Fulfilling a product internationally is not an easy task; luckily there are ways to do it effectively if you are thinking of going the global route with your business.
Trey Dean, senior manager of ecommerce fulfillment and customer care for luxury eyewear retailer Luxottica provided some options on fulfilling products internationally during a session at Multichannel Merchant’s Growing Global conference.
Partner with a marketplace for both selling and fulfillment: The available marketplace options are Amazon Marketplace and Fulfillment by Amazon, eBay Marketplace, Rakuten in Japan and TaoBao in China among others.
Utilizing your U.S.-based web and fulfillment with an exporting partner: Dean recommends that retailers partner with a firm to be the end-to-end partner with international sales. Firms will assist in connecting the website and offer language specific views, local currency check-out among other options. Firms manage classifications in partnerships and manage the exporting and delivery of sold merchandise to more than 100 countries. Some potential partners include: Borderfree, I-Parcel, UPS, Pitney Bowes, DHL, among others.
Partnering with third-party firms located in the country: You will want to begin by having a merchandise and lead strategy from the United States. Utilize third-party firms that support web front-end, fulfillment and returns, delivery and customer service.
Full Entry into Target Market: Begin having a merchandise and lead strategy from within the country team. You will then want to build (or partner as required) a web front-end, fulfillment and returns, delivery and customer service.