E-commerce marketing · Industry brief

The ECA and DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa have partnered to strengthen African SME participation in cross-border trade through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The collaboration will deliver virtual training programmes covering customs procedures, logistics, e-commerce, digital trade, regulatory compliance, market access and trade finance, with special focus on women- and youth-led businesses. The partnership leverages DHL's GoTrade programme, which has already supported over 24,000 SMEs globally since 2021, including 8,000 in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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FedEx is launching Global Trade Navigator, a digital tool suite designed to help e-commerce businesses navigate complex cross-border commerce by providing visibility into duties, taxes, customs requirements, and documentation before shipment. The platform includes a trade planner for looking up Harmonized System codes, estimating duties and fees, and determining documentation requirements, plus enhancements to its Ship Manager tool and import reporting capabilities. For Shopify merchants, FedEx is introducing a duty and tax app that displays guaranteed costs at checkout. The tools address the rapidly changing trade environment following the U.S. elimination of the $800 de minimis exemption and the European Union's removal of its de minimis exemption starting July 1, as well as various tariffs imposed under U.S. trade laws including Section 122 and Section 301. According to FedEx's 2026 Small Business Trade Index, 68 percent of small and mid-size businesses report customers regularly encounter unexpected duties at delivery, while 60 percent have lost revenue through refunds or abandoned purchases. OnTrac has launched a "dynamic savings" program allowing shippers to access lower rates when the carrier has available network capacity. Through multi-carrier rate-shopping systems, shippers can send package information and target prices to OnTrac, which evaluates network conditions in milliseconds and returns promotional rates if capacity permits. The program reflects growing use of real-time data to match shipping decisions with network conditions and is aimed at e-commerce brands and third-party logistics providers. OnTrac is piloting the program with select customers during the 2026 peak season, with a planned January 2027 launch.