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Selling online, digitizing documents, tracking cargo and using data and AI change how people trade. A technology is useful when it solves a real problem and the other players adopt it.
Goal: Compare the cost of sending small orders through Exporta Fácil or in a monthly consolidated lot, and assess when it pays to adopt a technology.
Innovating in foreign trade is not only about using new technology. It is about changing how you sell, how you move the goods or how you test what you ship. Today there are four fronts: selling online, digitizing documents, tracking cargo and using data and artificial intelligence (AI) to decide better.
Cross-border e-commerce is selling to customers in another country over the internet, from your own store or from a marketplace (a platform that brings together many sellers). It usually involves small, frequent shipments. It changes three things: the customer is usually a person or an SME and not an importer; the shipment goes by courier or by mail; and customs treats small parcels differently. In Peru, Exporta Fácil lets you export through the postal service with simplified procedures.
Digitizing documents saves paper, time and errors. In Peru, the invoice, the DAM and many permits processed in the VUCE are already electronic. The bigger challenge is the documents that represent ownership of the cargo, such as the bill of lading: for them to be valid in digital form, each country must recognize them in its law. The United Kingdom passed a law for this in 2023.
Tracking cargo with sensors (connected devices that send data, such as the temperature of a refrigerated container) and smart ports give more control. Blockchain, a shared record that nobody can change alone, promised to bring all the players together. The TradeLens case shows the limit: the Maersk and IBM platform shut down in 2023 because it could not win the collaboration of the whole industry. These topics are covered in depth in the Supply chain, technology and AI course.
AI is already used to translate, write offers, find buyers, analyze statistics and detect risks. It works as an assistant, not as the person responsible: you verify tariff headings, prices and requirements. If you work with customer data, protect confidentiality. To decide what to adopt, start from a problem (what makes you lose time or sales?), choose a tool your partners already use, test it with one small operation and measure the result. The Digital business and AI course goes deeper into this.
| Innovation | What it solves | Condition for it to work |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-border e-commerce | Reaching end customers and SMEs without intermediaries. | Fast shipping, secure payment and clear customs rules. |
| Electronic documents | Less paper, less time and fewer errors. | Legal recognition and acceptance by the bank, the shipping line and the customer. |
| Tracking and sensors | Seeing where the cargo is and in what condition it travels. | Data shared among the players in the chain. |
| Blockchain | A common record that everyone can consult. | Adoption by the whole chain, not just one company. |
| Artificial intelligence | Analyzing, translating and writing quickly. | Human verification of what it produces. |
Result: With assumed rates, shipping order by order costs US$ 560 a month (7.8% of sales) and the monthly lot costs US$ 432 (6.0%). Saving US$ 128 has a price: weeks of waiting for the customer. The best option depends on what your brand promises.
29/11/2022
On 29/11/2022, A.P. Moller - Maersk announced that it would stop offering TradeLens, the global trade platform based on blockchain that it had launched with IBM. It explained that the collaboration of the whole industry needed for it to be viable as an independent business had not been achieved. The platform was due to stop operating toward the end of the first quarter of 2023. It matters because a useful technology is not enough if the other players do not adopt it.
Before investing in a digital platform or tool, confirm that your customers, carriers and banks will also use it.
2023
In 2023, the United Kingdom passed the Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023 (2023 c. 38). The law defines what an electronic trade document is and regulates its possession, its endorsement and its legal effects. It matters because many trade documents, such as those of cargo ownership, depended on paper for lack of legal recognition. Each country decides whether to accept them, which is why technology moves faster than the law.
Before digitizing a key shipping document, confirm that the destination country's law and your bank accept it.
Source: Gobierno del Reino Unido (legislation.gov.uk) – Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023
2026
The official SUNAT page, consulted in October 2026, describes Exporta Fácil as the service for individuals and companies with an active RUC, not listed as “no hallado” (not found) or “no habido” (untraceable), to export for commercial purposes through the Serpost postal service. The page states a limit of US$ 7,500 in value and 30 kg in weight. It matters because it lets micro and small businesses that sell online send parcels without contracting a full shipment.
If your orders are small and frequent, check Exporta Fácil first and compare its cost and lead time with a courier or cargo shipment.
Source: SUNAT – Exporta Fácil
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