plan, a person familiar with the matter said to Semafor, is part of a wider global initiative that TikTok leaders have dubbed “Project Aquaman.”

This project will be carried out through a decentralized network of at least 20 TikTok Shop partners, including small Chinese social media agencies and U.S. tech startups specializing in live-streaming e-commerce. 

Tiktok fishing for ‘live shopping hosts’  

According to Semafor, a number of U.S. TikTok Shop Partners have posted job listings for live shopping hosts in California, New York, and New Jersey over the past several weeks. 

Many note that hosts will be trying on wigs, which have become a popular product category on TikTok. One livestreaming agency warns applicants that they are looking for people who already have “200K OR MORE Follower [sic] Only !!!”

TikTok has gone to great lengths to teach its partners what it believes are the best ways to sell products via live streaming, according to internal information reviewed by Semafor. It has hosted training webinars in China and the U.S. and provided partners with detailed learning materials. 

TikTok goes over even the smallest aspects of hosting a successful stream, such as what kind of lighting to use, how hosts should dress, and the optimal time to go live - which it says is 9:30 PM EST - according to Semafor report.

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By our partners at LogiCommerce - The B2B sector is undergoing a digital transformation, and the eCommerce is the ideal channel for them to save on operating costs, reduce management time and to grow faster.

Productivity is the key to profitability. This is why B2B companies are turning to the online sales channel to make purchases more cost-effective and efficient.  

B2B eCommerce platforms provide fast, easy, and real-time access to data and updates on inventory, product catalogs, and much more to improve daily workflows and make them more accurate since all the information is centralized in one place thanks to the online channel. eCommerce also makes it easier to track results and measure KPIs. 

So, what features should you consider when digitizing your B2B?

1. Personalized shopping cart and product catalog  

Providing easy access to your products and creating a seamless checkout will save your customers time and enhance their experience. In the B2B sector, it is particularly important to present your catalog in a clear way showing all the information related to your products such as images and/or videos, instructions, product descriptions, price, shipping method, return policy, and reference number, and others. 

• Customized Catalog per user group: Configure the catalog according to the user or user groups. 
• Minimum Order Quantity: Define the minimum and multiple order quantities according to customers or groups.
• Shopping Cart Detail: Break down all taxes, shipping costs, and costs associated with the payment method in the shopping cart and sales documents.
• B2B Payment Methods: Provide different payment conditions and methods based on customers or groups.
• Manual orders: Place orders on behalf of your customers easily with the Drag & Drop feature.

2. Prices and pricing policy

B2B pricing can be complex, so it is important that the platform you work with, allows you to configure rates, prices and discounts based on customers, customer groups, countries, and areas. Pricing should also reflect bulk purchasing options since this type of business model tends to buy in large quantities, so it's useful to offer discounts based on the volume of the order.  

• List Pricing Policy: Configure rates based on customers or groups and countries or areas.
• Pricing Policies: Define product prices by ranges calculated based on the percentage of variation, the general price or a specific customization.
• Geolocation Pricing: Configure specific prices according to the geographic location of the customers.
• Advanced Pricing Policy: Targeted pricing for specific customers or geographic areas in a multicurrency system.
• Pricing policy by Quantity: Set the base and offer prices for product quantity ranges (units).

3. Sales agent management   

Most B2B businesses have Sales Agents who manage several customers, make them special offers, place orders for them, etc. What if you could assign these Sales Agents to existing customer accounts in your eCommerce? This way, they will have an overview of the orders of each of their assigned customers and will be able to prepare carts for them or even make purchases on their behalf. You can also assign commissions to your Sales Agents.   

4. Shipping and logistics   

B2B companies have demanding delivery needs, especially shipping to several locations, splitting expeditions, and sending products from suppliers and warehouses. By using drop shipping, you will increase the delivery speed as well as shipping from different logistics centers.

