12 part 2: Unlocking Global Growth: Strategies for US e-Commerce Retailers in 2025

Voiceover: 00:00:00

Welcome to Outside the Box with Asendia USA, a podcast educating US based e tailers on international shipping topics and how they can expand their global e commerce footprint.

commerce retailers going into: 2025

Simon Batt: 00:00:25

So as a journey, I would say that would be where I would start if I were in the U.S. yeah.

John Walsh: 00:00:30

We don't like to think that hard, Simon, so appreciate that.

Nick Agnetti: 00:00:35

Oh boy. All right, here we go and we're reeling it in here. Okay, so let's stay on this path though.

So when we did some pre call planning and such, you had brought up some really good perspective when it came to customer behavior, shopper behavior.

So I would love to hear from your perspective just what you've seen in terms of, you know, again, customer or shopper behavior changes, you know, in the last, let's say the previous 12, maybe even 18 months. And then what we're potentially projecting for the Future, you know, 20, 25 and even maybe beyond, if you could speak to that.

Simon Batt: 00:01:09

Yeah, yeah, for certain. I mean, and again, there's so many of these changes that, and then they're not binary. You know, it's not that one is the past and one is the future.

These things are evolving and changing. As we said at the beginning about standing still.

I mean, what I would say is that over the last one year, but certainly two to three years, one area that has really gathered momentum and pace within the logistics space, let's say, has been on returns because as we said at the beginning on outbound distribution, getting the parcel and the goods from the retailer with trust into the hands of the shopper. Of course, it's been about price and speed and choices and options and all those things we talked about at the beginning.

I would say that returns has been an area that for 15 years now has been very much underdeveloped, a long time coming. And logistics companies globally haven't done the best job at serving that. It's always been somehow an afterthought that's changed.

That's really quite changed over the last few years where you've seen return specialists starting to pop up to deal with that niche. People are starting to look at both from a logistics and a tech perspective, how you manage that flow.

It has some complexities, of course, not only sort of customs and logistics and the practical points, but, you know, offering the choice to Say, do you want to return this good from one country to the other? Do you want to donate it to charity? Do you want to relist it and refulfill it? Do you want to hold it for a while or return it straight away?

Do you want to destroy it with a certificate of destruction? There's all sorts of things related to returns which are really gaining in terms of traction and pace over the last year.

And certainly we've seen, even in the logistics space, without diving into names, you've seen some of the players being bought, being sold, merging together, which kind of gives, I guess, a feeling, if you will, of the dynamism of this part of the logistics market. And of course, it's to meet a shopper need shoppers look at returns and go, well, if it's the.

The wrong size and the wrong color, it's super easy if you're buying it from a local US store, pretty easy if you're buying it from a US online retailer. If you've just bought something from a UK retailer, for example, how the heck do you get that back again if it's the wrong size?

So it's a barrier to develop outbound business as well as a problem on the. So it's a barrier for growing your business.

So it's something that I think has been underdeveloped and I'm pleased from an industry perspective, that direction has changed and certainly Asendia has tried to also be in that game and move towards returns in a very purposeful way in the last 12 months. I think it's not a new shopper thing.

s, with some real momentum in: 2024

Nick Agnetti: 00:04:09

And so I think if we can add on to this and talk about something else that is grown in seriousness based on your verbiage, is what about the sustainability portion of that?

And I know that US as an organization on a global perspective, especially EU and some other focus areas as well, it takes a much more prominent position versus some other areas in the world, which is fine, but I think it's important that we speak to that and why it's important as well.

Simon Batt: 00:04:38

Yeah, and to be honest, there's quite a big link there with returns, because obviously there's there were some horrifying things in the last year or two about returns, clothing, mountains building up in Africa and some terrible stories. So absolutely there is a link here with returns. But what we see generally, if you Start with customers, customers being the shoppers.

What seems really clear through all the research and all the evidence is that shoppers, consumers, us all, without diving into the science, we're starting to have more of a concern around the impact of online shopping. And if we're ordering things, especially cross border, from very far away, which by definition usually includes air freight, it becomes a concern.

