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Shopify Markets is the only global e-commerce solution that offers the ability to sell in multiple countries and expand internationally - all from a single Shopify store.

Selling Successfully Worldwide: Why Shopify Markets Is the Best Choice

Shopify Markets is an all-in-one solution that lets you effectively manage your cross-country business. With Shopify Markets, you can easily manage international markets in a single store. Whether you want to identify new markets, optimize existing markets, or target new customers, Shopify Markets has all the functionality you need.

Thanks to the centralized management of international sales tools, you can increase and manage your global sales. With customized online shopping experiences, you can target different customer segments and cater to different needs of specific countries or regions.

Shopify Markets makes it easy to enter the international market with its user-friendly interface, allowing you to take your online store global without having to deal with the hurdles and complexities of international commerce yourself.

You can expand into new markets and become a global brand within days. With an internationalized storefront, a smooth checkout process, and low-cost shipping, you'll have everything you need to get started right away.

Probably the biggest advantage is that you don't need a store for each country, but can manage all your international markets through a single store.

You'll benefit not only from increased ease of use but also from significant time, labor, and cost savings.

All Shopify Markets options are seamlessly integrated into the platform, making it easier for you to stay in control of all the international stores you manage.

With Shopify Markets, you can create customized customer experiences for any market - from translations in different languages to the ability to pay in over 130 currencies. This helps gain the trust of potential customers and positively influence their buying decisions.

Thus, visitors can be developed into loyal customers, sales potential can be increased, and business can be successfully expanded on an international scale.

It should be noted, however, that Shopify Markets is only available in conjunction with Shopify Payments. Merchants can therefore not use Shopify Markets for markets of countries where Shopify Payments is not yet available.

Tobias Fischer

The main functionalities that Shopify Markets offers are described below.

With Shopify Markets, you have the option to create international domains to give your store even more trust and credibility. By having a country-specific domain, your store also reflects locally the affiliation to the respective country. This increases the likelihood that customers from that country will trust your store and buy from you.

To enable an optimized store structure, Shopify Markets offers the possibility to use top-level domains, subdomains, subfolders or a combination of them. The flexibility allows you to choose the most appropriate domain structure for your international markets and maximize your store's visibility, traffic and purchase rate.

By displaying country and language recommendations based on visitor location, you can provide a localized shopping experience. Customers see information and offers tailored specifically to their region and language. This increases relevance and trust, and boosts conversion rates.

To ensure optimal search engine visibility, your SEO tags are automatically generated. As a result, visitors see localized search results and find your store better.

Shopify Markets allows you to offer your products and services in 133 different currencies. This allows you to adapt your store to the currency of the country you are selling in. This makes it easier for your customers in that territory to shop and compare prices.

You can also optimize your pricing strategy and competitiveness, through percentage adjustments or individual pricing for products in each market. You can adjust prices based on factors such as local inflation, competitive situation, or customer expectations.

To meet regional tax expectations, taxes are automatically factored into prices. This ensures that your prices comply with local tax regulations and helps you meet regulatory requirements.

You can offer your store in multiple languages and set appropriate selections for each market. Country and language recommendations can be displayed based on the geographic location of store visitors. In addition, storefront content can be customized to reflect the regional and cultural characteristics of each market, and selected products can be made available for purchase in different markets. This provides a personalized and localized shopping experience.

Enable your customers to pay using their preferred payment method, including Shop Pay, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

Additionally, to provide your customers with a frictionless checkout experience, you can automatically localize address forms and integrate them with Google autocomplete. This makes entering address data easier and faster.

A sufficient selection of suitable payment methods is important in e-commerce to avoid checkout abandonments.

The Markets admin area enables you to measure your performance with its consolidated reporting. For example, you can use personalized market analyses with personalized recommendations and default settings to optimize your customers' shopping experience, as well as your international strategy in a targeted manner.

With Shopify Markets, you can offer the shopping experience for your international customers in up to 20 different languages, increasing the number of your sales and boosting your store's visibility. Translation is done either through a third-party app or conveniently in Shopify's free Translate & Adapt app.

Shopify Markets is already included in the Basic, Shopify, Advanced, and Plus plans, so the tool itself is free for now. However, Shopify does charge transaction fees, which vary depending on the Shopify plan you choose.

You can find a current overview of Shopify's price list here: Shopify Prices

With Shopify Markets, all the important requirements for smooth international commerce are met.