• Multi-expedition: Generate multiple shipments of an order based on different logistic criteria such as warehouses, shipping carrier, and delivery times.
• Logistic Centers: Assign your warehouses to several logistics centers to effectively manage your deliveries.
• Warehouse Stock Rules: Set up the supply of stock from another warehouse if the linked warehouse with the highest priority does not have stock.
• Pre Order Products: Allow customers to pre-order upcoming products that are unavailable for immediate delivery and automate order processes according to your business rules.
• Warehouse Conditions: Define the geographical areas of influence of each warehouse to cover your shipments.

5. User experience

User experience is one of the most valued elements nowadays when selling products or service online. B2B customer experience should be as similar as possible to that of B2C; short learning curve, responsive web, user-friendly interface, and quality content. An eCommerce facilitates the opportunity for B2B's to sell and buy from any location and through multiple channels, offering highly personalized support and guiding the customer through the entire purchasing process.  

Customer experience is dramatically improved thanks to 24/7 accessibility to the online store, better product presentation because of the opportunity of incorporating images and videos, more detailed information, and payment and delivery methods flexibility.

• Repetitive Order Processing: Facilitate the ordering process with maximum efficiency by letting your customer repeat previous orders in only 1-click.
• Bulk Purchases: Allow your customers to quickly buy a list of products for each category, brand, or campaign.
• Advanced discounts segmentation and targeting: Customize shopping experiences through advanced discounts segmentation and targeting.
• Order tracking: Let your customers follow orders from their personal area or through a configurable tracking widget.
• Stock alerts: Send automatic emails to the list of customers that signed up for out-of-stock notifications when a product is back in stock

It's time for your B2B to start selling

LogiCommerce is the Headless eCommerce platform that helps you to reduce operational costs and improve your B2B & B2Cmanagement by connecting all your sales channels with a fully integrated solution and a single Control Panel. 

The post 5 Top features for your eCommerce B2B appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

MBE Worldwide has recently succeeded in acquiring a majority stake in the GEL Proximity platform, the last-mile service provider born in Italy and specialized in e-commerce. 

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Why GEL Proximity?

GEL Proximity is a platform dedicated exclusively to last-mile services. To this end, it operates with a technological connector that allows it to offer consumers an impressive diversity of pick-up points throughout Italy.

As a spin-off from Politecnico di Milano, in 2020 GEL Proximity became a fully owned company. The main objective is to significantly improve the sustainability and growth of e-commerce in the country. 

With an approach based on urban logistics and oriented towards the reduction of pollutant emissions and environmental impact in general, GEL Proximity is committed to the optimization of the parcel delivery and collection system. 

A strategic acquisition

The acquisition of a majority stake in GEL Proximity by MBE Worldwide represents a strategic step in its growth. This is because the development of the GEL Proximity platform will enable MBE Worldwide to strengthen its current competitive position as both a commercial and logistics platform for businesses.

In this sense, they have considered that the combination of one of the world's leading e-commerce platforms and an extensive network of service centers is what will make MBE Worldwide a unique alternative on the international scene. This will allow them to improve the services offered to their customers and, in turn, to better satisfy their own customers. 

According to MBE Worldwide, its goal will be to facilitate access to GEL Proximity's logistics services. This, through innovative and adaptable technology, with the understanding that today, the last mile represents the most sensitive phase of the entire distribution chain. 

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Turkey's famous e-commerce platform, Trendyol, arrives for the first time in Europe through a launch in Germany. This marks Trendyol's first market outside its home country, while plans are being developed to also launch in London, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg in the coming year. 

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Trendyol is characterized as an online marketplace that also offers its own food and grocery delivery solution, as well as its own digital wallet. Currently, the company has more than 30 million customers and more than 260,000 sellers. 

Expansion plans in Europe had already been announced in 2020. By August 2021, the platform had raised $1.5 billion from Softbank. This made it the first "decacorn" in Turkey - whose value is considered to be over $10 billion - In addition, Alibaba had invested almost 300 million euros, acquiring a majority stake. 

Trendyol's entry into Germany

In accordance with Trendyol, its mobile app has been downloaded almost one million times in Germany today. At the same time, according to Similar Web, it is the second fastest growing fashion platform in the country as of February 2022.

