UPS simplifies international shipping for SME customers in the Middle East
UPS has upgraded its shipping website by making the process of creating an international shipment smarter and easier for its SME customers in 116 countries, including 36 countries in the Indian subcontinent, Middle East and Africa.
Set to take effect in phases throughout 2020, it will help simplify international shipping by guiding customers through the process and by providing proactive insight into total landed costs, including duties and taxes. This will allow shippers across the region to notify their customers of any additional costs before their package ships. Shippers will benefit from a more intuitive experience when generating international shipments with helpful information related to cross-border trade and paperwork managed in a streamlined process.
According to Jean-Francois Condamine, President, High Growth and Emerging Markets at UPS, while SMEs contribute over 40% of GDP in emerging economies, many are hesitant to trade internationally due to the complexity of cross-border shipping. By making the shipping process more intuitive, UPS wants to show businesses that selling across borders can be as straightforward as shipping at home”.
Most SMEs are not in a position to dedicate the time to learn or afford to pay for the expertise to ensure they are knowledgeable about international customs brokerage requirements. This new UPS upgrade enables SMEs to ship their products around the world.
While little will change visually on ups.com, the website prompts will automatically appear, helping users by eliminating the need to use multiple databases to determine specific tariff codes for their products, or to learn at an earlier stage whether a recipient’s address appears on any denied parties lists. This tool will help empower shippers to expand their customer base.
In the past year, UPS has launched several new services aimed at making exporting easier and more accessible for businesses of all sizes. These include a Saturday pick-up service for export packages for US customers to 179 countries worldwide and the launch of UPS Worldwide Economy, a cost-effective cross-border shipping service designed to provide small and medium-sized businesses flexibility, visibility and affordability. The company also announced plans to deploy UPS My Choice® for Business in 29 countries in 2020. Benefits include advance delivery notifications, including day-before and day-of delivery notifications and estimated time of delivery within 2, 3, and 4 hour windows for the majority of postal codes.
