The long run of cross-border e-commerce hinges on local, on-demand production to fulfill evolving demands from lawmakers, regulators, consumers, and businesses. This approach goals to alleviate supply chain stress while advancing sustainability efforts.
Supply chains remain fragile, facing persistent challenges like global conflict, trade barriers, and extreme weather. These disruptions, coupled with delays in critical transportation routes, are stalling the international marketplace, in keeping with Henrik Müller-Hansen, CEO of print-on-demand software company Gelato.
Müller-Hansen has a plan to unravel those issues, enable more cross-border sales expansion, and help locales ease their aggressive CO2 levels. Shifting to local and on-demand production and delivery services reduces this stress and fosters collaboration amongst businesses that need each other to succeed, he suggested.
“Supply chain disruptions have grow to be increasingly complicated because the pandemic, with extreme weather and global conflict bottlenecking the Red Sea and Panama Canal, amongst other crucial transportation avenues that heavily impact international shipping — hurdles that won’t be solved overnight,” he told The E-Commerce Times.
HTwenty, an early-stage enterprise firm investing in pre-seed, seed, and series A tech firms across Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic population, is tackling cross-border e-commerce growth from a distinct angle, by capitalizing on the rapid expansion of the Latin American market.
In accordance with Daniel Lloreda, co-founder of HTwenty, countries like Mexico and Colombia are experiencing significant online sales growth—24% and 12%, respectively—driven not only by rising numbers but by the simultaneous evolution of native products, infrastructure, and services within the region.
Solving Supply Chain Hurdles for Makers
Gelato enables creators to supply personalized products locally, offering a practical solution for navigating supply chain inefficiencies. Since rebranding from OptimalPrint in 2007, the corporate has built a worldwide network of greater than 140 partners across 32 countries, reaching five billion consumers. This infrastructure gives makers a strategic advantage by reducing logistical hurdles and inventory challenges.
“We’ve built relationships with a worldwide community of print producers who’ve shared their insights on the industry’s evolution, which has been key to Gelato’s growth. Over time, we recognized the chance to leverage this network to profit creators and makers,” Müller-Hansen shared.
By reducing reliance on centralized mass production, Gelato’s model empowers local production shops to fulfill e-commerce demands and reduces emissions, contributing to sustainability. This approach helps makers avoid supply chain disruptions while addressing key environmental concerns.
Constructing Cross-Border Production Networks
One element the shipping industry can control is managing its supply chains to extend resilience and long-term sustainability. Attending to the foundation of those collective hurdles would require fresh systems to maneuver away from forecasting models and interact local production hubs, Müller-Hansen explained.
“For creators and e-commerce businesses looking to succeed in global customers, working with an organization like Gelato eases these challenges with a commitment to local suppliers,” he offered.
The software company side of Gelato puts production firms through a rigorous certification process to grow to be a network partner. Once they’re approved, they grow to be a part of the worldwide ecosystem.
The network provides makers and other e-commerce businesses with a more sustainable approach to manufacture and distribute products. Gelato’s software, which connects the biggest network of on-demand production hubs, allows products to be locally and efficiently produced where and when needed, reducing waste, errors, transportation times, and carbon emissions.
“On top of that, it moves makers away from a forecasting model and centralized mass production to the on-demand model. If we produce goods only when ordered, that’s one other step in the correct direction for the planet,” Müller-Hansen said.
Shift to On-Demand Production
Consumers worldwide are reshaping traditional production methods. Their preferences and selections have grow to be probably the most significant force driving change, ultimately determining the direction of entire industries.
Who doesn’t want local production of personalized products, he quipped. His network of production partners empowers the creator economy to go global. Orders from an e-commerce company are routed to the production facility closest to the tip consumer.
With Gelato, 99% of products are produced and delivered throughout the same region as the tip customer, and 87% are throughout the same country. Moreover, Gelato is the biggest on-demand network on the earth, in keeping with the corporate’s founder.
“With an on-demand model, a product is barely made when it’s sold, perfectly matching supply with demand and negating the necessity for mass production,” he observed.
Scalable Model for Efficient Local Production
Take the printing needs for instance; in keeping with Müller-Hansen, the typical print run has been reduced from greater than 3,000 items per print to fewer than 30 within the last twenty years. This reduction pressured print producers to satisfy individual requests while remaining profitable.
“With local, on-demand production, we equip entrepreneurs and business owners with the tools they should compete with firms 100 times their size,” he said. “Gelato print producers can quickly access economies of scale and streamline operations, allowing software to prepare tasks and improve efficiency, quality, and profitability.”
The Gelato network applies that very same approach to other production needs, he continued. Gelato makes it possible for makers to sell their products and deliver them faster with fewer emissions. With Gelato’s purpose-built print production software, thousands and thousands of highly personalized items across about 50 product categories have been delivered to customers worldwide for over 15 years.
“We’ve reduced costs for our print production partners across procurement and logistics,” Müller-Hansen said.
GelatoConnect supports machine types for procurement, workflow, and logistics modules, adding efficiency to the complete process. Workflow automates prepress and reduces raw material costs and stock needs.
It ensures that jobs are followed through every step of their production journey. Logistics offers access to a wider array of local and international carriers, with the correct package (size, location) being matched mechanically to the correct method, he explained.
“Finally, procurement will take your supply chain and stock management to a brand new level. Aggregated buying is just smarter. And with this, we’re lowering the barrier to entry for creators and entrepreneurs all over the place by giving them the production costs and delivery speed of huge e-commerce sellers without the identical upfront investment,” Müller-Hansen asserted.