In this regard, the German market is expected to generate more than 400 million euros by the end of the year. It is also expected to reach a turnover of more than 3 billion euros by 2025 in Germany. 

The branch that the platform will open in Germany will first focus on fashion but plans to offer new categories in the future. To achieve these goals, it will open an office with more than 200 employees located in the city of Berlin. 

With Germany expected to represent the starting point for the platform across Europe, around 65,000 square meters of warehouse space on the continent is expected to become available over the next two years to support expansion into local markets.

The post Trendyol enters Europe via Germany! appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

Google plans new features aimed at e-commerce. The decision was made public by Google and other platforms belonging to the Alphabet group, like YouTube, which has become a staple for customers as a place to review a product before making a purchase decision. 

In this context, Google has been looking for new possibilities to improve the shopping experience on the search engine.

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With this in mind, Google has stated that, in the coming months, advertisers will be able to display more visual ads in the Shopping SERP functionality for the U.S. audience. 

Also, understanding the value that the product touch experience still has for many people, it is estimated that it won't be long before 3D images of products can be displayed in Google Search’s SERPs.

The future of e-commerce with machine learning

In an increasingly competitive digital world, specialists have realized that the best way to grow a business is to combine data and marketing expertise with automatic learning tools. 

In this sense, Maximum Performance campaigns are thought of as a powerful alternative to appear in front of customers when they are on Google channels. This way, advertisers can use these campaigns to increase their overall conversions.

Google's news for the e-commerce sector in 2022

In order to offer new alternatives to advertisers, Google has announced new features oriented to e-commerce that aim to help businesses optimize their sales and increase their conversion rates:

• Expanded campaign management support: this will be a possibility both in the Google Ads mobile app and in Search Ads 360. 

• New experimentation tools: with the aim of identifying the effect that Maximum Performance campaigns have on incremental conversions. 

• Burst" campaigns: these are developed during specific periods of time in order to reach the objectives of an online store at the most important moments of the sales season.

• New statistics: access to detailed information regarding consumers and auctions, in order to understand what factors drive performance at any given moment. 

• Support for sales goals: Google will seek to support store goals, optimizing online sales but also physical store sales through local actions. 

• Scoring: finally, new optimization scores and recommendations will be implemented so that stores can learn how to improve their campaigns.

Google continues to uphold its goal of being the most useful company in the world. However, it understands the importance of making its products secure as well. Therefore, it will be adding releases that will help users control their privacy in their online experience, such as My Ad Center.

All in all, it seems Google is fine-tuning its Ad Center kit to provide a more direct - and sales-oriented - tool set for entrepreneurs and small businesses.

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The startup Kubbo Smart Logistics has recently announced its first international launch through the start of its activity in Italy. Having started its work in Barcelona in 2019, is now looking to expand its logistics digitization model for e-commerce brands. 

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Kubbo's objective is to transfer its integrated sales process management model to Italy. It is a fulfillment service that offers storage, picking, and packing services and same-day and next-day shipping alternatives. 

The growth of online commerce in Italy

Part of Kubbo's interest in expanding in Italy is related to the fact that it is one of the most promising markets for online sales in the future. 

Before the pandemic, the online commerce sector in Italy moved more than 16,000 M€ per year, in a market where 72% of consumers say they usually shop online. Today, Italy has an online commerce growth rate of 20% per year, compared to an estimated 10% for the European Union as a whole. This makes it one of the fastest-growing regions in Europe. 

The arrival of Kubbo in Italy

In this context, Kubbo begins its operations in the country through the implementation of a 25,000 m2 logistics center located in Milan. It will be operated by a specialist in the sector and is expected to have major Italian online retail brands as clients in the coming months. 

In Spain, the company has four of its own centers in Barcelona and Madrid, from which it manages the logistics of its clients, which are e-commerce SMEs. With its software, what it allows is full integration with the online store software, tracking the entire delivery process in real time. 

Now, Kubbo's goal is to bring this innovative logistics management model to Italy, thus becoming a reference partner for brands looking to grow in the e-commerce sector.

