The Commerce Diplomats
Enabling the Free Flow of Goods
By Jay Shen
From the beginning, the Internet has been hailed as the vehicle that enabled the global flow of information. While it's certainly true that sharing news and other published information is less restricted than ever before, the movement of goods across international borders is anything but free-flowing. Complex rules and regulations, and time-consuming documentation and processes continue to hinder international trade, keeping e-commerce ventures from fully entering the global market.
Nearly all analysts and industry pundits agree—the ability to seize a global audience is critical for any company involved in online commerce. Forrester Research projects twentyfold growth of worldwide e-commerce by 2004. And according to eStats' eGlobal report, international e-commerce revenues were $98 billion in 1999. However, the lion's share of these revenues was garnered within national borders. According to Forrester, over 85 percent of e-commerce companies don't sell to customers seeking delivery abroad. The remaining 15 percent that do accept international orders generally ignore compliance issues and push the responsibility of dealing with customs regulations and payment onto their customers.
Much of the problem has been that, until now, no customs-related service has existed for vendors and buyers to expedite the flow of goods from one country to another in an easy, seamless, and timely way. Companies entering the global arena or expanding their existing international sales have faced an arcane process that's both time-consuming and expensive.
