Entering the European market

When entering the European market, a critical decision for any company is how to serve its customers. Whether selling directly to end-users (businesses or consumers), through retail channels, or via online marketplaces, the choice of sales channel significantly impacts how the supply chain should be organised.

Each channel requires a tailored logistics approach to ensure efficient delivery and customer satisfaction.

The right choice of sales channels

The sales channel used has a direct impact on the way the supply chain needs to be organised and the 3PL partner that a companies cooperates with. The most common sales channels are:

Wholesale (B2B)
Direct to consumer (B2C)
Retail
Marketplaces
Omnichannel

Business to Business

Business to business (B2B) deliveries are in general deliveries that need to take place during the daytime, the volumes are in general larger, and the receiving party is a commercial business, etc.
Cross border e-commerce is a specific model where products are shipped directly from the shipper in one country to the buyer of the product in another counry. Cross border e-commerce is considered to be more complicated because of the implications this has regardling the payment of VAT and duties by the end user.

Direct to consumer (B2C)

B2C deliveries are in general deliveries to consumers (but in some cases they are also deliveries to business clients that place an order via a website), orders are in general smaller and it is more common that clients have special requirements regarding the delivery (time and/or location). B2C custommers are in general private persons.