Fulfillment services: sell globally, ship locally

Ecommerce, that wants to sell, or is already selling on foreign markets, faces a dilemma: whether to ship from the current warehouse to foreign markets or to find a logistics operator to perform such tasks. In other words, he may send goods by courier, paying a sufficiently high rate for transport by a courier company, or he may relocate part of the goods to a warehouse in another country at a slightly lower price. 

If you want to be competitive in a new market, you must ensure that your product bought in an online store is delivered as soon as possible and in a perfect way.

Studies show that failing in delivery may destroy the chances of positive feedback about a nice product. Every country has its own standards when it comes to time and cost of delivery. Try to be as close to your consumers as possible. Therefore, if for example your product is produced in China, consider using a fulfillment network service and complex order fulfillment.

Also, handling returns and complaints in a user-friendly way is crucial but challenging in cross-border sales at the same time. Choose a reliable partner that will help you in this area by offering support in the process, operations, shipment, and storage. 

A fresh look at the supply chains and international economics 

Over the past two decades, China has become the "factory of the world". There are few products in the world that do not contain Chinese added value in the form of various types of components. The advantages in the form of low labor costs, which for years were a key factor in locating production in the Middle Kingdom, began to wear out in recent years. where contamination was detected.

All this prompted multinationals to reflect on the future role of China in global supply chains. The trade war between the US and China and the COVID-19 pandemic have further enlivened the discussion about the new shape of globalisation processes. 

China's rapid handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting lack of disruptions in supplies from that country, have somewhat calmed down the discussion on relocation from China. International concerns have formulated many declarations of participation in this process. However, it should be remembered that changing the production location of a given product is neither easy nor quick.

Production within global supply chains is characterised by complex relations: on the one hand with suppliers of parts and components, and on the other - with the recipients of manufactured final goods. One can even speak of a production ecosystem of a given good, including all entities participating in this process.

Relocating the production of a well requires the creation of a production ecosystem that was created in China. If instead of importing from China, we start producing in Poland, not finding suppliers of parts and components on the spot, and using Chinese sub-suppliers, there will still be a risk of disruptions in the supply of a given good. 

After the declarations of many companies about their intentions to relocate, the time has come for a detailed analysis of the benefits and losses associated with it. The transfer of the entire production ecosystem is, first of all, the necessity to incur large costs by the participants of the supply chains, which they often cannot afford. Often even state aid would not persuade these companies to decide to relocate.

Possibilities for relocating production vary from industry to industry. The stronger the links between the production of a given product and other participants in the supply chain, the more difficult and costly it is to perform such a process. Often, even a simple component of a larger device can show strong links back in the chain, i.e. with suppliers of raw materials and components for production. 

Factors that define new trends in ecommerce and services 

With the acceleration of our lives, we want to have the products purchased online as soon as possible and be able to choose the form of order that is convenient for us. In response to the needs of customers, several trends in the delivery of ecommerce products have emerged.

International economics is evolving as well, making multinational corporations redefine the basic concepts. 

Which are the main trends for ecommerce business? 

Looking at the current situation, large corporations and small businesses follow similar directions. In terms of new technologies we can spot such trends as: 

• marketplaces,
• omnichannel,
• click-and-collect,
• Qcommerce and dark stores,
• eco-friendly ecommerce,
• social selling,
• customer experience,
• zero-waste and re-commerce.

As we can see, apart from global factors shaping the industry for years, there are a lot of new trends that will define whether the customer is interested in buying a product from our online store or not.

The future of global markets 

Ecommerce order fulfillment covers the entire range of activities from taking an order in an online shop or marketplace to delivering the parcel to the end customer on time with help of the fulfillment center. Looking from the client’s perspective there is nothing complicated about it. We take the right product, pack the parcel and make the delivery. From an ecommerce point of view, this can be a multi-step process that consumes space, time, and resources. Cross-border strategy is a complex one. 

Ecommerce fulfillment involves the storage/warehousing of the products, orders processing, item collection and packaging, shipping, and sometimes returns service for your online store. Depending on the situation, each of these stages may become more or less complicated. It’s difficult to anticipate potential risks and to react appropriately when we handling the whole process alone.

At the same time, it is this part of the supply chain that has a significant impact on clients’ satisfaction with the purchase. As customers, we evaluate the time and cost of delivery, packaging type (e.g. eco-friendly), anything we’ll find inside, like a nice note or discount code, and finally the product itself. This is why the biggest companies decide to outsource orders fulfillment. 

Here is your fulfillment first aid 

We know how many aspects we already touched upon and that it may seem complicated. But at the same time, we can offer a solution – Linker Fulfillment Network. International platform for every size ecommerce and logistics operators, which makes it possible to establish secure and fruitful cooperation between them. 

As ecommerce you will gain: 

• expert assistance,
• seamless connection between your shop and fulfillment partner,
• one-click access to new markets,
• cost and process optimisation,
• one agreement only.

By using our network of you can satisfy business needs and increase the chance to grow. 

Articles in this series:

Fulfillment services: a new era of globalization (part I)

Fulfillment services: global economy and international sales (part II)