Tag: North America

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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USPS Board of Governors briefed on third quarter performance & financial results

Posted by | Aug 13, 2007 | |

During Board of Governors meeting, last Wednesday 8th August, Chief Financial Officer H. Glen Walker said revenue for the third quarter totaled USD 18.4 billion, up 2.9 percent from the same period last year. Expenses for the quarter totaled USD 19.1 billion, including USD 878 million that is attributable to the implementation of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, signed into law the end of last year. The result was a USD 659 million net loss for the third quarter.

Total factor productivity (TFP) once again continued its upward trend in the third quarter, increasing by 1.8 percent, with year-to-date TFP up 1.4 percent. TFP measures the relationship between workload and resource usage.

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ABX AIR, INC. Reports second quarter financial results

Posted by | Aug 10, 2007 | |

ABX Air, Inc. reported solid financial results compared with the second quarter of 2006, as pre-tax earnings from its rapidly growing, higher-margin air charter business more than offset reductions in pre-tax earnings from its commercial agreements with DHL.
For the second quarter, ABX Air’s results included:
• USD 4.5 million or USD 0.08 per diluted share, in net earnings, which included USD 2.8 million in deferred (non-cash) income tax expense. That compares with USD 6.5 million, or USD 0.11 per diluted share, in net income for the same period last year, when no income tax expense was recorded. In 2006, income tax expense was offset by reductions in the tax valuation allowance.
• A 13 pct increase in pre-tax earnings to USD 7.3 million from USD 6.5 million, as pre-tax earnings more than doubled from ABX Air’s operations outside its commercial agreements with DHL.
• Revenues of USD 281.3 million, down 7.3 pct from a year ago, as revenues from operations related to the DHL agreements declined 12.2 pct. Prior-year second quarter revenues included a USD 17.5 million reimbursement from DHL for line-haul management services, which did not recur in 2007. Second quarter revenues from business unrelated to DHL reached USD 22.4 million, an increase of 156.8 pct.

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U.S. Postal Service says Chicago mail delivery improving

Posted by | Aug 9, 2007 | |

U.S. Postal Service officials say Chicago’s mail-delivery record is getting better, but still leaves a lot to be desired.

According to the agency’s most recent audit, mail delivery in city ZIP codes remains the nation’s worst.

The audit found that first-class mail sent between Chicago ZIP codes made it to the correct address the next day 93 pct of the time. That’s up from 90 pct in the first three months of the year.

The audit was for mail delivered between April and June.

Chicago postmaster Gloria Tyson says the district instituted reforms after a previous audit found the city’s in-town delivery ranked worst in the nation. She says the agency hired 240 more carriers, overhauled equipment and corrected nearly 143 thousand addresses.

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