Correos Stand at Internet World 2007

correos

I was surprised to come across the Spain Post Office (Correos) stand at London Internet World 2007 yesterday. Apparently, cross-border trading in Europe is catching on quicker than I thought; “we reach any place in Spain” is their message.

Correos is offering standard Direct Marketing services for Spain

  1. Direct Mail: dispatch of volumee promotional mail into Spain; leaflets, catalogues magazines
  2. Quality databases both acquiring and cleaning the list
  3. Parcel services already used by the likes of Amazon when shipping into Spain
  4. Registered post an alternative to the UK Post Office service for Spain

I applaud the move on behalf of Correos to open up cross-border online market further. I just hope businesses in Spain are taking note and planning to export into northern Europe in return. Certainly good news for Spanish online publishers since northern Europe merchants exploit online advertising fully in their ad mix.

Worst case scenario is that southern Europe becomes a consumer nation for value-added services and technology.

Online Shopping To Dominate in the Future

Impressive statistics forecast by the IMRG for the online retail in the next five years. UK shopping has come on in leaps and bounds, the trend continues with the forecast for 2007:

  • €63billion will be spent online by UK shoppers
  • 860 million parcels will be shipped to the UK’s 26 million internet shoppers, 33 each on average
  • Online shoppers will each spend €2400 on average
  • 10% of all retail now online, rising to 20% in three years time

Online retail will grow in quality too, becoming an integral part of mainstream consumer’s habits

  1. Inclusivity people of all abilities will use online shopping
  2. Normalisation online shopping will become integral to normal everyday life
  3. Diversification online shopping will extend to a wider range of products and services
  4. Shophistication online shopping services to become easier, quicker, safer and more valuable
  5. Exclusivity a rise in specialist boutiques, offering more niche and exclusive products

Cross-border Shopping

Cross border retail is gaining traction, as shoppers look for and find better deals across borders. Shoppers in Europe have forever shopped across borders, specially when located in towns near frontiers. With online shopping and international postal delivery, cross border shopping for better deals is about to take off.

Already, Spanish book purchasing relies heavily on Amazon UK deliveries, as no strong contender exists in Spain. Amazon UK has in the past purchased advertising from hispavista.com, our parent company. Bargain hunting is about to extend across borders; and the bargains are considerable, even in spite of delivery cost across Europe.