As an international eCommerce business looking to enter the UK and European markets, setting up local order fulfillment and shipping capabilities can be challenging. However, you can instantly gain a global presence by partnering with a parcel forwarding service for business customers. Read on to learn how parcel forwarding simplifies market entry and fuels cross-border business growth.
What Types of Businesses Benefit from Parcel Forwarding Services?
For companies that import or export goods internationally, dealing with the logistics of international shipping can be complex and time consuming. Parcel forwarding services help simplify and optimize this process for all types of businesses across many industries.
- eCommerce retailers: Online retailers that source products globally and sell to an international customer base can significantly streamline operations. Forwarding services provide local addresses to receive supplier shipments in each target market. Multi-channel fulfillment, customs brokering, and localized delivery services accelerate global order processing.
- Specialty food and beverage: Specialty food importers, gourmet wine clubs, coffee roasters — any business that imports specialized ingredients or products can benefit. Forwarders efficiently handle European import food safety compliance, storage/transport of perishables, and optimized packaging to maximize freshness during import shipping.
- Auction and resale: Businesses that source rare, vintage, or specialty items via online auctions often need to import one-off purchases from sellers worldwide. Forwarders provide consolidation services to minimize shipping costs for individual items. Customs expertise also smoothes the import process.
- eCommerce sellers: Entrepreneurs and small eCommerce businesses can gain easy access to global markets by using forwarders to provide local mailboxes and fulfillment centers overseas. This allows small sellers to process international orders.
A parcel forwarding provider gives your business a dedicated UK address and will arrange to ship supplies wherever you need them in Europe. This address can even be branded with your company name to begin establishing your UK identity.
Once parcels arrive, the service handles parcel inspection, storage, repacking, and customs clearance as needed. Then, they coordinate local order fulfillment and shipping throughout the UK and Europe per your specifications. This solution means you can be up and running in the UK without lengthy setup delays.
Partnering with a full-service parcel forwarder provides additional advantages, including:
- Flexible options for last-mile delivery: Forwarders can provide basic delivery or more advanced services like scheduled delivery, inside delivery/assembly, and white glove service. This allows you to choose the right level of final delivery for your European customers.
- Customer service and support: Reputable forwarders have multilingual customer support teams to assist you and your end customers with any questions or issues throughout the process. This provides an added layer of service for your UK business.
- Consolidated billing: Rather than managing invoices from multiple international carriers, you receive consolidated billing from the forwarder. You also avoid having to set up accounts with multiple shipping providers.
- Insurance protection: Opt for a forwarder that offers robust shipment insurance. This safeguards your inventory in transit and provides coverage for your customer’s deliveries.
- Flexible warehousing: If needed, utilize the forwarder’s UK warehouses for storing extra inventory. This provides easy access to additional stock as your UK and European orders ramp up.
- Expert import/export compliance: The forwarder handles all the complex import and export declarations and regulatory requirements for smooth customs clearance in both directions.
By leveraging the benefits of parcel forwarding services, it’s easy to scale up your UK presence as demand grows, with minimal added effort. The right parcel forwarding company will become an extension of your team, managing logistics end-to-end so you can focus on your core business.
With the right business service, you gain instant access to optimized shipping, customs expertise, account management, and scalable fulfillment capabilities. This provides a flexible foundation to expand without the headaches of establishing local infrastructure and contracts yourself.
The parcel forwarding company handles all the complexities of importing, warehousing, repacking, and delivery while you handle growth. The time and cost savings add up quickly to accelerate expansion.
Rather than let cross-border logistics stall your growth, use reliable parcel forwarding to enter new markets confidently. An experienced partner provides the infrastructure and compliance needed to scale globally. Investing in professional parcel forwarding returns dividends through faster growth and greater geographic reach.
