On 13 and 14 October 2021, the E-Commerce Days online took place for the fourth time. Host was the research company ibi research at the University of Regensburg GmbH. In addition to e-commerce trends, the main topics of the event were B2B, sustainability, payment and online marketing. eClear participated as an expert for customs and VAT with the contribution ” Fokus Umsatzsteuer und Zoll: Herausforderungen im Cross-Border-E-Commerce”. The event had 1,000 participants, over 35 speakers, over 25 presentations and two discussion rounds.
Sustainability in e-commerce
Not least due to the still ongoing Corona pandemic and advancing digitalisation, shopping behaviour has changed in recent years. Consumers are increasingly attaching importance to lean purchasing processes and sustainability. For example, rebuy, a platform that buys, refurbishes and resells used electronic items, presented its re-commerce business model in more detail in this context. Carbmee, another company that creates sustainable solutions in e-commerce, supports its customers in mapping clean supply chains in B2B trade.
In addition, the topic of data in online trade played a major role in several contributions. From collection to evaluation to data-driven business processes – data can offer a decisive competitive advantage if it is used correctly.
New payment trends
Here, it was not only about the future of purchase on account, merchant financing and payment in general, but also about the importance of the wishes of the customers and their payment journey and which opportunities and possibilities are opening up in channel and cross-border trade. The contribution by eClear’s Andreas Weidner, Vice President Customs, also followed on from this. He reported on the hurdles for online traders in connection with the EU’s digital VAT package, which came into force on 1 July, as well as the challenge of always applying the correct VAT and customs rates in cross-border trade and reporting sales correctly to the respective tax authorities.
Best practice from online marketing
The second day then concluded with several contributions from the field of online marketing. From AI-supported similarity searches to influencer marketing in erotic trade and community building in small retail companies, to the social media channels TikTok, Facebook and YouTube – e-commerce companies reported on their experiences here.
The detailed programme with all contributions can be viewed via this link. The next E-Commerce Days will take place on 17 and 18 May 2022.
eClear as a member of the DCRN network
eClear has been a member of the DCRN network, of which ibi research is the initiator and sponsor, since August 2021. DCRN pursues the goal of bringing together retailers, manufacturers and service providers from the e-commerce environment, working together with science and research to develop solutions around the opportunities and risks of digital transformation in retail, evaluating new technologies and developments, and thus providing all players in the retail industry with a basis for decision-making.
Each year, ibi and the DCRN publish several studies in the areas of retail; e-commerce as well as payment and banking, in which the partners participate. The latest ones (only available in german) can be viewed here.
