Hope some of you listened to the panel on BBC Radio 5 Live's foreign affairs program called Global, which is hosted by Brian Hayes in London (where it was 9:30 PM) and broadcast live on the web at http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/

We discussed e-tailing globally, and how similar issues affected different countries. It was an interesting format and a truly global concept, when you consider we had six different time zones. The panel consisted of (and times in their countries):

4:30 PM Sunday - George Matyjewicz, Atlanta, GA, USA
7:30 PM Sunday - Luis Waldman in Rio, Brazil.
9:30 PM Sunday - Brian Hayes, London
10:30 PM Sunday - Jonas Ridderstrole, Stockholm, Sweden, Assistant Professor at Stockholm School of Economics and author of a book called Funky Business.
12:30 AM Monday - Otieno Okello in Kenya., who works for Citibank but actually travels across the African continent and is soon transferring to South Africa.
5:30 AM Monday - Nury Vittachi (a journalist) in Hong Kong

As a foreign affairs program they try to give a wider perspective on the topic...to see how other countries view similar problems. We discussed online shopping and the issues we found in different countries.

In Kenya, the postal system has issues with theft, which is so bad that merchandise cannot be delivered. Hence, e-commerce is low. In other countries, including the US, delivery to homes is a problem as many couples both work and can't accept deliveries. In Japan and China 7-11 stores accept deliveries which are picked up by people on their way home.

In Hong Kong, e-commerce is slow, yet m-commerce seems to be big. In Brazil, e-commerce is very slow. The most common products sold online are books and CDs, as they are in the U.S.

What is holding back global e-commerce is fulfillment and payments. Credit card security is a big issue. In many countries outside the US, they don't have credit cards, and many don't even have bank accounts. And there isn't any true global payment system (but it is coming).

There seems to be a new term (probably as a result of the TV show "Survivors") called "tribes" which also used to be communities. People with like interests who have similar needs. Great target markets; great comfort area.


George Matyjewicz