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UPS names two new District Executives

Posted by | Aug 13, 2007 | |

Todd Galloway, a 22-year veteran of UPS has been named the vice president of operations for the company’s Laurel Mountain District. In his new role, Galloway will be responsible for more than 5,245 employees, 31 facilities and 62 million deliveries in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and western Maryland.

Galloway most recently managed UPS operations in the Great Basin District, which includes all of Idaho, Utah and Nevada.

Jeff Fite, a 22-year veteran of UPS has been promoted to director of sales for the Prairie Mountain District. In his new role, Fite will direct all sales and marketing activities in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska.

Fite, who will be based in Omaha, most recently served as director of sales training at UPS’s corporate headquarters in Atlanta. He began his UPS career in 1985 working as a part-time loader before becoming a full-time package car driver in Tennessee near Nashville. He then moved through a series of jobs with increasing responsibility in sales and marketing.

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DHL’s drive towards clean-fuel vehicles hits a block

Posted by | Aug 13, 2007 | |

Early this year, DHL announced that it would add natural gas (NG)-powered vans to its UAE express delivery fleet, in the hope that this would lead the country’s efforts at promoting alternative fuel vehicles.

“With more roads and bridges being introduced into the country’s transportation network, we believe that the government must and will take steps to increase the supply of alternative fuels”, said Geoff Walsh, operations manger – UAE, DHL.

DHL is hoping to switch 50 per cent of its vehicles to natural gas by 2010. The two vehicles it currently has were converted from regular petrol-fueled vans into NG ones by Al Naboodah Automobiles.

Petrol and diesel-powered vehicles account for 80 per cent of all the environmental pollution in the UAE, a recent study by the Roads and Transport Authority said. As the emirate steps up its drive to promote environment-friendly practices, experts estimate that natural gas will account for 20 per cent of all fuel consumed by road vehicles by 2012.
Walsh said that despite the lack of filling stations, DHL was doing other things to improve its environment credentials. “These include using smaller-sized engines for our vehicles; optimising delivery routes and operating freight consolidation centers which reduce both the number of vehicles and trips needed to deliver packages,” pointed out Walsh.

“In fact, with all these efforts, between 2004 and 2007, DHL reduced fuel consumption by 19 per cent globally,” he added.

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DPJ, People's New Party to submit bill to freeze postal privatization for 1 year

Posted by | Aug 13, 2007 | |

The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which became the largest bloc in the House of Councillors as a result of the July 29 election, is set to submit to the chamber a bill that would freeze postal privatization for one year.

The DPJ will co-sponsor the bill with another opposition party, People’s New Party, DPJ officials said.

Over the one-year period, the DPJ intends to work out bills to review the privatization of Japan Post scheduled for Oct. 1 this year.

A package of postal privatization bills were passed into law after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party won a landslide victory in the 2005 House of Representatives election.

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Post Office workers stage fresh strike

Posted by | Aug 13, 2007 | |

Thousands of Post Office workers are today staging a pay strike, which comes after separate industrial action by postal workers was called off last week.

In the latest walkout to hit Britain’s postal service, staff employed at crown post office branches are striking after 5,500 members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) rejected a two-year pay freeze proposed by the Post Office.

The union says that 465 crown post offices were affected last Monday 13th August.

A similar strike is also planned for Wednesday 15th August, with staff also disgruntled at plans to close 70 crown post office branches – main branches sited on the UK’s high streets – and transfer services to retailer WH Smith.

At the centre of the dispute are Royal Mail’s modernization plans, which union leaders claim will result in the loss of up to 40,000 jobs.

The CWU claimed last week that the plans involved “significant changes including later delivery start times and permanent reductions in customer services” and represented an “unnecessary attack on postal workers’ jobs, pay and conditions”.

However Royal Mail has said that the union is “ignoring the harsh commercial reality” of the UK postal market, which was recently opened up to full competition.

The postal services provider insists that modernization is necessary because it is losing business to rivals who have more efficient operations and lower prices.

