City Research Online

Abstract

In the late 1990s, one economist famously predicted that the internet would have the same impact on how we do business as the fax machine. Having since revolutionised domestic retail, in 2018 the internet is now revolutionising international trade in the form of Cross-Border E-Commerce. We have learned that companies which approach E-Commerce in a strategic way are far likelier to succeed than those who respond in a reactive, passive fashion. It stands to reason that the same lesson also applies for national economies. We believe that Cross-Border E-Commerce needs to be a major component of the UK’s developing Industrial Strategy. Often referred to as a Global City, a cursory glance at its history suggests a more fitting term for London could be the Creative City–the city of Milton, Shakespeare, Haydn, and more recently, the city of Mary Quant, Vivienne Westwood, and Alexander McQueen. The rise of the middle class in countries like China and India has created a new demand for Western fashion and consumer products. China is now the world’s largest E-Commerce market. Whereas for the past 30 years, Western countries have outsourced manufacturing to emerging economies, and then purchased those goods back from them, the next 30 years may witness the reverse process, with manufacturing returning to the West, especially for high-end, luxury products, which are then sold via Cross-Border E-Commerce to the rest of the world. In this short report, we make three key recommendations for implementation at a national level over the next 5 years to help London Creative SMEs take full advantage of this golden opportunity. Retail can be segmented into three core activities – promoting, selling, and distributing – and our three recommendations are made with these activities in mind.

Publication Type:	Report
Departments:	The City Law School > Academic Programmes The City Law School > International Law and Affairs Group

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