Marketplace facilitators like Amazon, Etsy, Rakuten, Walmart.com and eBay, are now required in 10 states to collect and remit sales tax resulting from third-party transactions, and several additional states will follow suit. Preparation is the name of the game to be compliant with ever-changing tax legislation.
Compared to distribution or fulfillment centers, store inventory is often seen as the weakest link when it comes to SKU accuracy, with rates that can be as low as 65%. As omnichannel demand picks up, stores are playing a critical role in ecommerce order fulfillment. Here are some quick tips from an expert panel at Ecommerce Operations Summit.
Alibaba is changing up its fast-growing AliExpress marketplace to attract merchant sellers from nations besides China, a direct challenge to Amazon’s international marketplace, according to the Financial Times. The “local to global” program will initially admit sellers from Russia, Turkey, Italy and Spain, expanding as it goes.
After beefing up its grocery delivery chops here, including automated kiosks and crowdsourcing, Walmart is now testing same-day grocery delivery to customers in China through a hookup with WeChat and delivery service Dada. This is separate from Walmart’s partnership with JD.com, although both have invested in Dada.
Cincinnati-based grocer Kroger will start selling online into China through a new partnership with Alibaba, testing some of its natural foods line first as it makes its first international move in the expanding grocery wars. See what else the company is up to, including its pilot of driverless delivery in Scottsdale, AZ and same-day delivery.
As it has here, ecommerce in Europe is continuing to experience double-digit gains, increasing 11% in 2017 to $624 billion or 534 billion euros, with projected growth of 13% in 2018, according to a report from Ecommerce Europe. See how the spending broke down by region, and which marketplaces were most popular.
