Fashion industry is best at understanding e-commerce

The fashion companies do not only set the tone when it comes to the presence of online shops, they also make the strongest use of support from service providers in areas such as online marketing or fulfilment, for example. This is a result of the current benchmarking report conducted by World Business Research (WBR) Digital on behalf of arvato. Furthermore, the report highlights the international potential in e-commerce, points out differences between the industries and provides insights into tendencies regarding outsourcing and multi-channel solutions.

According to WBR Digital, the fashion industry has significantly more web shops and online presence in more countries than the segments beauty, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and luxury. In a country comparison across industries, Germany scores the highest position in continental Europe when it comes to web shops, followed by France. “The study shows that the trade is currently going through a major change. The e-commerce business is growing rapidly. However, in order to gain customer satisfaction and to be successful in the long run, retailers should keep an eye on the entire value chain beyond the web shop, including fulfilment. Only by interlinking the services can you unearth the market’s treasures” says Niels Weithe, Managing Director of arvato SCM Consumer Products.

Almost 50 percent of the surveyed companies in e-commerce work with external service providers. With a share of 56 percent, the fashion industry once again turns out to be the driver of this development. The strongest outsourcing domains are online marketing, website development and website operation. “The various industries haven’t yet developed a concise outsourcing strategy. Even the best marketing won’t succeed if the processes aren’t right. The companies in this field therefore still have a lot of opportunity to improve their efficiency,” explains Niels Weithe.

With regard to future expansion, the companies are looking primarily to the US and Chinese markets. In the luxury sector, Germany is in third position. When asked about their plans for further outsourcing of e-commerce services, most of the companies focus on the European region, while it transpires that the highest support requirement is seen in online marketing, followed by logistics and fulfilment. Another result of the survey relates to the future development in the multi-channel business. When it comes to outsourcing e-commerce services, the surveyed companies focus on both Europe and Asia. According to the survey, the highest readiness for outsourcing is in online/offline customer care. The survey predominantly looked at British companies in the beauty, fashion, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and luxury segments, as the UK is leading in online trade.

93 e-commerce CEOs, managers and executives took part in the survey, which was conducted in December 2014 and January 2015. The study is available for download under www.arvato-consumer-products.com/en/download/.
About arvato SCM: arvato SCM Solutions is an innovative and leading international service provider in supply chain management and commerce. In the fields of telecommunication, hightech|entertainment, automotive|bank|insurance, healthcare, consumer products and publishing, arvato SCM Solutions provides specialized services for each trade.

Approximately 14,000 employees worldwide work to provide services and practical solutions. Using the latest digital technologies, arvato develops, operates and streamlines complex global supply chains and commerce platforms, making it a strategic growth partner for its customers. arvato SCM links people’s know-how with the right technologies and suitable business processes to measurably increase the productivity and performance of its partners.

As leading European service provider in the e-commerce fashion sector, arvato has been taking care of all required processes for renowned fashion and beauty brands for more than 15 years. arvato’s brand-specific service portfolio covers both retail logistics and the entire commerce process chain: implementation and operation of online shops, product photography, online marketing, logistics and shipping including returns management as well as payments and accounting, customer service and commerce consulting.

With 60 distribution hubs in Europe, Russia, Asia and the US SCM Solutions provides the necessary scalability, flexibility and experience to give their customers the decisive competitive edge.