The camaraderie of last month’s Sochi Winter Olympics seems to be a fleeting memory as relations between the U.S. and Russia continue to deteriorate. In its latest response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the U.S. announced that it has imposed a ban on the issuance of export licenses for defense items and services to Russia. The State Department halted licensing on Monday, while the Commerce Department suspended licensing on March 1st.

The Commerce Department will halt sales of software, electronic devices, optical sensors and cameras, which were all among the $1.5 billion worth of exports to Russia licensed in 2013. Of that $1.5 billion, $798 million were for detonators and $367 million were for software products. Other products included encrypted software, ammunition for firearms, spacecraft, and chemicals.

At the 2014 ICPA Annual Conference in Orlando, FL this week, Amber Road hosted a networking party at Splitsville Luxury Lanes in Downtown Disney. For those of you who joined us, we hope you had fun. We sure did, and look forward to seeing you all at the next compliance event! Here are a few photos we snapped at the event!

Earlier this month, Amber Road attended the U.S. Customs and Border Protection East Coast Trade Symposium in Washington, DC. The CBP always puts on a wonderfully informative conference, so it was no surprise that we came back with some great takeaways from this year’s event.

• ACE, or Automated Commercial Environment, was the biggest discussion point at the Symposium, demanding a first-day speech on the topic and a packed workshop the next day. You can find the presentation on ACE Deployment here.
• AES (Automated Export System), the legacy system that used to handle automated exports, is being decommissioned by the end of 2014. As with any big transition (export control reform, anyone?) companies will want a partner in automation to weather the changes in filing

A large number of shippers use manual or spreadsheet-based methods to handle their trade compliance processes, despite the clear advantages to be gained from automation.

Join American Shipper, BPE Global and Amber Road for a complimentary webinar broadcasting live on Tuesday, April 8 at 2:00pm EDT. During Bridging the Gap Between Existing Compliance Automation and True GTM Platforms, viewers will learn how to leverage trade compliance technology and other tools to increase documentation accuracy and reduce compliance risk.

Amber Road completed its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday! Amber Road leadership and stakeholders were welcomed onto the trading floor to experience this very important day for our company and to ring the closing bell for AMBR’s first day on the market. 

Amber Road, Inc. announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 7,391,565 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $13.00 per share. Of the shares in the offering, 4,782,870 shares are being offered by the Company and 2,608,695 shares are being offered by selling stockholders. In addition, certain of the selling stockholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 1,108,734 additional shares at the same price to cover over-allotments, if any. Amber Road will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholders. The shares are expected to begin trading on The New York Stock Exchange on March 21, 2014 under the ticker symbol "AMBR." Closing of the offering is expected to occur on March 26, 2014, subject to customary closing conditions.

For more information, click here to read the press release.

Have you considered expanding your retail global trade operations into Africa? Well you should! By 2020, nearly half of all Africans will be living in cities, and consumer spending will grow to almost $1 trillion. Despite the challenges associated with entering Africa, this is a market retailers cannot afford to ignore.

Not sure where to start? The A.T. Kearney African Retail Development Index (ADRI) is a great first step. This study helps retailers determine where and how to best enter Africa’s retail market. This year’s top countries included Rwanda, Nigeria, Namibia, Tanzania, and Gabon.

As we all know, healthy global trade management starts with healthy trade compliance processes. And the key to a healthy trade compliance process is automation.

Check out this infographic based on American Shipper’s latest GTM Landscape Report to learn how you can automate the compliance process.

Also, don’t forget to download the Global Trade Management Landscape Report: Sharpening Trade Compliance through Improved Automation and Data Quality for actionable steps to transform a compliance process from manual to automated, and to underpin that process with accurate data.

Healthy global trade management starts with healthy compliance processes. In the highly complex world of modern trade, that means automation. However a large proportion of shippers still don’t view the automation of trade compliance as an achievable priority. 

American Shipper’s 2014 Global Trade Management Landscape Report, “Sharpening Trade Compliance through Improved Automation and Data Quality,” takes a back-to-basics approach for how shippers can re-prioritize this crucial evolution.

The benefits are clear: more efficient trade compliance, better accuracy, lower risk, and the ability to migrate compliance staff away from paperwork toward problem-solving. The report provides actionable steps and practical examples to transform a compliance process from manual to automated, and to underpin that process with accurate data. 

Arcadia Group Ltd, the largest privately owned fashion retailer in the United Kingdom, has signed a worldwide contract with Amber Road for an integrated Global Trade Management (GTM) suite. With the Amber Road GTM suite, Arcadia plans to automate the company's key import, export, supply chain visibility, and trade planning activities.

The Amber Road GTM suite is part of a larger, group-wide Global Supply Chain initiative at Arcadia designed to improve how the company manages the sourcing, manufacturing and delivery of its products, worldwide.

With well-known brands including Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, TOPSHOP, TOPMAN and Wallis, the Arcadia Group has more than 2,500 outlets across the United Kingdom and concessions in major U.K. department stores, as well as an expanding on-line business across all brands. Internationally, The Arcadia Group is expanding rapidly; the brands are sold worldwide through franchise partners in 38 countries, and delivering on-line to more than 110 countries. In addition to its successful and growing partnership with Nordstrom both within stores and on-line, TOPSHOP and TOPMAN have recently announced further expansion in the U.S. with five new fully-owned stores scheduled, with the second largest flagship in the world opening on Fifth Avenue, New York this Autumn.

Learn more about how Arcadia plans to use the Amber Road GTM suite here.

Amber Road would like to thank all of those who attended our webinar, Navigating the Processing Trade Program with China Trade Management. This webinar discussed how companies can use China Trade Management (CTM) software solutions to help them take advantage of the Processing Trade program. The attendees asked some great questions, but unfortunately, we ran out of time and were unable to answer all of them. The presenters, Kae-por Chang and Ty Bordner, were kind enough to provide us with written responses to those questions. Here are a few:

Last month, top retailers gathered in sunny San Diego, CA to soak up the latest industry trends at the 2014 Retail Industry Leaders Association Supply Chain Conference. Amber Road set up shop in the bustling exhibit hall and attended some of the top retail presentations given all year.