All functions are centralized in your admin area, allowing you to manage localization, shipping, pricing, currencies, languages, customs fees, and compliance from a single interface. You're in control of all aspects of your international business and can efficiently manage your operations without having to switch back and forth between different platforms.

Shopify Payments is the easiest way to process online payments. The setup is fully automated, external payment providers are not needed and all major payment methods are accepted.

Shopify Payments - Which Payment Method Is Best?

Shopify Payments is an integrated payment method from Shopify. It allows merchants to manage their payments directly in the store. A separate merchant account with third-party providers is not required for this. With Shopify Payments, all the necessary features are in place to cover all aspects of processing payments within the app.

Thanks to Shopify Payments' seamless integration with the online store, all payment matters can be managed in one place. With a variety of popular payment methods, Shopify Payments allows your customers to pay easily and securely. In addition, Shopify Payments is compatible with third-party apps, such as PayPal and Amazon Pay.

Credit card payments (VISA, Maestro, MasterCard, American Express)

In addition, Shopify Payments provides the necessary tools to track and manage payments. You have access to a personal account area where you can view transaction history, customer data, and payment reports. As a result, you'll always keep track of your payments and be able to effectively analyze and optimize your sales figures.

Note

Payment methods, such as Shop Pay or PayPal, enable the placement of dynamic checkout buttons in the online store. Customers can click these buttons and skip the store's shopping cart to speed up the checkout process.

The Most Popular Payment Methods in Germany

A sufficient selection of suitable payment methods is important in e-commerce to avoid high abandonment rates. Consumers want to complete their purchase as quickly and easily as possible. If the preferred payment method is not offered, there is a risk that the customer will abandon the purchase and switch to the competition with the desired payment methods.

When selling in Germany, it is important to know the target market precisely. German consumers often prefer established and secure payment methods, while they are more hesitant about new payment methods. Therefore, it is advisable to offer proven and trusted payment methods to gain the trust of German customers and ensure success in the German e-commerce market.

PayPal remains one of the most popular payment methods for most consumers. This payment option offers security and sellers can be confident that the goods will be paid for.

For your store and your customers, PayPal integration offers a convenient and trustworthy payment option. To make a transaction, the customer must have sufficient funds in the PayPal account or have his bank account linked to the PayPal account. The customer can log in to PayPal with his email address and password and make the payment quickly and easily with just one click.

Another payment method widely used in Germany is purchase on account. The Swedish payment provider Klarna is one of the best-known providers for purchase on account. From the customer's point of view, purchase on account is one of the most secure payment methods.

A big advantage is that customers have the opportunity to order their desired items without risk and pay only after receiving the goods. In case of returns, only the items that the buyer wants to keep have to be paid. This provides a high level of convenience and confidence when shopping online.

Direct debit is also an established payment method for online shopping. With this payment method, the debit is made from the customer's bank account after delivery of the goods. The customer sets up the direct debit procedure once via his online banking and then only has to ensure that there is sufficient credit in the account. Direct debit is therefore particularly suitable for regular payments, such as subscriptions.

One advantage for customers is that they have the option of reversing the payment within eight weeks. This offers customers security and confidence in their purchases.

Payment by credit card also plays an important role in Germany. Accepting credit cards as a payment method also offers many advantages for online retailers, especially when it comes to selling products to business customers. Credit card payments enable companies to process large transactions quickly and securely and facilitate international trade.

You can find Shopify Payments in the Shopify Dashboard under Settings and Payments.

For the setup, Shopify requires data about your store, product, bank information, as well as your personal data. After entering the required infomation and verifying that it is complete and correct, Shopify Payments will approve it directly.

After setup, you can start setting up payment methods, manage currencies, bank details for payouts or payment capture method.

Advice

Ideally, you should ensure in advance of the launch that all available payment methods work properly. You can check this with the help of a test purchase.

The Shopify dashboard allows you to track your payment processing in real time, so you always have an overview of your current payments. Normally, it takes 3 business days for the money to arrive in your bank account. In exceptional cases, it may take longer for certain products.

The cost of using Shopify Payments depends on the plan you choose. The fees are lower with a higher Shopify plan. In contrast, there are no other expenses or transaction fees besides the cost of the selected Shopify plan and Shopify Payments fees.

