To meet the evolving needs of legislators, regulators and consumers, cross-border ecommerce will depend on local production on demand. This approach aims at reducing supply chain pressure while also advancing sustainability.
Supply chains are still fragile due to persistent challenges such as global conflict, trade barriers and extreme weather. These disruptions, coupled with delays in critical transportation routes, are stalling the international marketplace, according to Henrik Müller-Hansen, CEO of print-on-demand software company Gelato.
Müller-Hansen has a plan to solve those issues, enable more cross-border sales expansion, and help locales ease their aggressive CO2 levels. He suggested that shifting to local production and delivery services on demand would reduce this stress, and encourage collaboration between businesses who need each other to succeed.
“Supply chain disruptions have become increasingly complicated since the pandemic, with extreme weather and global conflict bottlenecking the Red Sea and Panama Canal, among other crucial transportation avenues that heavily impact international shipping — hurdles that won’t be solved overnight,” he told The E-Commerce Times.
HTwentyBy capitalizing on Latin America’s rapid growth,, a venture firm that invests in early-stage tech companies, including pre-seed and seed-stage, as well as series A, has taken a new approach to cross-border ecommerce.
According to Daniel Lloreda, co-founder of HTwenty, countries like Mexico and Colombia are experiencing significant online sales growth—24% and 12%, respectively—driven not only by rising numbers but by the simultaneous evolution of native products, infrastructure, and services in the region.
Solving supply chain hurdles for makers
Gelato allows creators to create personalized products locally. It is a great way to navigate supply chain inefficiencies. Since rebranding as OptimalPrint, the company has grown a global network with more than 140 partners in 32 countries and reached five billion consumers. This infrastructure offers a competitive advantage to manufacturers by reducing inventory and logistical issues.
“We’ve developed relationships with a community of global print producers, who have shared insights about the evolution of the industry. This was key to Gelato growing. Over time, we recognized the opportunity to leverage this network to benefit creators and makers,” Müller-Hansen shared.
Gelato’s model reduces reliance on central mass production and allows local production shops meet the demands of e-commerce while reducing emissions. This contributes to sustainability. This helps manufacturers avoid disruptions in the supply chain while also addressing environmental concerns.
Cross-Border Production Networks
The shipping industry has the ability to manage its supply chain in order to increase sustainability and resilience. Getting to the root of these collective hurdles will require fresh systems to move away from forecasting models and engage local production hubs, Müller-Hansen explained.
“Working with Gelato makes it easier for creators, and ecommerce businesses to reach customers around the world by committing to local suppliers,” said he.
Gelato’s software side puts production companies to a rigorous certification procedure in order to become network partners. Once approved, the production companies become a part of the global eco-system.
The network allows makers and e-commerce companies to distribute and manufacture products in a more environmentally friendly way. Gelato’s software connects the largest on-demand network of production hubs. This allows products to efficiently be produced locally, where and when they are needed.
“Plus, it takes the makers away from a mass production model based on forecasting to a model based on demand. If we produce goods only when ordered, that is another step in the right direction for the planet,” Müller-Hansen said.
On-Demand Production
The changing demands of consumers around the world are reshaping production methods. They are the main force behind the change.
He snorted, “Who doesn’t want personalized local products?” Seine network of production partners enables the creator-economy to be global. The orders from an online retailer are sent to the closest production facility to the consumer.
Gelato produces and delivers 99% of its products within the same region and country as the end-customer. In fact, 87% of them are made and delivered in the same location. Gelato’s founder claims that the company has the largest global on-demand network.
He said that an on-demand production model would allow a product to be produced only when the demand is met, thus avoiding mass production and perfectly matching supply and demand.
Scalable Model for Efficient local Production
Take the printing needs as an example; according to Müller-Hansen, the average print run has been reduced from more than 3,000 items per print to fewer than 30 in the last two decades. The print industry was forced to reduce the number of items printed per print in order to remain profitable.
He said: “With local and on-demand production we give entrepreneurs and business owners the tools to compete with businesses 100 times larger than themselves.” “Gelato printers can quickly access economies-of-scale and streamline operations.
Continuing, he said: “The Gelato Network applies the same approach to other needs in production.” Gelato allows makers to sell and deliver their products faster, with less emissions. Gelato’s print production software has been used to deliver millions of highly-personalized items from over 50 different categories around the world for more than 15 years.
“We’ve reduced costs for our print production partners across procurement and logistics,” Müller-Hansen said.
GelatoConnect offers a variety of machine types to support the workflow and logistics modules. This increases efficiency throughout the process. Workflow automates printing and reduces costs for raw materials and stock.
This ensures that the jobs are tracked through each step of production. He said that logistics gives access to an array of local and foreign carriers.
“Finally procurement will bring your supply chain management and stock control to a whole new level. The aggregated buying approach is simply smarter. And with this, we’re lowering the barrier to entry for creators and entrepreneurs everywhere by giving them the production costs and delivery speed of large e-commerce sellers without the same upfront investment,” Müller-Hansen asserted.