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Growth calendar    Jan 28, 2021

Pan-European fulfillment network for ecommerce stores and 3PLs

Linker Cloud has launched a pan-European ecommerce fulfillmentnetwork of managed warehouses.

Order Management System (OMS) powered by Linker Cloud is the solution targeted to large and medium ecommerce and omnichannel stores that work or want to work based on the cross-border model, selling their goods to consumers in different countries, and to local logistic operators with warehouses, who can use it to reach new international customers – stores.

“We see our decision to launch a fulfillment network as a natural, logical step. It is based on our analysis of how the global ecommerce market is evolving and what its needs are, as well as what our customers, stores and operators tell us. Our solution benefits both groups: by joining our network, online sellers become able to scale their businesses and locally reach consumers in new markets, while local operators can operate globally and win international customers” says Daniel Kierdal, CEO and co-founder of Linker Cloud. “We believe in the shared economy model and solutions that offer a new quality of services thanks to integrating different organisations, platforms and suppliers. Combining a global-and-local network and a dedicated IT system is the best solution for international ecommerce”.

Why a network?

The current boom in ecommerce, in addition to obvious benefits such as higher revenues, forces the market to deal with a growing number of orders and requirements of customers, who want to receive their goods quickly, through convenient channels, and have the option to return them.

Online sales, both in typical ecommerce and in the omnichannel model, face several logistics-related challenges, such as processing international orders, warehouse processes, and efficient last-mile deliveries. Additionally, in the face of Brexit, UK shops that sell to international customers, as well as foreign sellers who address their offer to customers in the British Isles, have to deal with problems such as customs clearance for shipments, which result in delays and additional costs.

In many cases, stores that sell online do not have the resources – warehouses, personnel, or infrastructure – to process orders satisfactorily. A response to such challenges is the outsourcing of order logistics, which means entrusting fulfillment to suitable operators. In this way, stores do not have to deal with warehouse and logistics operations on their own. However, the operator market is heavily fragmented, which is a problem for sellers who sell goods in different countries because, having chosen outsourcing, they have to look for a number of different local warehouses and then integrate them into their order processing systems, which is expensive and time-consuming. This situation is simultaneously a challenge for operators themselves because they have difficulty reaching potential customers and scaling their businesses.

A solution to these challenges is the Linker Cloud fulfillment network, which offers a single point of contact between the ecommerce store and the operator. It offers international sellers and local operators access to, respectively, local fulfillment and international customers.

Benefits

Thanks to Linker Cloud network of 40 managed warehouses located in 20 countries in Europe, sellers can, after signing an agreement and stocking selected warehouses, immediately begin fulfilling orders from warehouses located near their customers, saving time and money. The Linker Cloud network provides ecommerce sellers with access to an extensive network of warehouses across Europe and includes a cloud solution for end-to-end management and control of orders and communication with warehouses. This kind of solution is a major time- and cost-saver in order logistics and facilitates the customer return process. The network is a tool that manages the entire fulfillment process, from receiving the order to warehouse processing to delivery to the consumer. Thanks to convenient integration and using the model of a single master agreement, it minimises the cost of outsourcing logistics to different warehouses, integration, and onboarding.

A software-powered network

The fulfillment network is powered by Linker Cloud advanced Order Management System Software. This cloud-enabled solution with a browser interface serves as a fully configurable platform that provides ecommerce and omnichannel stores and the Linker Cloud network operators’ warehouses that process their orders with full visibility and control over orders and fulfillment processes and channels. The system enables easy integration with popular ecommerce and marketplace platforms, courier companies’ online platforms, and ERP and WMS systems.

 

Content Marketing Specialist at Linker Cloud. A digital marketing expert with a demonstrated history of working in the IT industry.

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