The post Kubbo arrives in Italy appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

Amazon UK has recently announced that it will stop packaging products in disposable plastic bags. To replace this alternative, it will opt for recyclable cardboard envelopes and paper bags for shipments leaving its distribution centers.

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A step towards sustainability

Having a large presence in the United Kingdom, Amazon has received great criticism over time, linked to the levels of waste it produces from its packaging. To this, the company has responded by saying that it has reduced the weight of packaging per shipment by 36%, thus eliminating one million tons of material. 

In a context in which online commerce is growing considerably around the world, and where, in addition, consumers are increasingly concerned about caring for the environment, companies are beginning to bet more and more on sustainability. 

To drive and also be part of the change, Amazon had already launched its first electric trucks to reduce carbon emissions. But now, the head of Amazon in the United Kingdom, John Boumphrey, has stated that changes were made to the company's supply network in order to eliminate disposable plastic bags.

From now on, the company will focus on the use of envelopes and paper bags that have a smaller volume and are easy to recycle.

 A greener solution? 

There are other options instead of using plastic for your products. One of them is provided by Ranpak, a global leader in environmentally sustainable, paper-based packaging solutions, and partner to Cross Border Magazine. 
Ranpak recently was awarded the iF 2022 DESIGN AWARD for its product Wrap ‘n Go™ and you can read all about it here!

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Mark Zuckerberg announced the opening of WhatsApp to any business globally, via WhatsApp Cloud API. The announcement was made at the inaugural Conversations conference held by Meta. 

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“The best business experiences meet people where they are. Already more than 1 billion users connect with a business account across our messaging services every week. They're reaching out for help, to find products and services and to buy anything from big-ticket items to everyday goods. And today, I am excited to announce that we're opening WhatsApp to any business of any size around the world with WhatsApp Cloud API”, Zuckerberg said. 

What will be the use of WhatsApp Cloud API?

According to Zuckerberg's announcement, the WhatsApp Cloud API will be an "all-in-one" platform. It will also be a more advanced alternative to WhatsApp Business.

Through this new option, big companies will be able to market their products in the same way as they do in the Business version, but with the difference that they will now be able to serve more people and respond to messages faster thanks to the help of new bots.

WhatsApp Cloud API will function as a database through which companies will be able to store customer contacts and other relevant information without the need to go to other external servers. In addition, as specified by the creator of Facebook, everything will be in the cloud with extreme security.

To use this application, companies will be capable of creating their profile with contact data, description and products, while having access to different messaging tools according to their needs. This service will be free and operated entirely by Meta. 

In order to personalize and improve the user experience for customers, companies that want to move from WhatsApp Business to the Cloud API will need to contact an application provider.

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According to the TikTok “Time Well Spent” report, prepared by Kantar, 92% of TikTok users take some form of action after viewing content on the platform. In addition, estimates indicate that users are six times more likely to make a purchase linked to the observed content when compared to other social networks, yielding a 25% of users buying at least one product they have seen on Tik Tok.

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On the occasion of the celebration of its Performance Week and as one of the most used social networks today, TikTok has taken the opportunity to share its success stories with marketing professionals. This with the aim of showing them that there are many reasons to invest in marketing campaigns on the platform.

TikTok numbers today

To show itself as an ideal space for the execution of performance marketing campaigns, the Chinese social network has presented amazing supporting data: 

According to TikTok, 25% of users have made a purchase of a product after seeing it in the platform's content, and at the same time, 71% of those purchases have been spontaneous and unplanned.

Another interesting data presented by the social network indicates that 73% of users make recommendations to people around them regarding products they have seen on TikTok. In this sense, the platform argues that having a presence on it not only helps to increase sales, but also to acquire greater recognition as a brand. 

TikTok: a perfect stage for performance marketing

Currently, TikTok has a community of more than 1 billion users around the world. According to the guidelines developed by the platform for designing performance marketing campaigns on it, TikTok users are especially likely to share the products they discover on the social network.

Also, 42% of users especially choose TikTok to discover new products, being particularly curious about new trends. This is why the platform presents itself as one of the best alternatives for the development of campaigns for marketers.

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