E-commerce platform BoxC hires military mail operations and DHL veteran

Global logistics platform BoxC has appointed former industry and military veteran Mark Waverek as director of business development to steer the growth of its e-commerce solution.

“We’re very excited to have someone with Mark’s pedigree and experience driving growth in international e-commerce markets,” said CEO Michael Pakula. “His unique global skill set helping customers to grow their business beyond borders will serve to enhance our growing team of talented executives.”

Waverek’s past roles in logistics brings a range of global shipping expertise to BoxC. After joining the U.S. Marine Corps, he was assigned the role of managing overseas postal service operations in 1982 to be sure soldiers were receiving their mail from family and friends back home.

In 2004, Waverek joined DHL Express to help the company implement its own military mail distribution program. Throughout the next 18 years, he would support DHL with its postal, small package and logistics services throughout the Middle East and other emerging markets experiencing e-commerce growth.

As with connecting troops’ families with service members through postal service operations, Waverek told FreightWaves he is eager to help sellers reach customers globally in the most cost-effective way possible while leveraging BoxC’s data analytics.

“Today, sellers and marketplaces hold all the key data in attaining a customer,” he said. “Shipping then becomes a major factor in the buying decision, and more importantly in customer retention and customer acquisition costs. If the shipping costs are too high, or the shipment was delivered late or lost, the buyer is likely lost forever. So a complete end-to-end, frictionless e-commerce experience is required today.”

According to Waverek, the most difficult part of building a global brand comes from the cost and carrier capacity to sustain cross-border delivery.

“BoxC is a carrier-agnostic cross-border shipping platform that enables compliant direct-to-consumer, e-commerce shipping solutions across the globe,” he explained. “This allows the shipper to essentially become their own carrier, as the platform enables them to optimize and control certain touch points of their supply chain.”

Most importantly, as consumer spending slows, Waverek believes the current quarter and the beginning of 2023 will be the perfect time for merchants to focus on grabbing the attention of new customers and ensuring an e-commerce delivery experience that will have those customers coming back when spending picks back up.

“Over the past few years it was pretty much standard to forecast 20%-plus shipping growth for Q4 e-commerce sales,” Waverek said. “However, with global impacts due to energy, war, the valuation of the U.S. dollar and recession talks, consumer spending in Q4 is looking to be lighter than the past few years. U.S. merchants and marketplaces will need to look for new customers, and this may be a great opportunity to market to and acquire customers from beyond their borders in Q4 and into 2023.”