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Christmas is this Friday, and Amazon UK has already started using elements such as Christmas red, Christmas trees, and antlers to add a festive atmosphere to the website. For cross-border sellers, this may be the last hope for a surge in orders in 2020. Everyone is looking forward to making good use of Christmas marketing to quickly increase their product sales and promote sales. Unexpectedly, the sellers’ desire for huge sales has now fallen into crisis. The British health and epidemic prevention department announced earlier that a more contagious new coronavirus variant is spreading rapidly in the capital London and surrounding southeast England, and about 70% of the latest confirmed cases are related to this. Due to concerns that the new variant of the virus may cause super-spreading this winter, British Prime Minister Boris held a press conference on December 19 to announce that the southeast region of England, including London, has entered a level 4 lockdown. All non-essential places including barber shops and gyms are closed, and previously allowed holiday family gatherings are also banned. Within 90 minutes of Boris announcing the blockade, a large number of Londoners began to flee, and major train stations in London were overcrowded. Some people described the scene that night as the Great Evacuation of London... There are about 18 million people living in the Level 4 lockdown area. For these people, Christmas is completely over. And because non-essential shops have to close after the lockdown, a large number of Londoners rushed out before midnight to buy Christmas gifts for their families. Affected by the UK's emergency lockdown, many countries have successively announced measures such as closing borders and suspending flights to and from the UK to deal with the new variant of the new coronavirus. UK logistics faces severe delays After the news from the UK came out, it also caused tension in neighboring countries, and they took action one after another. According to incomplete statistics, as of 11:00 Beijing time on the 21st, nearly 30 countries around the world, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Turkey, Ireland, Austria, Kuwait, Israel, Iran, etc., have decided to "keep their distance" from the UK, including closing their borders to the UK, raising the risk level of travel to the UK, and suspending flights to and from the UK.
▲ Screenshot from Weibo @每日经济新闻Some of these countries have also made it clear that the suspension of flights to and from the UK is effective for all people and goods from the UK, including road, rail, sea and air transport. Only some countries' restrictions do not target British cargo flights. In fact, before these flight suspension orders were issued, the logistics situation in the UK was already not optimistic. UK logistics faces severe delays According to the Mirror, the Royal Mail is under pressure to deliver packages on Christmas Eve. Although the Royal Mail has hired an additional 33,000 employees to handle the exponentially increased number of packages on Christmas Eve, it still cannot avoid the bad luck of express delivery not being delivered on time.
This is a courier sorting room of the Royal Mail. Parcels are piled up like mountains inside, and rows of trolleys are parked next to it, filled with parcels ready to be shipped. In addition, long queues of trucks were seen on many sections of the UK's highways, with large container trucks lined up end to end for miles, turning the highways into parking lots. In addition, several trade ports between the UK and the EU have recently experienced severe congestion. For example, traffic volume in the Calais port area connecting the UK and France has increased by 30% to 50% compared with the same period last year. The lockdown in the UK, coupled with the suspension of flights to the UK by nearly 30 countries, has undoubtedly made the logistics situation in the UK even worse. Sellers on the UK site are also anxious about the current situation. Many sellers said that delivery delays are to be expected. What is even more worrying is that Brexit has been affecting cross-border business since mid-November. In order to ensure that the business of European sellers in the UK and the EU is not affected, Amazon recently issued another announcement to remind sellers to pay attention to the new changes in Amazon policies caused by Brexit. Amazon to disable automatic removals from long-term storage Amazon announced that the UK will withdraw from the EU single market and customs union on January 1, 2021, and a new customs border will be established between the UK and the EU. Therefore, Amazon will disable automatic removal of long-term storage on December 31, 2020. If you have enabled long-term storage automatic removals, this change will require you to manually create removal orders for eligible inventory to avoid incurring long-term storage fees. This change will apply to long-term storage automatic returns and long-term storage automatic disposals in all fulfilment centres in the EU and the UK. After Brexit, customs clearance for goods import and export will become more complicated. Under the EU's unified customs system, goods entering and leaving the EU do not need to go through repeated customs clearance and tax procedures. After Brexit, the UK and the EU will have independent customs operation systems, and customs clearance procedures for goods entering and leaving the EU will be much more complicated than before. In addition, from January 1, 2020, the IPI and inventory limits of the UK and EU will be calculated independently. Sellers can decide to send inventory to any country in the EU, but must pay attention to VAT compliance. In order to help sellers cope with the challenges brought by Brexit and plan inventory in advance, Amazon's European Seller Platform has launched the "British Brexit Help Page". Sellers can log in to the European Seller Platform and refer to the British Brexit Help Page: https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gc/sell-online/brexit （Copy and open in your browser） In fact, in addition to the series of changes brought about by Brexit, many sellers said: the logistics problem in the UK is already helpless, and the inventory problem can be planned according to Amazon's policies and guidance, but what they are more worried about is whether the UK will only be able to deliver daily necessities like France, or whether Amazon will restrict the sales of its categories? ▲ Screenshot from seller communication group
Regarding this speculation, some sellers said: It is not impossible, and it is even very likely. If Amazon really restricts the sales of categories at that time, everyone can really go back to celebrate the New Year in advance. However, some sellers also said: Be prepared early, so that everything will not come too suddenly. What are the sellers worried about in the current situation in the UK? What preparations have they made? Welcome to discuss in the comments section~ Statement: When reprinting this article, the title and original text must not be modified, and the source and original link must be retained.
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