Retail and e-commerce - January 2021

Developments in retail and COVID-19
Dutch postal and courier services saw their revenues rise by almost 11% in the third quarter of 2020, according to CBS (in Dutch) data. Because consumers visited fewer physical shops more purchases were made online.
Critizr recently surveyed customer experience experts in the UK and France across various retail sectors to understand the impact COVID-19 has had on the industry. You can download the white paper after filling in your details.
McKinsey has published an article about how EU shoppers will buy groceries in the next normal.
The Institut für sozial-ökologische Forschung has published a paper (1.05 MB) in the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography with the title Making Food Manageable – Packaging as a Code of Practice for Work Practices at the Supermarket.

Sustainable initiatives and reusable concepts
The Chinese government has issued a document urging related departments to implement a new concept of development and promote a green revolution in express delivery packaging.
PreScouter has released a report on reusable packaging solutions and the companies at the forefront of the trend toward encouraging the reuse of packaging materials. You can download the report after filling in your details.
The results of the R!sult project, which VIL (in Dutch) carried out together with six cities and 22 companies, show that sustainable and smart urban logistics can save up to 50% in kilometres through consolidation of the last mile.
The results of a recent study by Miebach Consulting GmbH suggest that a successful turnaround towards sustainability can be achieved if consumers first start rethinking and then put their new way of thinking into action and demand. You can download the report after filling in your details.
NVC contributed to the European Media Partner supplement (in Dutch) of the FD published on 23 December 2020 about sustainable developments in the Dutch food and packaging sector.

New Amazon SIOC dimensions and other E-commerce trends
According to ISTA, Amazon has reduced the minimum SIOC dimensions for the EU to match the dimensions in North America. This will enable more packaging optimisation and scale for products that sell in all Amazon marketplaces.
In a white paper, ISM shares important e-commerce trends for 2021 in the areas of digital strategy, online marketing and technology. You can download the white paper (in Dutch) after filling in your details.
The Taskforce E-commerce of IAB Nederland (in Dutch) has published an overview map (in Dutch, 1.94 MB) of the Dutch e-commerce landscape. The overview shows which different parties are active and how they relate to each other.
Ecommerce Europe has published a Position Paper (203 kB) on the Postal Services Directive (PSD), in light of the European Commission’s public consultation on the evaluation of this directive. The paper outlines some recommendations for policymakers on behalf of the European digital commerce sector.

New GS1 guideline
GS1 US has published a guideline to help the retail industry implement GS1 Digital Link, a standard that allows brand holders to web-enable barcodes and provide consumers with rich product information.
 

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