The full overview of Shopify and Shopify Payments fees can be found here: Shopify Prices

The Shopify dashboard gives you access to your current online store numbers. You can access payment information in real time and get an accurate overview of your store's finances.

With Shopify Payments, you can gear your store towards international commerce and give consumers the option to pay in their own local currency. This not only increases your customers' willingness to pay, but also makes the entire payment process more convenient and familiar for them.

With Express Checkout, your customers benefit from a smooth and fast payment process. The checkout process is significantly shorter, thus increasing the purchase rate. Customers do not need to manually enter any additional payment information, as it is automatically provided by the payment provider, such as Google Pay.

If you own a physical store, you can also use Shopify Payments there to process your payments easily and clearly. You can easily process payments in your store with Shopify Payments and benefit from their user-friendly handling.

Shopify Payments is not available in all countries of the world, but the most relevant ones, such as Germany, USA, Canada, UK, as well as 19 others.

Check out the full list of countries here: Supported Countries for Shopify Payments

To use Shopify Payments, two-factor authentication must be enabled for your Shopify account security. Two-factor authentication prevents security breaches that can lead to incorrect payouts and other financial losses. Two-factor authentication is also recommended anyway for account protection against hacker attacks.

Shopify charges a chargeback fee of 15 euros per chargeback in Germany. This fee can add up quickly with a high transaction volume and repeated chargebacks. However, it is important to note that chargeback fees, even at this level, are standard in the industry.

When using Shopify Payments, certain restrictions apply regarding specific products and industries. Restricted businesses include financial services providers, gambling providers, social media sales, or so-called high-risk businesses, according to Shopify.

With Shopify Payments, you can easily integrate the most popular payment methods into your store. The integration is easy and fast, the fees are transparent and the accelerated checkout can increase your purchase rate.

The straightforward setup ensures a quick sales launch. Nevertheless, Shopify Payments is very scalable and can therefore grow with your business.

With Shopify Translate & Adapt, merchants can make their storefront country-specific and target customers in different languages. Whether it's a storefront or a website, the Shopify Translate & Adapt app enables merchants to offer their products in different languages and reach new international markets.

Shopify Translate & Adapt: The Country-Specific Storefront

In August 2022, e-commerce giant Shopify unveiled a new app called Translate & Adapt. The translation app allows merchants to add translations to their store for the entire store or selected pieces of content, such as products, collections, blog posts, policies and pages. Translation can be either manual or automated.

Information

Automatic translations are provided by the Google Cloud Translation API. To ensure that translations in your storefront are correct, you should review them before publishing.

Shopify Translate & Adapt offers a variety of benefits that enable merchants to effectively design their country-specific storefront.

What sets the in-house Shopify app apart from other translation apps on the market is the ability for businesses to not only exchange languages and currencies, but also create custom content for different markets.

The built-in translation feature, customization options, and ease of translation management make this app a preferred choice for merchants looking to expand their reach and marketing to global markets.

With Shopify Translate & Adapt, merchants have the option to translate the store either as a whole or individual sections of the store, such as categories, blog posts or even individual theme sections.

Shopify Translate & Adapt offers businesses the ability to customize their user interface for specific countries beyond their translation feature.

Merchants can thus customize their content for different markets and adapt it to regional and local aspects.

This means that the content does not necessarily have to be identical in every market and can therefore be better adapted to the range, season, and language style of the different countries. In this way, the business can be quickly and easily expanded globally and the target groups can be addressed in the best possible way without having to operate several stores.

For the translations there is an option to choose from different languages. In the basic list, some languages are already listed and available. However, if you need more languages, you can add them via the "Manage" tab.

Automatic translation is free for two languages.

If you need translations for additional languages, you must do them manually. You can make as many manual translations as you want. To do this, simply click the "Add manual translation" button and select the desired language. Then you can enter the text in the corresponding field and save it.

Thanks to the import and export function, store owners can easily upload and update translations in different languages using a CSV file. This is especially helpful if the store is active in multiple countries or wants to expand globally.

When you add a new language to your store, the Translate & Adapt app is installed automatically. However, if you have already published languages to your store and want to install the app, click Install Shopify Translate & Adapt in your store language settings and download the app.

With Shopify Translate & Adapt, merchants can now completely eliminate the need for third-party translation apps, such as Langify. Often, third-party apps cause website congestion and affect load times, negatively impacting user experience and search engine rankings.

