Cross Border Fulfillment for Online Retailers Selling Across Europe
Lufapak works as a cross border fulfillment provider for online retailers whose orders have long been arriving from Vienna, Zurich or Rotterdam. Storing, picking and shipping have run from Neuwied since 1998, today for clients in fashion, beauty, technology and the spare parts trade. Your goods stay in one place while the parcels travel to many countries.Selling across a border rarely fails at the point of sale. It fails on paperwork, on carrier contracts and on returns that suddenly arrive in four languages. What retailers usually need is not extra storage space but a partner who has customs and shipping routes under control. We set up the processes per target market, not as a blanket solution for an entire continent.
Cross border ecommerce fulfillment starts with a single item here. There is no minimum volume. Young brands often begin with three products in two countries and supply twelve a year later. As your sales grow, additional pallet spaces are added to the running contract. Where the parcels are allowed to travel in the end is covered by our international shipping, which reaches destinations overseas.
Our Own Team Handles Export Declarations, EORI and Commercial Invoices
Customs papers decide whether a parcel arrives in Basel two days later or sits with the carrier for three weeks. Our staff prepare the export declaration and the commercial invoice in house. None of it goes to a third party.
Every export needs three things, namely an EORI number, the correct commodity code and an invoice that states the value of the goods clearly. Incorrectly classified goods are the most common reason for additional charges, because customs will then classify them instead and tend to set the rate higher. The commodity codes sit in the system per item, checked once and applied to every document from then on. Our customs processing sets out in detail which papers each shipment requires, from the export declaration through to proof of preferential origin.
Cross border fulfillment solutions do not end at the label on the box. On request, shipments go out duty paid, so your customers pay nothing extra at the door. That costs slightly more per parcel but noticeably reduces the number of refused deliveries.
Documented processes pay off during audits. Our quality management is certified to ISO 9001, which keeps every processing step traceable from goods receipt through to export.
sales@lufapak.de +49 2631/384-0 Contactform
Shipments to Great Britain Run Through Our Sister Company in England
Since Brexit, Great Britain has counted as a third country. Every delivery needs customs documents and clearance on the ground. Lufapak belongs to the DK Group in England, and our sister company Lemonpath is based in the West Midlands. British orders therefore run through an address inside the country instead of trickling across the border one by one. We accept returns there, which saves postage and shortens processing time. How the route to the island works in detail is shown by our UK fulfilment services.
For us, cross border fulfilment also covers Switzerland and Norway alongside the EU, both of them outside the customs union. The effort involved differs noticeably by target market:
| Target market | Customs status | What we take care of |
|---|---|---|
| EU single market | No customs declaration | Shipping, labelling, returns |
| Switzerland | Export and import | Export declaration, commercial invoice, duty paid delivery |
| Norway | Export and import | Commodity codes, customs documents, carrier selection |
| Great Britain | Third country since 2021 | Shipping via the DK Group, customs papers, returns accepted locally |
Nothing about the process changes for you. You hand over the order, we choose the route and the paperwork. Which rules apply in the destination country is something we clarify with you before the first shipment.
One Central Warehouse Instead of Five Depots Across Europe
Five countries, five warehouses, five stock levels. Retailers set up that way always have goods sitting in one country that are missing in another. A single cross border fulfillment center turns that around, because every target market is supplied from the same building.
Our site in Neuwied covers more than 20.000 sqm with over 30.000 pallet spaces and 100.000 small load carriers. We absorb seasonal peaks with staff from ongoing operations, because orders from several industries run side by side here every day. The location sits on three motorways. Lorries reach the major European corridors from there without a detour through a conurbation. How far the network reaches is shown by our European fulfillment.
Route selection accounts for the largest share of the cost in cross border order fulfillment. A different carrier suits Austria than suits Spain, while bulky goods often travel more economically by freight forwarder than by parcel service. We compare transit time and price per route, and the rates come from our total volume, which sits below what a single shop can negotiate.
How Much Revenue Is Left After Customs and Freight
Three items push down your margin abroad, namely higher freight, import duties and a return rate that runs several percentage points above the German figure depending on the country. A parcel to Scandinavia quickly costs twice as much as a domestic shipment. Retailers who price that in beforehand still sell profitably across the border.
Our cross border fulfillment services are calculated by activity, so by pallets stored, lines picked and parcels shipped. There are no fixed price lists for this, because a range of cosmetics jars is handled differently from one of garden tools. Rent and permanent staff disappear as fixed costs, and your costs move with your order volume instead.
Returns from abroad are collected in batches instead of travelling back one parcel at a time, which keeps the freight cost per item down. Checked goods go straight back into saleable stock, and everything beyond that you control through our return management. As your cross border fulfillment company, we plan along the markets where you actually sell. Tell us your destination countries, your monthly shipment volume and your typical parcel size, and we will work through your model together. You can reach us at sales@lufapak.de and +49 (0) 2631 384-0.
