Daily Cross-Border E-Commerce Briefing | September 2, 2025

1. EU ICS2: Some Countries Grant Derogations for Road/Rail ENS
  • Starting September 1, ICS2 Release 3 (road/rail) is in force across the EU, but several member states granted temporary enforcement postponements while others did not. For cross-border D2C and dropshipping into the EU, ensure your checkout and OMS capture accurate HS codes, English descriptions, receiver phone/tax IDs, and confirm who files ENS with carriers to avoid border delays.
    Source: Cyprus Shipping News, Published on: September 1, 2025
2. Ocean Spot Rates Keep Sliding: Drewry WCI Down 6% WoW
  • Drewry’s World Container Index fell 6% to $2,119/FEU in Week 35, marking the 11th straight weekly decline as transpacific and Asia–Europe lanes softened. For dropshippers, softening freight can support sharper pricing and faster transit promises, but keep an eye on capacity shifts and port congestion risks.
    Source: Container News, Published on: September 1, 2025
3. Royal Mail Profit Returns; Saturday Second-Class Cuts to Roll Out Gradually
  • Royal Mail’s parent IDS reported its first profit in three years and said reducing second-class deliveries will take “many months.” While letter service changes dominate headlines, parcel infrastructure and out-of-home delivery options continue to expand—optimize UK PDP and checkout for lockers/PUDO to reduce failed deliveries.
    Source: The Guardian, Published on: September 1, 2025
4. Royal Mail Says U.S.-Bound Shipments Now Flowing Smoothly
  • After the U.S. ended de minimis for low-value parcels, Royal Mail resumed U.S.-bound services with a prepaid-duties option and says flows are stable. For D2C to the U.S., prefer DDP-like services and show tax-included pricing at checkout to reduce refusal at delivery.
    Source: Reuters, Published on: September 1, 2025
5. Amazon India Adjusts Seller Fees Ahead of Festive Season
  • Amazon India lowered referral fees for multiple categories while increasing per-item closing fees and adjusting weight-handling slabs. Recompute SKU margins and keep buffer if your indie store funnels traffic to Amazon India listings; consider dropship-to-India for long-tail SKUs.
    Source: The Economic Times (ETtech), Published on: September 1, 2025
6. WooCommerce 10.2 Pre-release: Product Collection Carousel & Faster Cart
  • The 10.2 pre-release adds a carousel layout for Product Collection, instant cart rendering with skeleton loading, and more accurate analytics for refunds/returns. Test the carousel against your hero collections and validate ROAS/POAS with improved net figures—use a staging site before pushing live.
    Source: WooCommerce Developer Blog, Published on: September 1, 2025
7. Nippon Express Unveils Cross-Border E-commerce Service for Japan
  • Nippon Express introduced a DCX-based logistics solution for overseas merchants selling to Japanese consumers, offering order ingestion, overseas warehousing, customs and last-mile, plus BI/AI shipping insights. If Japan is in your roadmap, evaluate end-to-end carriers to lift delivery reliability and display tax-inclusive ETAs for JP buyers.
    Source: Logistics Manager, Published on: September 1, 2025
8. Walmart Recruits European Marketplace Sellers
  • Walmart is proactively courting merchants in the UK and continental Europe to enter the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Chile. Consider a “marketplace for acquisition, indie site for retention” playbook to harvest traffic and then build brand equity on your own store.
    Source: Ecommerce News Europe, Published on: September 1, 2025