How to Ensure Your Product Safely Reaches Your EU Customer

When you’re launching your business or a new product in a new market, you need to consider every step of the process as a totally new venture. If you are, for instance, an e-commerce seller located in the USA, you cannot assume that selling in the UK is going to be easy just because both nations speak English.

Every nation has its own peculiarities concerning how they do business, and none is more deceptively difficult than logistics (in my opinion).

As a global logistics strategist, helping brands figure out what to do when fulfilling orders to foreign countries is a big part of what I do. That’s why when Ferry Vermeulen invited me to talk about EU e-commerce logistics on his podcast, I jumped at the chance.

For a quick rundown, his podcast is centered around how to launch your product in the EU successfully. That includes info about product safety laws, intellectual property issues, and general business practices in the EU.

He’s interviewed various excellent guests, each one a professional in a different area of EU business. You can check out the full interview and all the other Surviving a Product Launch podcasts here.

In our podcast, we got into various topics surrounding EU logistics, including:

• How to select the right EU logistics provider as a foreigner
• Where are the best places to warehouse and fulfill 
• The benefit/cost analysis for having multiple warehouses and centers vs just one
• Other important info about sustainability and cost

Let’s dive into it!

Read about CBIP's Adaptable 4PL Logistics Services

Q 1: Say I am a business owner from the UK who manufactures locally.  If I want to sell to the EU market, how do I select a logistics provider in the EU?

When looking for a logistics supplier in the EU, you have to think really strategically about:

1. Where they are 
2. What they provide
3. Who they work with

Where they are…

Your EU provider should have warehouses and fulfillment centers located close to ports, airports, and other shipping transportation hubs. Before working with a provider, you need to determine that they have locations near your customer base and key ports.

What they provide…

Next, consider exactly what they can provide, as not all 3PL/4PLs are built the same.

Suppose you want your EU fulfillment to be easy to manage and hands-off for your brand. You need to make sure that your potential provider can support you with a full end-to-end process: procurement, freight transport, inventory management, last-mile delivery, and returns management. 

You also need to make sure they have a deep understanding of customs regulations and local markets. Plus, if you are going to be shipping cross-border, you need to see that the provider can support you on issues of duty compliance and customs clearance.

Customer service is another important aspect to vet a potential provider on. Providing excellent customer service is so crucial in our line of work. With all the moving parts in logistics, you need someone who’s available right away with tracking updates and help when something goes awry.

Who they work with…

A top priority for expanding brands is finding providers to work with who can help them grow. 

If you want to be able to expand into new markets while working with the same provider, you need to figure out who they work with. What carriers, fulfillment partners, and returns management hubs will you have access to if you work with that provider?

Having access to multiple carriers through a provider can also make last-mile fulfillment easier and cheaper.

Q 2: What questions do I need to ask a potential provider?

You want to figure out what your potential provider can do for you, but it’s tough to know which questions to ask to get the right info.

I’ve come up with a little list to get you going on your search:

What shipping options do you have?

First, you should figure out what shipping options they provide. That way, you can provide your customers with shipping options that align with your brand goals.

What type of SOP do you have to support my brand? 

Ask the warehouse what type of SOP they have set up to support you as a brand. They have standardized ones, but if you want custom ones, you need to find out if they will do it. 

Will you support us with returns?

This is super important to establish because not all providers do returns management. 

Related: Here's How to Do EU E-Commerce Right.

Pro-tip for vetting potential providers:

One of the very best ways to test out a provider is to set up a trial run to see how they manage fulfillment.

Go through different touchpoints to test how the provider conducts their business. Go through those workflows, and ensure that the way they are communicating with you and packaging up your goods aligns with your brands.

I’ve had packages shipped to my house and to family and friends to test out services. We work with brands all the time who want to do this, and then we get feedback on their experience. It really helps make sure everyone gets what they expect down the road.

Not everyone offers a trial run, but with more and more small brands looking to grow in the DTC sphere, offering trial runs has become common.

Q 3: How can you better manage and reduce the cost of return logistics in the EU?

Most brands are trying to reduce the number of returns made by their customers. 

You have to start with very clear and precise descriptions on your website.

Having a well-defined policy is super important. If someone doesn’t understand the policy and wants to return something, you have likely lost that customer to a misunderstanding.

If you do expect to have a high return rate, you should look for a provider that offers in-market returns consolidation close to your customer base. Having a consolidated returns program allows you to ship returns back to a return hub, instead of back to a warehouse that may be located far away. 

That makes the whole operation much more agile, and it can save you a ton on shipping. Plus, those returned items can often be quickly repurposed, re-bundled, and resold, saving you even more on merchandise.

Q 4: Where should you warehouse?

If you look up the best places to warehouse and fulfill orders from in the EU, you’ll see a lot of advice directing you to choose a provider in Germany, or the Netherlands.

The choice of where to fulfill depends on your brand, as does whether you should fulfill from one location or multiple.

Larger brands or brands that ship multiple categories may be better off using multiple fulfillment centers, as will brands with lots of customers spread out all over Europe. Particularly as your brand matures, you want to shorten the timeline of getting things to your end customer — that’s what shoppers expect from an established brand. 

For younger businesses, you can keep it simpler. Lower volumes and less complex product ranges mean that one fulfillment center will probably do just fine.

Q 5: What’s the sustainability environment like in EU logistics?

Sustainability is becoming increasingly important, particularly in the EU market.

 That change isn’t just cultural; legislation is changing to outlaw wasteful practices like fast fashion, and then there are all the new ESG rules forcing brands to report on activities in their supply chains.

When you are speaking with potential providers, you need to focus on two areas when it comes to sustainability. First, what they are doing to reduce their carbon footprint, and second, how they can assist you with ESG reporting to make sure you remain compliant with EU laws.

Finding the right logistics provider in the EU is crucial for your expansion

For non-EU brands beginning to sell products to the EU market, it can get overwhelming quickly looking at all your choices for fulfillment. There are lots of good providers in the EU, what’s important is that you choose the provider that you feel best supports your brand goals and someone you find easy to work with. 

If you have any questions about fulfillment or logistics in the EU, please feel free to reach out to set up a call, or get in contact with me through LinkedIn.