Orium expands in Europe

   Orium, which operates an e-fulfillment and multilingual contact center, has launched a new Website dedicated to helping U.S. e-commerce and multichannel retailers expand their Internet sales to European markets. 
   In particular, the new site helps facilitate exchanges with clients by streamlining inventory access, e-fulfillment, and shipping options.
   The company said the biggest barriers it has found for U.S. retailers successfully expanding to EU markets is developing a method for distributing orders to customers and providing customer support akin to local retailers.
   Orium has an integrated network of logistics platforms across 10 sites in Europe that it uses to provide retailers with services. By bringing their inventory closer to the last mile, retailers can reduce their costs for shipping and improve their quality of service, the company said.
   Orium supports transactions with multiple currencies and translations, but also offers localized customer relations via phone calls, e-mail, and live chats in local languages.
   “The launch of our new Website marks the global trend towards cross border commerce. The Internet has broken down many of the boundaries associated with international retail, but selling cross border requires the right preparation and support of local partners to make the expansion strategy a success,” said Olivier Moreau, Orium’s chief executive officer.
   Orium said U.S. companies typically go after trade in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom since they make up 70 percent of the European market, a statistic provided by the U.K. online retail association IMRG. Orium predicts there will be a coming push into e-commerce emerging markets, such as Spain, Italy, Poland and Eastern Europe.