ePages CEO Wilfried Beeck delivering his keynote presentation
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — The first presentation of WorldHostingDays 2011 came from ePages (www.epages.com) CEO Wilfried Beeck who talked about how small businesses can âSell global, think localâ.
Beeck started his presentation by taking a retrospective look at e-commerce, starting with the pre-Internet age with retail brands like Ikea and H&M, before zeroing in on his central theme of how small businesses can learn from Amazonâs business model.
He pointed out the challenges of the small business market in Europe. The top barrier is the vast range of languages and cultures — 15 different languages in the top seven regions â which makes it incredibly difficult to address this market.
Using examples of retail stores like Finland-based ittlala, Beeck explains how a lot of companies are not selling beyond their home market online, shipping to only a couple of countries in Europe.
Fortunately, these barriers will soon be removed as the European Union is currently planning to eliminate barriers for pan-European mail order business, introducing a high standard of consumer protection, says Beeck.
Other top barriers include marketplaces, payment methods, logistics and distribution, and legal issues.
He looked at the range of marketplace and shopping portals, such as Google, eBay, Twenga, and kelkoo, which simplifies the task of reaching a broad pan-European market.
Beeck also touched on the different country specific payment methods like ELV, Bleue, or Nordeo, as well as logistics and distribution companies like DHL or Collisimo.
At the tail end of the presentation, Beeck introduced a legal representative from Janolaw to discuss some of the varying legal implications that arise throughout European countries in e-commerce.
One example is the expiration of the deadline of the consumerâs right of revocation, which varies from 7 to 14 days.
Janolaw is currently working on expanding these international legal services for e-commerce providers to more European countries later this year and in early 2012.
In closing, Beeck emphasized his companyâs own work within the partner ecosystem, integrating and maintaining 60 technology partnerships across all major European regions.
No related posts.
