The French branch of Marks & Spencer supermarket in the UK is out of stock, and trade between the UK and the EU is no longer as smooth as before

Since the start of 2021, the number of groceries in the 17 Marks & Spencer food hall stores in Paris, France has been limited. Consumers who went into the stores to shop posted photos on Twitter as early as four weeks ago, showing that the shelves in the store were empty and there were no products to offer to consumers.

Marks & Spencer is a British retailer with its head office in London. It currently has about 760 branches in more than 30 countries around the world. It is one of the most representative chain stores in the UK and is also the largest clothing retailer in the UK. Food sales also account for a large proportion. Most of its branches mainly sell clothing and food. Recently, it has also started to sell household items, such as bedding fabrics.

When the shortage of goods began in January, Marks & Spencer said it was working hard to solve the problem and hoped to restock all production lines soon, but four weeks later, the shortage of goods has not improved. The supermarket also posted a notice: "Due to the implementation of the latest rules for commodity trade between the UK and France, we were unable to receive the required goods today. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience."

French Trade Minister Franck Riester said that the empty shelves in Marks and Spencer's Paris branch were just the "beginning" of Brexit. Such news caused panic among French consumers and triggered another buying spree in France.

From January 1 this year , the UK withdrew from the European single market and the EU customs union, and began to leave the EU in the true sense. According to the UK-EU agreement, the two sides will continue to enjoy zero tariffs and zero quotas on goods trade, avoiding large-scale increases in trade costs. But from the current situation, even with the new agreement, the gradual trade smoothness between the UK and the EU is still discounted compared to before.

Analysts said that since January 2, the flow of people and goods between the UK and the EU has not been as good as before, and the addition of border inspections for goods has also increased uncertainty. The port of Dover, which is closest to the European continent, was once "overcrowded with cars". The British government has announced the establishment of a border control center to monitor and analyze the entry of goods and people in real time through technical means in order to minimize possible border chaos.

In the field of goods trade, Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chamber of Commerce , said that the two sides still face "huge, new non-tariff barriers" in trade. The Welsh Farmers Association analyzed that the cost of non-tariff barriers is expected to rise by 4% to 8% next year. For the British automotive industry, even if a trade agreement is reached, the industry's costs will increase by 14.1 billion pounds.

With various contradictions and difficulties, it has become unlikely for UK-EU trade to return to its former unimpeded state. This situation has provided market opportunities for cross-border sellers while also adding various troubles: on the one hand, the unsmooth UK-EU trade has brought about a broader European market, while on the other hand, it has also caused considerable trouble for overseas warehouse users in transporting and trading goods between the UK and Europe.

U.K.

Cross-border e-commerce market

Europe