Global Ventures
Victor Dam / 10 June 2022 /
For the vast majority of DropNet’s trading history, the company has maintained a single sales-channel that operates exclusively in the United Kingdom. Recently, we have initiated a variety of global ventures that have allowed for increased availability of DropNet product, both through the expansion of available geographical marketplaces, as well as the increase of available sales channels.
Namely, DropNet has initiated the expansion into Amazon’s European Marketplace, with products now available in Amazon Spain, Amazon France, and Amazon German. Expansion into these marketplaces has been conducted through the use of Amazon’s European Fulfilment Network (EFN), which serves as an intermediary to Amazon’s FBA following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union.
While enrolment into Amazon’s EFN programme aids with revenue, exposure, and general growth of the company, it does also pose a variety of issues which we hope to address in the near future. Unfortunately, Amazon’s EFN programme incurs high fulfilment costs and long delivery times. Considering this, we hope to circumvent reliance on Amazon’s EFN programme shortly through the implementation and enrolment into European FBA marketplaces, most likely through the adoption of a Third-party Logistics (3PL) partner. Adoption of a 3PL solution will allow for DropNet to have Trusted Persons within the European Union, effectively allowing for returns and FBA-Shipments to be conducted nationally, or at the very least within the European Union.
On another note, we have also seen the expansion of DropNet’s sales channels (independent of Geographical Marketplace), through the adoption of eBay, Shopify, and associated web stores, effectively allowing for DropNet products to be available on a variety of other “supplementary” sales channels, i.e., Google Shopping, Instagram, Facebook, and more. Product availability in these so-called “supplementary” sales channels was previously not possible as re-directing to Amazon is not allowed by most providers.
Lastly, we are currently in the process of streamlining our inbound shipments and imports through the use of Amazon’s Global Logistics (AGL) programme, which will allow for foreign shipments to be sent directly to Amazon FBA Fulfilment centres, rather than requiring a stop at our warehouse in London. We hope that the adoption of this programme will reduce lead times and transportation costs, as well as allow for more space at our warehouse for new products that are still under development and therefore cannot be sent directly to Amazon without domestic quality control. We have calculated that AGL shipment fees will be XX lower in comparison to our current solutions. Furthermore, enrolment into the AGL programme will also provide a foreign foothold, namely through the use of AGL-appointed customs brokers, etc.
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