A new e-commerce network, Cross-Border Commerce Europe, has been founded with the goal to provide information on cross-border e-commerce and omnichannel. Founder Carine Moitier, former general manager of similar Belgian BeCommerce, has immediately been greeted with support by some large players.
At least three European countries
“Cross-Border Commerce Europe was born out of a simple observation: there already are several European e-commerce associations in the European district in Brussels, but these are mainly limited to lobbying,” says Moitier. “From the very beginning, CBCommerce.eu has been structured bottom-up. We listen to distributors and international brands, even if we also target European SMEs.”
The new platform aims to connect companies active in at least three European countries and support and accelerate their European expansion with figures, trends and other useful information about the countries in which they are active or want to become active. In addition, CBCommerce.eu also wants to inform its members about what the European Commission and the European Parliament are doing in important topics relating to e-regulation (GDPR), e-logistics (harmonised European labels) and e-payment (PSD2): information the companies can immediately use.
Moitier thinks the whole idea fits within the fight against Amazon and Alibaba: “Our distributors must strengthen their positions against globally active giants. European players prefer expansion in neighbouring countries to entering the American or Chinese market, which already disappointed many players. British companies furthermore also have to deal with Brexit. The fact that the new platform responds to a need is demonstrated by the list of big names supporting the initiative, including Carrefour, Ikea, Marks & Spencer, Inditex, Galeria Kaufhof, Nespresso and Vente-Exclusive.