And we see very much in the senior that concern filtering through from consumers, from shoppers to the retailers, where in the last one to two years I would say your sustainability credentials have gone from being maybe a kind of a nice to have couple of years ago, maybe three years ago, towards starting to really become at the top of the tree when you look at RFIs and tender documents.

the things that's changed in: 2024

The so called greenwashing term is something that I think is a relatively new term and you know, and rightly applies to organizations who are window dressing green solutions, but they're not really green. And that's now becoming a real focus.

So from a retail perspective and a logistics perspective, now moving towards really focused on reduction, for example, rather than offsetting, is a fairly significant change over the last couple of years.

Starting to partner with really credible external accreditation bodies that say that what you're doing is not greenwashing, it is actually moving the company in the direction towards carbon neutrality. It's a much bigger thing than it was a couple of years ago. And yes, it's tied in with returns, but it's broader than that.

It's really tied in with how do you, in the long run, how do you operate a cross border logistics model and a cross border retail model and deal with those concerns, which I guess we all have as shoppers and consumers about looking after the world for the future. So it's a big topic and not many people have all the answers yet. It's an evolving story.

We're looking at it to say how do you move in the right direction? How do we learn from the science, how do we learn from the industry and how do we get into a good place?

It's a topic for shoppers, it's a topic for retailers, and it's a topic for logisticians like Asendia.

John Walsh: 00:07:52

Can I just ask you a shipper type question if I could. Returns were always free. That's number one, right? Most places were free.

As we go into the next few years we see that behavior is changing a little bit from where you sit and you obviously talk to a lot of large enterprise type customers.

When do you cross over to where you lose customers or for shippers education that's, let's put it this way, if I was always a free, offered free returns as a part of my value prop, our customers or shippers telling you when they get to a certain percentage of shop card abandonment or something like that, where they start to lose customers, does that make sense to you?

Simon Batt: 00:08:41

It does make sense and there's kind of a yes and a no to the answer. I mean for certain, yes, this is the balance.

I think if you talk to retailers, this is the balance they're all trying to fine tune somehow not weakening their outbound service proposition by making returns unattractive whilst at the same time there are some returns rates in some countries which are so astronomically high it can really be a pain for the retailers because if they're, if they're offering free returns and getting, you know, 20, 30, 40, 50% of the goods back again, then clearly free returns is, is not economically a great idea notwithstanding the questions on, on sustainability. So I think it depends very much on you know, the market and the goods and the basket value and all those nuances.

So it's hard to come up with a, an average. But I think that's, that's part of the fine tuning.

And you can, you can see John, over the last year or so that concept of free returns has started to be challenged.

Started to be challenged where you've got some, some very big retailers have said well we're going to start to introduce some charges to try and just make it maybe not a barrier to purchase but if, if somebody was thinking about buying, you know, five colors and five sizes and then send 90% of them back, starting to just limit a little bit so that what you get is the real, the real purchase of the good with a real reason for returns rather than buying 10 things to return nine. And that's the, that's the balance. I think that all the retailers are starting to, starting to look at.

John Walsh: 00:10:17

Have you seen, I've noticed too a lot of shippers, not a lot.

Well, if you're going to return it, if you, maybe you keep it, we'll give you a coupon or something for a future sale to get the customer to stay on the site.

Nick Agnetti: 00:10:31

Right.

John Walsh: 00:10:32

So I see that's a new tactic that would never happen before where they would throw out an additional savings just to keep the package not to come back.

Simon Batt: 00:10:42

Right.

John Walsh: 00:10:42

So there's a lot of things that are going on in returns that you would never ever see before. I think Covid forced it because there was so much going out the door that they couldn't control it.

Like some of these companies in my past, they had a 40% return rate and they just couldn't survive. I mean, that's a number that you can't, you can't ignore that kind of number.

Simon Batt: 00:11:02

It's because you were, you know, you're spot on and there's, there's all sorts of complexities around, you know, making sure that you've got proper processes in place, that for the returns that are being shipped back, that you've got a quality control operational step, you know.

