Global Fulfillment Services for Fast International Fulfillment

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The best thing about ecommerce is you can reach customers across the world. To take a brand global, ecommerce businesses must find ways to keep shipping costs down and increase transit times to thrive in international markets.

But shipping internationally isn’t always easy. You have to account for taxes, import duties, tariffs, and more. The complexity involved with international shipping involves seeking out the services of an international fulfillment partner like ShipBob. ShipBob is a tech-enabled third-party logistics (3PL) provider with fulfillment centers across the globe.

“We are all about the entire customer experience, so international shipping is very important to us. We ship to 55 different countries and all 50 states. When I found out ShipBob was expanding into both Canada and Europe, I knew we wanted to expand our physical footprint with them.”

Nikolai Paloni, Co-Founder of Ombraz Sunglasses

Learn how to get started ShipBob can help you take your brand global.

Reach more customers with global fulfillment

A 3PL with global fulfillment services allows fast-growing ecommerce businesses to expand their customer base and launch into new markets. While this sounds simple in principle, branching out on an international scale can be challenging. There are many factors that ecommerce businesses must account for, such as higher shipping costs and longer last-mile delivery times.

“We want to continue to spread our brand internationally and are glad that more of our customer base can get better shipping rates and delivery times. We’re still a small operation, but with ShipBob we can be a more global company.”

Wes Brown, Head of Operations at Black Claw LLC

However, small to mid-size direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands can rely on a fulfillment partner to provide the necessary infrastructure and technology needed to go global. With 3PLs like ShipBob, you’re able to store inventory in one or more of our international fulfillment center locations, so you can deliver to international customers faster.

The top 3 challenges that stop ecommerce stores from expanding globally

Considering how beneficial it is to serve international customers, many online stores lack the resources needed to do so. Here are some of the common reasons ecommerce businesses hold back from launching into international markets.

1. Too expensive

If you’re storing all your inventory in your home country and you’re shipping orders internationally, it will cost you. This is solved when partnering with a 3PL that offers international fulfillment center locations so you can fulfill and ship orders within the country.

2. Too long for shipping

Not only can shipping far from your home country increase transit time, other issues such as customs can cause delays in shipping. By storing inventory within the country you’re shipping to, you’re able to reduce transit time significantly.

3. Too complicated

Every country has their own set of rules and regulations when it comes to shipping orders. And customs and taxes can be a challenge to understand when you’re first launching into new markets. ShipBob’s international fulfillment experts work side by side with you to make sure your international launch goes smoothly.

3PLs like ShipBob remove these challenges for you

ShipBob is a leading ecommerce order fulfillment solution that operates warehouses across the globe. You have the option to split inventory across fulfillment centers based on where customers are located. If an order comes in from Canada and you have inventory stored in our Canadian warehouse, we will fulfill and ship the order from there — no passing through customs required.

Discounts with major shipping carriers

ShipBob negotiates discounted rates with major shipping carriers such as UPS, DHL, USPS, and FedEx. By partnering with us, you’ll save more on international shipping costs.

Faster packaging and shipments

ShipBob’s warehouses are operated with our proprietary technology. By integrating your online store with ShipBob, orders are automatically sent to the closest fulfillment center location where inventory is stored. From there, orders are picked, packed, and shipped out.

“By distributing our inventory across countries and regions through ShipBob, all of our customers are able to get their orders much faster while paying reasonable domestic shipping rates.”

Wes Brown, Head of Operations at Black Claw LLC

Ecommerce partner network

Whether you need a DDP shipping solution or a freight partner, ShipBob has a vast partner network that can help optimize your international supply chain. Launching internationally can be a challenge for businesses, so it’s important to have the right network of partners that will provide the tools, resources, and expertise you need to be successful in new markets.

Global fulfillment center locations

ShipBob has global fulfillment centers based in:

The US
Canada
The UK
The EU
Australia

Note: Click here for the most up-to-date list of our international locations.

The EU

Branching into Europe gives you the opportunity to fulfill international orders in European countries. ShipBob has a location in Poland. We’ll help you take care of complexities such as customs, taxes, and your company’s freight options. ShipBob’s EU-based carriers, UPS and DHL, offer standard delivery times of 1-5 days.

The UK

ShipBob also has fulfillment centers in the United Kingdom and deal with the complexities of Brexit.

“We had a distribution point in the UK in London, but anticipated that cross-border shipping issues would become more prevalent with Brexit pending, as we realized a good chunk of our customer base in the EU wouldn’t be able to as easily receive shipments from the UK, as it may be more expensive with longer shipping times.

We reached out to ShipBob, as we became more concerned with Brexit and wanted a fulfillment center in the European Union. Beyond taking care of all of our European orders, we quickly became very impressed by ShipBob’s transparency, simplicity, and intuitive dashboard.”

