Why is it that we could put a man on the moon half a century ago, but it is still insanely expensive and complex to ship an ecommerce order to a customer in Europe? You might as well be shipping it to Mars.

Yes, thanks to Hollywood, the inter-web, your genius marketing plan, and TikTok, the whole world might be aware of your fabulous products — they just can’t buy them. Red tape, high shipping costs, detailed paperwork, long transit times, packages lost in customs, and inconsistent regulations from country to country prevent the most sensible ecommerce businesses from even attempting cross-border commerce. Sometimes the cost per package and slow delivery times end up being more trouble than it’s worth from a profitability standpoint.

At least it has been up until now. What if we told you that the right strategy can not only make global order fulfillment affordable, it can also take most of the stress out of it? What does that strategy entail? That’s what you’re about to find out.

How to Get Started

Opening your ecommerce business to an international market is no small undertaking. Here are some of the main considerations that should go into formulating your strategy.

Location: What market(s) will be most receptive to the products you sell? Are your biggest fans clustered in a particular country or metropolitan area? What are the requirements for doing business in that country? Do you have plans to expand to other countries someday? Does it make sense to establish a beachhead, such as a brick-and-mortar store or a warehouse to manage the business from there?

Cost: What will it cost to fulfill orders to customers in that country? Be sure you’re calculating the landed cost, which includes shipping, import taxes, duties, fees, insurance, and the cost of the merchandise itself. Don’t forget, you’ll need multi-currency payment systems, a multilingual website, a cross-border shipping solution, and optional add-ons like a customs broker or freight forwarder. Then, compare the cost of handling fulfillment from the US, to outsourcing everything to a global fulfillment partner.

Fulfillment: Who will be picking, packing, and shipping your orders? Can your current fulfillment center handle it from the US, or should you consider a larger 3PL and fulfillment provider? Would it make sense to hire a local fulfillment provider in the country you’re entering?

Inventory: How much additional inventory will you need? Where will you store it? If abroad, how will you get it there and how will you ensure its security? What kind of lead times will you need? 

If all these questions have already soured you on going global, there is one simple strategy that can make all of this easier: find a 3PL partner that already has the infrastructure in place.

Good, Better, Best: 3 Global Fulfillment Strategies

If NASA can send a rover to Mars, you can send a package to Europe. We never said you couldn’t. It’s just that some ways are better than others. The way we see it you have three options for achieving global domination.

Good: DIY Fulfillment

Maybe you’ve managed your own direct-to-consumer fulfillment up to this point, but we’re guessing there is a good reason you haven’t gone international. Unless you’re already a multinational brand, it doesn’t make sense to build a fulfillment center and hire employees in another country just to deliver your life-changing $14 shampoo. But maybe you’re a high-end designer brand that wants to go global while retaining full control of your fulfillment operations. You could transition to a multilingual shopping platform, add a cross-border payment solution, and partner with an international shipping carrier that would be responsible for getting your packages across the border and handling last-mile delivery. You could do it this way, but there are less stressful, more secure options.

Better: A 3PL Fulfillment Provider with International Shipping Capabilities

Rapidly growing brands (and those with high hopes of becoming one) know that the secret to scaling their brand is outsourcing fulfillment and shipping to a third-party logistics (3PL) and fulfillment provider. A 3PL with international shipping capabilities frees your brand from having to worry about (or invest in) expanding your fulfillment operations as you grow. ShipMonk fulfills tens-of-thousands of orders per day for hundreds of ecommerce businesses just like yours. Thanks to their massive order volume, they have built strategic relationships with local, regional, national and international shipping carriers to obtain discounts for their clients.

Keep in mind that if you’re fulfilling international orders from a US fulfillment center, you’re going to need help dealing with customs requirements, border crossings, and collecting taxes and fees. ShipMonk’s landed cost solution, with DDP international shipping, integrates seamlessly into your online store to provide transparent itemized listing of duties, taxes, and shipping fees during checkout. This increases conversion and reduces customer support contacts, while automating the calculations and incorporating the payments for the ecommerce brands. It’s a great solution, but we can still do you one better.

Best: A 3PL Fulfillment Provider with International Locations

If your 3PL fulfillment partner also has international locations, you get the best of both worlds. ShipMonk, for example, has fulfillment centers in Europe, the UK, Mexico, and Canada, in addition to our eight US-based fulfillment centers. By distributing their inventory to these international locations, our ecommerce clients can quickly and affordably expand into new markets. Ecommerce orders are fulfilled directly from the closest facility, and shipped using domestic carriers. Ecommerce customers enjoy best-in-class service, reduced shipping rates, and faster delivery times. Best of all, our ecommerce clients can leverage ShipMonk’s powerful fulfillment platform to manage their inventory no matter where it’s located.

How Does it Work?

It’s no secret that shipping costs are based, in large part, on two locations: where the shipment is originating and where it is going. Moving your inventory 3,000 miles closer to your customers will save you (and them) quite a few euros or pounds sterling.

1. You can take advantage of bulk shipping rates to move your inventory to one of our international fulfillment centers. We can even help with freight management, if you need it. 

2. The goods are imported and cleared through local customs, where duties and taxes are assessed. Since every situation is unique, ShipMonk can put you in touch with local customs brokers who can ensure the process is a smooth one that fits the needs of your company.

3. As international orders are placed through the ecommerce store, social media shopping platform, and other channels, they are synced via the ShipMonk fulfillment platform and instantly routed to the nearest international fulfillment center for picking, packing, and shipping.

4. Orders are shipped using local and regional shipping carriers, resulting in domestic-like rates and delivery times. Because the goods have already gone through customs, there are no inspections, forms, or delays to worry about. The ecommerce brand can offer its customers their choice of shipping speeds, and our fulfillment experts ensure that orders are delivered duty paid, on time, and at the best possible rate.

Wherever We Go, You Go

So you see, ecommerce businesses can successfully sell internationally, as long as they have a sound fulfillment strategy and a lot of support from their fulfillment partner going into the process. And as ShipMonk expands its footprint of first-party owned and operated fulfillment centers, our ecommerce clients can expand with us. Conversely, if enough of our ecommerce clients express a need to move into an underserved market, we’ll do our best to make it happen. Our business is all about helping you “Stress Less and Grow More.” Who knows, maybe we’ll be on Mars someday!

To learn more about our global fulfillment capabilities, contact a fulfillment expert at ShipMonk today.