So for a US retail perspective, if you're talking to vendors from a logistics perspective, you know, making sure that that logistics provider's got that QC step in place is important because validating that the return is what should have been returned as quickly as possible is important not only to make sure that the shoppers return the correct item, sometimes they don't, but also it's also part of the taking away those barriers. One of the barriers, of course, is getting your money back is sometimes an issue from a shopper perspective.

So having a step in the process where the quality control is checked, it can be validated and, and then the shopper gets his or her money back is also a good way to control that part of the process. So it takes some thinking and I guess go back to the original macro level question here.

It just seems to me that that thinking has developed a lot, both in terms of the retailers and the logistics players to start to put these propositions together in a way that really, you know, the need has been there for a while. I think we're all playing catch up on shopper needs on this topic and that's going to continue.

So to your point, Nic around, is it a 24 thing or a future thing? That's one of the topics that's definitely going to carry on rolling as we go into 25 and beyond.

Nick Agnetti: 00:12:38

Right, Fantastic. Okay, well, I had another question about challenges that actually rolled right into it. So I think that's wonderful.

I think that it's important to note too that, you know, and this is for, for anybody, again viewers, whether you're, whether I say overseas, meaning you're not located in the United States.

If you're viewing and listening globally and you have challenges or you're challenged by even the thought of boy, I'm very nervous about expanding internationally, especially even at an enterprise level. If you've just had more of a national focus, we'd love to talk more on that and we'd love to explore that further.

We're fortunate enough today to have Simon Baton, who's our worldwide CEO, and then as always, my co host, John Walsh here. But I think before we can recap.

But I'd like to talk a little bit about some UK culture, more specifically your favorite food items that you get to enjoy from the uk. I think it's good to bring some humor into it.

Wikipedia has a list, but I'd like to hear your top five and then I'll compare them to what everybody else thinks is the top five and see if you're the winner. Go ahead.

Simon Batt: 00:13:46

Okay. Goodness Being put on the spot. You see, I could have done some more homework on this one, Nick.

Nick Agnetti: 00:13:51

No, I had to throw you off a little bit.

Simon Batt: 00:13:53

Famous, famously in the uk. Well, I hope it's correct. But anyway. But famously in the uk, Chicken tikka masala, an Indian dish that you would never actually buy in India. That.

That's usually somewhere. Somewhere in the. Somewhere in the list. Classic fish and chips. Got to be there somewhere. I imagine so. Got to be there.

I think roast beef, probably there's.

Nick Agnetti: 00:14:19

But that's okay. It's not a top five, but that's okay.

John Walsh: 00:14:23

Simon does travel a lot, so you.

Simon Batt: 00:14:25

Got y. Sunday roasting is quite important. And then of course, you can get into some quite nuanced things like, you know, steak and kidney pie.

Nick Agnetti: 00:14:34

That's on there.

Simon Batt: 00:14:35

Yeah. Is that in it? Steak and kidney pudding. Maybe that can be in there too.

So a whole variety of things that you can get from traditional British chip shops. I would say usually on the. Usually on the list. And then there's always a menagerie of interesting, interesting desserts as well.

I, I had some American colleagues across and gave them some in a, in a pub just outside London, Nice pub. And give them some very heavy sponge based desserts with custard. That's always, that's always a good one. It's like a meal in itself.

John Walsh: 00:15:11

You said the word sponge. I had, you had me at sponge. You know, that sounds like, you know, hey, it sounds heavy.

Simon Batt: 00:15:18

Treacle puddings and things like that.

Nick Agnetti: 00:15:20

So, you know, well, number five was ban and mash. I just want to throw that out there.

Simon Batt: 00:15:25

So I. Sausage and mash. Yeah, very true.

Nick Agnetti: 00:15:29

Okay. And then there was. The shepherd's pie was in there.

Simon Batt: 00:15:32

Yeah. And pine cottage pie. That's one you told me.

Nick Agnetti: 00:15:37

That's right. That's right. You gave me the difference of that. Go ahead, Johnson.

John Walsh: 00:15:40

So the best hamburger in Las Vegas is Gordon Ramsay. He has the best hamburger. It's crazy. I mean, he get his lines like 60, 70 deep every day. Oh, yeah. All the time.

