The European e-commerce fulfillment market is valued at €42 million in 2021 and is forecasted to grow to €77 million by 2026, according to Ti Research. The updated IOSS regulations, post-pandemic uncertainty and rising international shipping costs push e-commerce retailers to seek regional or local fulfillment resources. Consequently, Europe has witnessed increasing investment in fulfillment services to capitalize on e-commerce growth by LSPs (logistics service providers), including Amazon and Kuehne+Nagel. Further growth in the fulfillment space has been propelled forward by logistics technology platforms, such as ShipBob, ShipMonk and byrd.
Despite the booming market needs, fulfillment providers meet increasing challenges to satisfy e-retailers’ ever-evolving shipping requirements across Europe. By partnering with CIRRO E-Commerce Europe, the simultaneous expansion into European markets with reliable cross-border logistics solutions is guaranteed.
CIRRO Fulfillment sees rises in volumes
CIRRO Fulfillment is a global fulfillment provider with over 50 fulfillment centers in 10 countries. With a dedicated and experienced workforce of more than 2,000 employees and more than 1,000,000 square meters of warehousing space, CIRRO Fulfillment is more than capable of managing rising order volumes and servicing its e-commerce customers. For a specialist like CIRRO Fulfillment, scaling warehousing operations is not a big challenge, while efficient and reliable cross-border shipping is.
By teaming up with experienced cross-border e-commerce logistics experts, such as CIRRO E-Commerce, this global-scaled company can offer their e-retailing specialized clientele a reliable Europe-wide shipping solution, including direct delivery support from one integrated source. Partnering with CIRRO E-Commerce allows CIRRO Fulfillment to take on the shipping challenges with ease, so that they can fully focus on boosting the success in fulfillment solutions.
Challenges in cross-border shipping
Consumers always expect fast and on-time delivery, which means that the e-commerce platforms and brands emphasize fast and on-time delivery for every cross-border logistics provider. In Europe, CIRRO Fulfillment operates central warehouses in 14 countries to meet pan-European delivery requirements from their clients. Thus, smooth cross-border logistics is an indispensable yet challenging factor in ensuring customer satisfaction.
E-commerce platforms and retailers also have tracking requirements, which means that third-party logistics and fulfillment providers are confronted with operational complexity using a multi-carrier strategy. The tracking for each carrier needs to be integrated and communicated to the platforms or the brands.
Consumers shopping on e-commerce platforms are highly price-sensitive, making it a competitive market. As a result, most companies selling on these platforms are just as price-sensitive regarding their logistics costs. Directly contracting with giant LSPs for an unfavorable e-commerce parcel volume would thus not add competitiveness to CIRRO Fulfillment.
The final challenge is about the unpredictability of consumers. Demand can be hard to predict, resulting in changing shipping volumes. This impacts the volumes of outgoing parcel shipments and the warehouse to warehouse shipments in a fulfillment company’s network. It’s also crucial for CIRRO Fulfillment to optimize their shipping error resolution and enhance their flexibility of return management.
CIRRO E-Commerce solutions
CIRRO E-Commerce’ end-to-end cross-border solution takes care of CIRRO Fulfillment’s entire logistics process from collecting from the warehouse through sorting for the final destination to dispatching to last-mile delivery. Whereas bringing CIRRO Fulfillment an absolute peace of mind, the seamless services contributed toward faster fulfillment lead times with higher efficiency. As a concrete example, it takes only 2.48 days on average from picking up from a Czech warehouse to arriving at an Italy terminal – much faster than the industry standard – saving at least one day of transit time.
In addition, advanced IT systems and API integration enable the labelling process’s digitization and give customers access to tracking status once the shipment is sent. CIRRO E-Commerce services enable CIRRO Fulfillment to guarantee their customers an average accurate delivery rate of over 98% and an on-time arrival-scan rate of 99% for e-commerce, as well as fulfill their promise of end-to-end tracking visibility to their customers.
Moreover, regarding the multi-carrier strategy, CIRRO E-Commerce has an extensive and reliable network of local partners for last-mile delivery, leveraging the consolidated parcel volumes of multiple clients for competitive rates. Combined with a self-run dedicated line-haul network, CIRRO E-Commerce can support CIRRO Fulfillment on cross-border shipments with a 20% lower cost than other international carriers while guaranteeing the top-tier level of OTD (on-time delivery) rate.
Eventually, these self-operated line-haul resources ensure scalable shipping and on-demand tailored service, providing CIRRO Fulfillment with the solutions to speed up its shipment error resolution and returns process. “Thanks to their sophisticated and dynamic routing management, we earned the possibility to retrieve error parcels or adjust our shipping plans expediently. It’s a great added value to us,” said Effy Xiao, Channel Supervisor at CIRRO Fulfillment Germany.
Next-level service
When asked about the experience of partnership with CIRRO E-Commerce, Charles Lu, Head of Sales at CIRRO Fulfillment UK, said: “The logistics solutions of CIRRO E-Commerce helped us bring the last leg of our fulfillment services to the next level – striving for efficient transactions and on-time delivery will definitely make our customers happy.”
More specifically, CIRRO E-Commerce undertakes a weekly average volume of 20,000 parcels and transports them from the major warehouses of CIRRO Fulfillment, located in the Czech Republic, Germany and France, to different destinations across Europe. In close cooperation with CIRRO E-Commerce, CIRRO Fulfillment managed to offer full tracking visibility with line hauls.
CIRRO E-Commerce focuses on the e-commerce sector and has grown unmatchable strengths in cross-border logistics for small parcels. With their self-owned hubs and local teams operating in 21 European countries, they are able to take control of every link in the whole logistics process and better understand the special needs of every different region and country. At the same time, due to the stable large volume that they flow daily, CIRRO E-Commerce can make the most of their bargaining power with last-mile carriers to benefit clients like CIRRO Fulfillment.
CIRRO E-Commerce’ 100+ self-run routes have set up daily line-haul connections, consolidating freight shipments across over 30 countries in Europe. Beyond the land-transport network, their extensive customs clearance resources allow them to offer hassle-free and cost-effective “customs clearance plus delivery” one-stop solutions on clients’ demands, such as the two-way fulfillment logistics between the EU and the UK.
Get in touch with an expert from CIRRO E-Commerce to discuss how CIRRO E-Commerce can level up your business and increase your customer satisfaction.
About CIRRO Fulfillment
CIRRO Fulfillment is a global fulfillment company, focusing on warehouse services and cargo transportation. CIRRO Fulfillment now has over 2,000 employees worldwide and operates over 100 fulfillment centers in over 20 countries, including the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Australia and China, with a total space of over 1 million square meters globally. Trusted by over 4,000 clients, CIRRO Fulfillment ships over 400,000 orders on a daily basis. CIRRO Fulfillment provides unrivalled cross-border e-commerce overseas warehousing and logistics solutions to accommodate the future expansion of our clients’ global e-commerce business.
To learn more about CIRRO Fulfillment, please visit here.
About CIRRO E-Commerce
CIRRO E-Commerce is one of the world’s leading logistics providers, delivering seamless solutions to the global cross-border e-commerce sector. CIRRO E-Commerce was founded in 2014, and has now over 1,500 employees connecting e-retailers from 6 continents and shipping over 1.2 million parcels for the e-commerce sector daily.
In 2020, the European headquarters of CIRRO E-Commerce was established in the Netherlands, which works in close partnership with local operations in over 30 European countries, with subsidiaries running in 21 among them. Over 100 logistics routes are operated by CIRRO E-Commerce daily throughout Europe.
For more information, please visit: www.cirroglobal.com