By avoiding third-party apps, merchants can ensure that their website performs well and provides an optimal user experience. They don't have to deal with complex integrations and updates of third-party apps and can maintain their translations and content quickly and easily within Shopify.

For companies looking to take their business global, Shopify's free translation app is a real gamechanger. The app allows merchants to quickly and easily launch a global online store without having to run a separate store for different markets.

To build a strong online presence, it is important to have a website that sells and generates new customers. Therefore, when looking for a suitable web design agency to be successful, there are some important criteria to consider.

Finding the Right Web Design Agency

Web design is the process of conception, user interface design, optimization of the website for search engines and technical implementation of a company's Internet presence.

The goal is to design a user-friendly and sales-boosting website that meets the needs of both the company and its customers.

A modern, intuitive and fast website offers a positive user experience attracts potential new customers. This reduces the bounce rate and increases the conversion (conversion of a prospect into a customer).

A web design agency is a company that specializes in website design and development. With a team of professionals, such as web designers, web developers and digital marketers, not only functional, but also sales-boosting websites are created.

A web design agency creates websites that are equally optimized for sales psychology and modern. In addition, a good web design agency offers services such as the implementation of a content management system (CMS), which allows the customer to easily operate his website after the handover.

A website is often the first direct point of contact between a company and potential customers and is crucial for making a good first impression. That's why a professional Internet presence is essential to stand out from the competition and win over customers.

With the support of an experienced web design agency, companies get a website that not only perfectly reflects their brand image, but also fully meets the needs of their target audience. The expertise of a good web design agency in the areas of design, web development, programming and online marketing ensures a well-structured, modern and fast website with an increased dwell time and additionally generates new customers.

For companies that do not have the know-how and resources for the professional implementation of a new website, a web design agency is a good choice. By working with an experienced team of experts, the entire project is accompanied and there is always a competent contact person for questions or problems.

The 3 Most Important Criteria When Choosing a Web Design Agency

Here is a selection of the most important criteria that should definitely be considered when looking for a good web design agency.

It is recommended to check not only an agency's own website, but also to consider its previous work results and its functionality and design. In addition, you should take a closer look at the provider's references. A professional web design agency will post client reviews on their website, but these should be checked for authenticity. If a full name, picture, and link are provided, that speaks to a credible reference. References serve to give you an insight into the agency's previous projects and illustrate their expertise in web development. Positive customer reviews are another indication of an agency's quality and reliability. They provide information about how satisfied customers were with the cooperation and implementation of their web projects and can also give indications about the agency's customer service and transparency.

Another selection criterion is the range of services offered by the agency. It is advisable to check exactly which subject areas the agency specializes in and whether the services offered meet your requirements.

It is important to ensure that the agency has the necessary expertise and responds quickly to ensure smooth communication and meet your individual requirements in the best possible way.

You should pay particular attention to whether the agency has solid programming skills, experience in web development and in-depth knowledge of content management systems and search engine optimization (SEO). Only in this way can a professional implementation of your project be guaranteed.

In addition, it is important to know what philosophy a web design agency follows. Does it primarily take care of the external appearance of the website, or does it also contribute to the fact that your website is designed to be sales-strong and to generate new customers. On the latter point, a professional web design agency should take into account the following aspects when creating a website:

Responsive web design (web and mobile view optimization)

Choose a web design agency that can support you in these points. It should be up to date and work with you to develop a strategy to achieve your website goals (e.g. selling a specific product).

Start by taking a close look at the agency's website. Objective criteria, such as a good website structure, intuitive operation and Determine whether the web design is appealing and logically structured and whether you can intuitively find your way around the desktop and mobile versions of the site. If these conditions are met, it would be advisable to shortlist this agency and check other aspects more carefully.

Overall, there are many aspects that you should consider when choosing a web design agency. Inform yourself, compare offers, check references and choose an agency that meets your needs.

Operators of an online store are often concerned with the question of how they can not only increase their presence in the Google ranking, but also keep it permanently at an optimal level. This article is about how a Shopify SEO agency can help.

5 Reasons Why You Need a Shopify SEO Agency

Shopify is an e-commerce platform designed for people who are looking for flexibility, scalability, and an intuitive user interface. The backend is easy to use and offers a variety of helpful integrations that make everyday life easier. 

Shopify is used both by small businesses because, for example, you can create an online store in no time without programming skills, but also large corporations use Shopify as a global online store with several 100 million euros in annual sales.