Nick Agnetti: 00:15:51

All the time.

John Walsh: 00:15:52

Amazing. Like, I'm like, I got an English fellow's got to make the best hamburger. Come on.

Simon Batt: 00:15:57

Just goes to show, you see, exports, exports from the UK to the US Local competition. You wouldn't. You wouldn't have thought it, but, yeah, these. These crafty British guys trying to tap into a US market.

So it's another reason for exporting guys.

John Walsh: 00:16:14

So did you get the number one right? Was the number one right, the chicken dish?

Simon Batt: 00:16:17

No, it was, yeah.

John Walsh: 00:16:19

Was it really?

Nick Agnetti: 00:16:20

I was shocked to learn that. It was what I thought, you know, clearly what looks to be an Indian dis, but it seems to be wildly popular, so.

John Walsh: 00:16:30

Wow. Touche.

Nick Agnetti: 00:16:32

And so. And Simon, just a personal note. So my cousin is a. He's a professional rugby player and he's a USA Eagle right now. He's actually in Portugal.

Just got done playing this weekend. But he spent four years in Wales. Four or five years in Wales, getting his bachelor's and masters there.

And what he would have said about that conversation was that it was very cheeky. He would have said it was very cheeky. Anyhow. So, Simon, I want to thank you very much for coming on today.

Is there anything going into: 2025

Justin, again, from a global perspective that you'd like to share?

Simon Batt: 00:17:21

Yeah, maybe a couple of. Couple of things. And as I said before, you know, some of the things you talked about are going to continue into 25.

One that I think is the real story for 25 that's emerging and developing now is a little bit. It's another Post Covid phenomenon. You know, we think about, before COVID everybody worked in an office. During COVID everybody works at home.

Now we've got these kind of new post Covid working models. And that changes the world a little bit. It changes things. And so we see that that's driving different consumer requirements in terms of choice.

And so all the stats seem to show that the so called out of home delivery.

So we've talked a lot about home delivery, but the out of home delivery to lockers, to stores, to post offices, it is a big topic and you can see lots of movements in the logistics space of companies merging, growing, expanding to put together solutions to make this happen. It's a logistics play, it's a tech play.

So thinking from a US retail perspective, thinking about possible changes in your checkout to allow for an overseas shopper to pick a locker that's got space, a store that's open on the day you want because you happen to be traveling that day, that's something that we see is going to become more and more a trend. It was, it's been growing for a while. I think it's kind of, it's really reached a moment of criticality now.

It's definitely something that's happening in most retail conversations, retailer conversations about how these new services need to be developed. So that's one, that's one to watch. And the other one actually I would say is a little bit linked to what we said on.

A little bit linked to sustainability, a little bit linked to returns, but it's the recommerce.

So you know, some marketplaces and some brands that are really focused on secondhand goods and recycled goods and reconditioned goods, which is why I'm saying there's a link here with both sustainability and returns. I think it's not hugely well developed yet, but I think it's one to watch.

I would say for the next two to three years, I think it's going to grow some more legs. And so one that certainly we're watching from a logistics perspective and I would certainly encourage us retailers to do the same.

Just have a little look on that one and see if that's appropriate for your product.

Nick Agnetti: 00:19:40

Beautiful. And I think putting it into a little bit more of your language would be. We might be approaching the tip of the iceberg with that topic. There you go.

There you go. Okay.

John Walsh: 00:19:51

Can I ask you a question about the out of home delivery?

Simon Batt: 00:19:54

Yeah, yeah.

John Walsh: 00:19:55

I think one thing we talked about, we're doing the pre call with you.

Do you think shippers realize that that's again, in my past life there was incentives built in to encourage shippers to basically increase this number because it helps both parties. Right. Does that make sense, Simon?

Simon Batt: 00:20:17

Yeah, it does. It's all. And without being diving too much down, maybe a bit of an operational.

But the point here is around it is a win win because for logistics companies, of course home Delivery can be very difficult and you have to look at the maths of some home delivery companies that struggle to make money.

But home delivery, you're talking about often single parcel deliveries where the person isn't home and you take it back the second time anyway and you've driven a long way to get there because it's in a rural area. So the kind of, the extreme position on home delivery can be complicated.