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External demand for US web site products and services

Posted by | Aug 13, 2007 | |

More U.S. providers of web infrastructure and services are gearing up to support online retailers’ expansion beyond the U.S., and retailers from outside the U.S. are eyeing the online market in this country. “The drive for international commerce is a huge focus because we are getting a lot of demand from overseas. We are not trying to stimulate it at all, but overseas marketers are coming here and asking us and other U.S.-based companies to help them,” says Ken Burke, CEO of e-commerce platform provider MarketLive. “And, U.S.-based companies want to go international or translate sites into other languages, so we are seeing more requests for it and we are building out more technology to support it.”

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E-retailers and affiliate partners missing out on global sales, survey says

Posted by | Aug 13, 2007 | |

87 pct of companies polled at a recent retail e-commerce affiliate conference said they would like to sell to non-U.S. markets, but 79 pct said their overseas business amounted to 0-10 pct of total sales, World Market Express reports.

World Market Express polled attendees and exhibitors at the recent Affiliate Summit West conference in Las Vegas about the extent of their global e-commerce business. 29 pct said that they and their clients had no non-U.S. business, and another 50 pct said that 10 pct or less of their business came from outside the U.S.

34 pct of respondents cited as the biggest obstacles to global e-commerce the overall expense of handling international orders and a lack of internal expertise. 21 pct cited the need for international shipping and payment systems.

The survey also revealed a common complaint among e-commerce affiliates: that web traffic they forward to retail e-commerce partners is often wasted because their partners are unable to handle orders from outside the U.S.

Among those respondents that do sell overseas, 28 pct cited the U.K. as among their three largest foreign markets. Canada was ranked second, cited by 25 pct, followed by Australia, 11 pct. Germany, China and India were cited by 9 pct; Japan, 6 pct; and France, 3 pct.

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U.S.-based online seller growth tops 20 pct in international sales

Posted by | Aug 13, 2007 | |

International sales and shipments made by U.S.-based eBay sellers grew 20.1 pct in the past year, up from 14.3 pct the previous year, the fastest growth in three years, says MyStoreMaps.com, a company that tracks worldwide shipping. Growth outpaced other countries mainly because of a weaker U.S. dollar, MyStoreMaps reports.

EBay sellers in all major western economies are seeing increased growth in international sales, says Brian Lawe, president of MyStoreCredit Inc., the parent company of MyStoreMaps.com

MyStoreMaps’ numbers are based the company’s data set of more than 3 million shipments made between buyers and sellers in 162 countries. Sellers outside the U.S. experienced growth at only half the rate of U.S. sellers. “For the same time period, the rate of growth in shipments for all non-U.S. sellers was only 10.6 pct,” Lawe tells Internet Retailer.

The ramp-up for international sales is three to four years behind domestic e-commerce sales, Lawe says. He attributes the past year’s growth to “a lower U.S. dollar rate, primarily, and buyers who have become very comfortable buying online from sellers in their own country.”

Trust has been the main obstacle to more international buying, Lawe says. As shoppers become more at ease buying from e-retailers in their own country, they begin to experiment. If nothing bad happens with their first overseas purchase, subsequent buys become easier, Lawe adds.

The most popular countries that U.S.-based eBay sellers ship to are Canada, at 28 pct ; United Kingdom, 20 pct ; Australia 10 pct ; and France, 6.5 pct , says Antoine E. Hall, vice president, operations and client services at MyStoreCredit.

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Ecobank and Western Union enhance partnership

Posted by | Aug 13, 2007 | |

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), the parent company of the Ecobank Group, and Western Union, on July 19th, 2007 signed a global agreement to extend Western Union’s current relationship with its affiliates. It was signed in Accra, Republic of Ghana by Christophe Jocktane-Lawson, Regional Head, International of ETI and Khalid Fellahi, Regional Vice President Africa of Western Union. Under the agreement, Western Union Money Transfer will be available through ECOBANK affiliates in 17 West and Central African countries instead of 14 previously.

“This agreement strengthens ETI’s strategy of building alliances with partners such as Western Union”, said Jocktane-Lawson. “Bringing Western Union services to more of our current and potential consumers adds value to our bank’s comprehensive offerings by enabling reliable, fast and convenient money transfers through Western Union’s more than 275,000 Agent locations worldwide”.

The ECOBANK Group Chief Executive Officer, Arnold Ekpe, affirms that the relationship with Western Union corresponds to the banking institution’s objective of “providing a comprehensive product and service offering to

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