Shopify is the most widespread store system in the world and offers comprehensive SEO functionalities.

SEO (search engine optimization) is an important method for placing an online store as high as possible in the search engine rankings.

Search engine optimization is divided into two areas. On the one hand, onpage SEO, which helps search engines to better understand your content and thus rank higher. This includes the creation and optimization of content, title tags and meta tags. Likewise, internal linking, the use of relevant keywords, as well as avoiding duplicate content and broken links (404 pages) fall under onpage SEO. Furthermore, technical SEO is also part of onpage measures, such as optimizing the loading time (page speed) in terms of programming, the size of images, videos and apps (media assets).

Offpage SEO, on the other hand, includes measures that take place outside the company's own website or online store. These are so-called backlinks from external websites and customer review platforms or social media networks.

Other Shopify SEO measures include URL redirects. These are used, among other things, when the website changes or moves. This is an important topic, especially when migrating to Shopify.

Shopify is a popular e-commerce platform that allows businesses to create an online store quickly and easily. But why is Shopify SEO actually important? The success of an online store largely depends on its visibility and ranking in search engines. And this is where Shopify SEO comes into play.

By optimizing your Shopify e-commerce website for search engines, you can ensure that potential customers can easily find your products and services when they search for them. High visibility in search engine results leads to more organic traffic to your website, and therefore more potential customers without advertising costs.

A Shopify SEO agency is a specialized company that focuses on developing and optimizing online stores on Shopify, the largest e-commerce platform in the world. 

It uses targeted measures to optimize the online store for relevant search terms to attract more organic traffic and potential customers.

With the help of a specialized Shopify SEO agency, you can ensure that your website ranks well in search engines for relevant keywords. An experienced team of SEO experts knows the best practices and can optimize your Shopify site accordingly.

But why do you need a Shopify SEO agency in the first place?

Here Are 5 Reasons to Choose a Shopify SEO Agency:

An experienced Shopify SEO agency will ensure that you realize the full potential of Shopify. Their expertise in optimizing Shopify websites will help you to sustainably increase your visibility and sales.

Especially in times of constantly increasing advertising costs, it is becoming more and more important to get organic traffic in order to remain profitable.

When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) and store optimization, there is no room for error. The complexity of the topics requires a deep understanding and extensive expertise. 

With experience, expertise, and insights across diverse industries, Shopify agencies often produce better results in less time, accelerating growth. In addition, Shopify SEO agencies have cross-industry expertise and therefore know exactly what works and what doesn't. 

Who doesn't know this? You want to optimize your online store so that it ranks at the top of Google, but search engine optimization is a complex and time-consuming topic. 

Shopify SEO agencies take over this task completely, freeing up businesses to focus entirely on their core business.

Compared to a full-time employee, an agency incurs lower costs. How is this possible? Quite simply, a Shopify SEO agency often works with fixed flat rates, which are usually lower than the salary of just a full-time employee. In addition, you have the advantage of benefiting from the expertise of several professionals who contribute their knowledge and experience. A Shopify SEO agency is thus a cost-effective and high-quality solution when it comes to search engine optimization for Shopify.

Established Shopify SEO agencies have an ecosystem of tech partners that allows them to access the latest technologies. This allows Shopify SEO agencies to cater to the specific needs of their clients and quickly put together the right solution for them.

High speed in implementing such solutions can create advantages over the competition.

Conclusion: Why Should You Consider a Shopify SEO Agency?

In an increasingly competitive online market, it's important to be visible to potential customers. 

At the same time, the world of e-commerce is evolving at a rapid pace, making it increasingly difficult for businesses and their employees to keep up and not lose touch.

Part of the core competence of good Shopify SEO agencies is to proactively apply new strategies and technologies to clients and give you an edge over the competition.

Especially in the area of SEO, there are many measures to take that are fundamental to ranking well in search engines. Shopify SEO agencies usually offer the fastest way to achieve the best possible findability in Google and Co.

Is a Shopify agency or an in-house team the better choice when it comes to creating an online store or optimizing an existing Shopify store? This article provides an answer to this question.

Shopify Agency vs. In-House Team: The Big Comparison

A Shopify agency is a specialized company that focuses on online store development and design on Shopify, the largest e-commerce platform in the world.