From a logistics perspective what out of home delivery does is often enables from a logistics perspective a consolidation.

So consolidation in terms of they tend to be in urban areas, the lockers, the stores, by definition it's either got a space because the shop has chosen an open locker or it's a shop that's open that's got a space. So you're improving your first time delivery rates and secondly you're driving the so called drop density.

So you're from a delivery perspective you're getting more parcels every time you stop the van. And so that's a win for the logisticians.

But what you tend to find if you then pass that all the way through up the supply chain into rate cards is that you can then drive some efficiencies for retailers.

So it can also be a way, if retailers are looking for a more cost effective delivery option but still with full visibility and still consumer choice driven, it's the consumer that's choosing. It can also be a way to get a win win in terms of costs for the retailer and ultimate for the shopper.

So it can really be a, I guess actually a win, win, win because it can be about consumer choice and consumer price. It can also be logistics cost for the retailer and it's a, it's an easier operational model for the logisticians.

n popularity as we go through: 2025

John Walsh: 00:22:17

I also think sustainability is a big part of that too. Reduces carbon footprint, reduces. So a lot of other things that are benefit to that.

Simon Batt: 00:22:24

So yeah, thank you for that, appreciate it.

John Walsh: 00:22:25

Sorry about that Nick.

Nick Agnetti: 00:22:27

You don't need to apologize John. You are the co host of this show so.

Okay, I would like to, as long as I think that if there's anything else John, that you'd like to bring up and Simon, same for you, please go ahead and bring it up now. Otherwise I will just thank everybody for watching and viewing. But John, do you have anything.

John Walsh: 00:22:47

Yeah, one last question. What's your new year's resolution for the company? Simon?

Nick Agnetti: 00:22:52

Oh, that's a good one. That's a good one.

Simon Batt: 00:22:54

That's juicy. It's juicy. So we're.

John Walsh: 00:22:58

That's cheeky. Is it cheeky or juicy?

Simon Batt: 00:23:00

so there's no revolutions for: 2025

But probably not unsurprisingly given what we just we got spoke. We've done a lot of work in terms of returns. So one of ours is to absolutely make sure we see significant growth on returns.

We've got our own little business unit focusing on that, some great tech. We want to make sure that we do a good job explaining that to our customers.

s as we go through go through: 2025

And I suppose if I to just take one other thing, John, and hover up, I'd say it's also about rolling out, you know, some refreshed culture, cultural values.

We're looking at how we improve our or refresh our values for the company and also our vision as well that we're in the process of just rewording our vision very much about putting customer first. So there's some kind of mindset things as well that we want to push on in terms of values and customer first.

That's important culturally within the organization.

John Walsh: 00:24:14

That's awesome. But I know Nick's got some clues. I really appreciate your transparency and you're taking the time to speak with us and our audience today.

It's been fantastic.

Simon Batt: 00:24:24

Nice to be invited. Thank you very much.

Nick Agnetti: 00:24:26

It sure has. So thank you so much. Simon and I would just encourage any of the viewers and listeners. Again, old school phone.

begun strategic planning for: 2025

This is the 12th episode from Outside the Box podcast with Asendia USA. You know, don't be shy. We would love to help.

You know, there may not be a perfect fit here with Asendia, but we truly value being able to be partners with our clients, with our customers and being able to help. Just really make sure that we can make this process of, you guys navigating that cross border delivery space. Very easy. Okay.

And being a resource for you as well. So don't hesitate to comment to like share, download, spread it with all your family, friends, business and acquaintances.

And thank you all very much for taking the time to watch and listen to today's episode and I'm going to end it with that. John, do you want to say anything?

John Walsh: 00:25:33

Well good, nice, nice recap Nick.

Nick Agnetti: 00:25:35

Okay, thank you Simon. Thank you again and thank you everybody for listening and viewing and have a wonderful, wonderful new year. Thank you.

If you want to support our podcast, the number one thing you can do is share it on your social media and tag accendia.

John Walsh: 00:25:48

That helps us get the word out and we really appreciate it.

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