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NEWS
UK retailers risk international revenue loss due to red tape and high charges
Newly released research suggests that despite a high proportion of UK businesses having a good awareness of overseas payment culture, they are not necessarily offering the options on their websites, causing many to miss out on a large slice of online overseas traffic. According to the research comissioned by electronic payment specialists, Te PPRO Group, three quarters of businesses cited in-country regulations (73 per cent) and high charges (77 per cent) as the main barriers to offering additional payment options to international shoppers. Tis is made all the more surprising
when coupled with the fact that nearly one in ten (8 per cent) retailers admit that between 31 and 51 per cent of all transactions come from international customers. With familiar overseas payment options including iDEAL,
SEPA Direct Debit and SOFORTbanking starting to find a home on UK-based sites, adoption levels are still relatively low with 23 per cent, 42 per cent and 46 per cent adoption rates, respectively. Tobias Schreyer, co-founder of Te
PPRO Group commented: “Despite international payment options beginning to resonate with UK retailers, red tape and additional charges are putting pay to many retailers offering the payment preferences of international customers, as well as UK-specific payment preferences like credit and debit card. Te research also revealed that over one third of respondents (38 per cent) simply don’t see the need to offer additional options, meaning they could be missing out on a vital revenue stream.” Up to ten per cent of international
customers abandon their basket at the point of payment, according to almost
Transformation continues at N Brown Group
Te strategic plan to overhaul the N Brown Group business, led by CEO Angela Spindler, is gathering pace. Te group is inviting offers
for its more upmarket mature fashion brand Gray & Osbourn having announced that it will only trade the brand until June 2015 regardless of whether a buyer is found. Fiona Holmes, CEO for Gray & Osbourn, who has also been leading Figleaves in recent months will continue with N Brown Group as CEO for Figleaves when the G&O shutters come down. Most of the other central London based Gray & Osbourn staffers and freelancers are seeking new assignments. Te future for the N Brown Group brand, the House of Bath, which also operates at distance from Manchester HQ in the city of Bath, is said to be secure with no current plans for the relocation or sale of the business. However there have been rumblings that the widely discussed reduction in the group’s catalogue mailing volumes could well impact HoB and the group’s mature market sales as a whole.
N Brown Group did suffer a
10.8 per cent drop in its overall September sales which was attributed to milder weather, however a stronger October and November had the effect of reducing the overall decline to 1.2 per cent for the 13 weeks to November 29th. On Black Friday it joined the fray and generated £5 million sales in a single day for the first time. In further news Dean Moore,
CFO, has announced that he will leave the business making way for his newly appointed replacement, Craig Lovelace who joins from General Healthcare Group. Finally, in its latest
announcement , we learned that the long established Manchester based JD Williams call centre has been outsourced to Serco in a ten year agreement which will see employees transferring across to Serco and continuing to work on their previous employer’s business. Serco is contracted to handle sales and customer service calls, inbound and outbound sales for JD Williams and is known to handle contact centre services in the city for other major names.
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half of those surveyed (43 per cent), with the payment page cited as the reason in 42 per cent of the cases. However, when it comes to online shopping priorities, retailers put more emphasis on security than the loss of revenue caused by shopping cart abandonment with 85 per cent considering customer security to be a high priority, compared to abandonment of shopping carts which tops the list for just over half (54 per cent) of the respondents. “It is clear from our research that
the understanding of payment cultures among overseas shoppers is growing, but barriers still exist to convert these potentially lucrative browsers into buyers. By addressing these issues, future revenues can be enhanced as well as retailers reach and brand awareness across the globe,” adds Tobias.
DPD to open parcel shops
DPD has announced plans to open its own parcel shop network in June. Te new venture, to be called DPD PickUp,
will create 22 new jobs initially with the aim of reaching 2,500 outlets with a DPD PickUp point within ten minute of most people in the UK. DPD also announced the Numark Pharmacists chain as the first member of the new network, with further announcements likely in the coming weeks. It will offer consumers the chance to divert parcels to a DPD pick up location at short notice when they find they will not be home to accept a delivery as well as offering the now well established services of parcel collection and returns handling. DPD is also working towards offering a one-hour timeslot for home delivery or pick up delivery.
Peter Odemwingie and Dwain McDonald DPD PickUp launch
NEWS
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