Who are we talking about? Your customers, of course.
The joy of e-commerce is that it can offer your brand an amazing reach when, in this globalized era, your customers can be anywhere. But actually getting your products to far-flung places and across borders requires some thought.
You might be doing your own B2C fulfillment currently but can you scale up to meet the demands of a growing customer base? And when a loyal customer moves to a new country and wants to continue to order from you, can you still make them happy?
523 million
e-commerce users* in Europe… and growing!
22%
of customers abandon their carts because the delivery options are too slow** (average).
Source: * Statista, ** Baymard Institute
Strategies to Improve Your Fulfillment
Don’t let fulfilling orders be an afterthought. Customers not only buy your products: they buy into your whole brand experience: from when they first visit your website, to their click of the green ‘buy’ button, to the time their parcel is in their hands.
To meet growing customer demand you could grow your own fulfillment capabilities. This may include renting warehouse space and expanding your team, which will involve planning and financial commitment. Don’t let a fulfillment issue be the reason you lose sales.
On the other hand, you could outsource. You deserve world-class fulfillment for your products! This can be a great strategic move, especially when your partner can look after any particular concerns you have. Upmarket chocolate maker Choba Choba, when looking to expand beyond their base in Switzerland, says: “The whole way along the supply chain – from where we produce our chocolate, to the way in which it is warehoused, picked, packed, transported and delivered – as it’s a food product we need it to be handled correctly, with careful monitoring of best before dates.”
For example, with the DHL Fulfillment Network our team checks your goods when they arrive, and stores them in the best location – identified by our state-of-the-art warehouse management system – and then picks and packs your orders the day we receive them. And, if you need this, it all takes place with seamless integration with major webshops : Shopify, WooCommerce, Adobe Commerce and PrestaShop.
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A good fulfillment provider will be cost effective to deal with, and allow you to scale up during busy periods and scale back again. This is very important, especially for SMEs. IDesign brand explains what they were looking for: “We needed to be able to manage our DTC logistics via one single system with the ability to scale into different marketplaces and expand at any time.”
And think about it: rather than storing goods all in one location, if they are stored in and despatched from geographically spread locations, you are reducing your carbon footprint – and cutting your costs. The DHLFulfillment Network allows for this, thanks to our strategically placed warehouses . (And we are also expanding!). For instance, Muc-Off is seeing the benefits of outsourcing their fulfillment: “It has enabled us to Increase sales and improve customer satisfaction across our European e-commerce offer, and it is opening up exciting new possibilities for future growth.”
By placing your trust in the right fulfillment provider, you’re looking at a golden – and scalable, and plug-and-play – opportunity. New customers and new horizons await. Let us help you reach them.
Remember: every business deserves world-class fulfillment.