Harley Abrams, Operations Manager of SuperSpeed Golf, LLC

Canada

Located in Ontario, ShipBob’s Canadian fulfillment center runs on our warehouse management system. ShipBob partners with Canada Post to ship orders within 2-4 days. In 2019, ecommerce sales amounted to almost 1.85 billion in Canadian dollars. Thus, Canada is the perfect place to expand into. With ShipBob’s help, you can offer Canadian customers the ideal ecommerce experience.

Australia

Located in both Sydney and Melbourne, ShipBob’s Australia fulfillment centers enable you to meet Australian-based customers. If you’re looking to grow your ecommerce business, selling across Australia is a great market to focus.

Our Australian fulfillment location runs on ShipBob’s warehouse management system, follows the same SLAs, and is supported by the same best-in-class team to provide the same level of world-class fulfillment and transparency through our dashboard.

Ecommerce shops that went global (and aren’t looking back)

ShipBob has helped leading ecommerce companies expand into international markets by offering international fulfillment solutions.

Pit Viper

Pit Viper is a bold sunglasses brand that encourages customers to live fearlessly and not take themselves too seriously. That message resonates with people all over the globe. To better serve their global audience, they’ve expanded into two of ShipBob’s global fulfillment centers.

“ShipBob has been a big help with us hitting international markets, having one central system to fulfill orders in the US, Australia, and Canada. We are able to penetrate those markets better because more customers will actually get the glasses they ordered in days instead of weeks.”

Jourdan Davis, Operations Manager at Pit Viper

Ombraz

Ombraz is a sunglasses brand that became an international success in less than two short years. When they found out ShipBob was expanding into both Canada and Europe, they knew they wanted to expand their physical footprint with us. Ombraz utilizes three of ShipBob’s locations in two countries.

“We want everyone to get their Ombraz in a few days or less with no duties at delivery. Our goal is to remove the barriers to purchase. Now, a customer can get their package without spending an extra 25 euros or Canadian dollars on duties and taxes after purchasing a pair of sunglasses.”

Nikolai Paloni, Co-Founder of Ombraz Sunglasses

Black Claw

Black Claw started to see high demand for their products outside of the US. When they decided it was time to expand internationally, they struggled to find the right 3PL that could support them. With ShipBob, they now have a global fulfillment partner that helps them meet customer demand faster and at an affordable price.

“We found a small mom and pop 3PL in the UK. They only had the one location and virtually no tech, but they gave us good rates. We also found a 3PL in Canada whose service was amazing, but their warehouse management system was hot garbage.

To work with each additional 3PL, we spun up a second and third ecommerce store geared towards local customers in each country. Then we found ShipBob”

Wes Brown, Head of Operations at Black Claw LLC

Kula Cloth

Kula Cloth is the ultimate outdoor solution for hikers and backpackers, and consumers realized this quickly. When the order demand increased rapidly, the brand’s founder, Anastasia Allison, turned to ShipBob to fulfill them. Since partnering with us, Kula Cloth has grown quickly, even internationally.

“I’ve also been fortunate to ship orders to customers from around the world. The process of shipping internationally to optimize costs has been easy.

There’s no difference on my website for international shipping except adding tariff codes on products. Otherwise ShipBob handles everything for me. Best of all, the price that ShipBob charges to ship internationally is less than it costs for me to print a USPS label myself.”

Anastasia Allison, founder of Kula Cloth

See why ShipBob is the trusted 3PL for global fulfillment

ShipBob is a 3PL with international fulfillment capabilities. Our team is always in close contact with our partners, integrating our systems with your own, and determining how best to grow your business in the most efficient way possible.

“When I first started looking at ShipBob, it sounded too good to be true with their international locations that could cover all my bases (eventually even getting into the United States and Canada).

When I was shipping orders myself, what I paid per order is the same price now to pick, pack, and ship orders through ShipBob. It’s even much cheaper to ship to certain countries, which used to take ages and often got lost with localized post here. Now, I have very transparent pricing, and I can easily run and plan my business.”

Leonie Lynch, Founder & CEO of Juspy

Expand into global fulfillment centers

ShipBob offers fulfillment capabilities all over the globe, and ships to all countries served by USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, and other carriers with discounted international rates.

“ShipBob has multiple fulfillment centers and all locations filter back into one centralized warehouse management system, so everything is under the ShipBob umbrella.”

Wes Brown, Head of Operations at Black Claw LLC

Meet delivery time expectations

Keeping your inventory near your customers and shipping from the closest location reduces the time in transit, allowing for international orders to get to customers faster.

It’s not uncommon for it to take a month for an international order to be delivered. But with ShipBob, you’re able to create a better experience for your international customers.

Manage inventory levels easily

ShipBob makes it easy to ship from multiple fulfillment centers, even internationally, by providing visibility into inventory tracking to view your stock levels and ensure you have enough product in each location.

Conclusion

Global fulfillment can be challenging, but with ShipBob, you’re given the infrastructure, technology, and support you need to take your ecommerce business global.