In addition to design and development, Shopify agencies help with the following online marketing topics, among others:

Social media marketing including social media advertising

With their expertise and usually several years of experience in e-commerce, they help customers position their store successfully in the competitive environment and increase the number of visitors (traffic) as well as the purchase rate (conversion).

Time and again, companies are faced with the question of whether they should perform their tasks internally or externally. One possibility that presents itself here is the creation of an in-house team. But what are the advantages and disadvantages of such a team?

When it comes to building an online store, there are many decisions to make. One of them is whether or not to hire a Shopify agency. There are many pros and cons to consider.

Conclusion: Shopify agency vs. in-house team

In a time of economic uncertainty, it is important to demonstrate a high degree of flexibility. After all, only those who can adapt quickly to new circumstances will be successful in the long term.

The shortage of skilled workers and high employee turnover in particular are currently presenting companies with major challenges. Here it can be an advantage to use a Shopify agency where experts are directly available and you do not have to worry about issues such as recruiting or employee retention.

At the same time, the world of e-commerce is evolving at a rapid pace, as demonstrated by AI technologies such as ChatGPT or Shopify Magic, for example. This is where it becomes increasingly difficult for companies and their employees to keep up and not lose touch.

One of the core competencies of good Shopify agencies is to always be up to date with the latest trends and to proactively use new strategies or technologies with customers. This makes it easier for e-commerce companies to stay up to date, which automatically leads to advantages over the competition.

Since many agencies offer the option of transferring services to the in-house team and coaching employees during the transition phase, it has proven to be a good strategy for many companies to initially rely on a Shopify agency and then gradually bring selected services in-house. However, technical topics in particular, such as individual programming, are usually outsourced because it is more difficult to find experienced employees in this area and the learning curve is very steep.

In conclusion, it can be said that agencies have proven themselves for many decades as reliable partners for SMEs as well as for large corporations for good reason and continue to be indispensable for fast-growing companies.

For online shoppers short shipping times and low-cost shipping are becoming highly important when making purchasing decisions. In order to match competing shipping offers of big e-commerce players such as Amazon they are increasingly cooperating with specialized shipping service providers as a part of Shopify fulfillment.

Fulfillment for Shopify Stores

In e-commerce, order fulfillment refers to the complete physical logistics process that is triggered when an order is placed. Shopify Fulfillment covers the entire order fulfillment process, from warehousing, picking, and packing, to delivery and shipping of orders placed through Shopify stores. Additionally, fulfillment includes returns management.

What role does fulfillment play in e-commerce in 2022?

Over the past few years, logistics for Shopify shops has evolved from a pure cost factor to a real differentiator. Not least due to extremely competitive services from Amazon, both, short shipping times and low-cost shipping are perceived as a given for many online shoppers.

In addition to environmentally friendly shipping, speed and price of deliveries are the most important factors for a positive buying experience. In this regard, 2 out of 3 shoppers expect free shipping, and 60% would like to wait a maximum of 2 days for their order. Moreover, according to a Shopify survey, 77% of respondents state that the environmental impact is relevant to their purchase decision.

What are the benefits of outsourced fulfillment for Shopify merchants?

For many Shopify sellers, offering shipping that is both fast and cost-effective, and in the best case, environmentally friendly at the same time, is a major challenge. Consequently, to keep up with the performance of large e-commerce players such as Amazon, large investments are necessary.

Alternatively, an increasing number of online retailers are looking for other solutions for their logistics setup. In July 2021, 2 out of 3 retailers have already outsourced their warehousing. To ensure a smooth fulfillment process, in many, but by no means all, cases, outsourcing to so-called 3PLs (Third Party Logistics companies) or fulfillment companies is a popular option. This involves integrating your Shopify store with a WMS (Warehouse Management System), which allows orders to be processed automatically. Tech-supported fulfillment companies can set this connection up in only a few minutes.

You might now ask; what are the benefits of outsourcing fulfillment?

While online retailers who fulfill orders themselves often store their products in premises not designed for this purpose, fulfillment companies have the optimal conditions for a safe, accurate and fast fulfillment process. Professional racking systems and specialized warehouse management software are an important piece of the puzzle for efficient logistics. In addition, picking and packing routes are also optimized and simplified with technical aids such as scanners. All this is also possible with in-house logistics, but is associated with high investment and maintenance costs.

Experience and expertise of fulfillment service providers

Just as important as a suitable infrastructure is the experience that professional logistics companies have gained - in some cases over decades. The resulting expertise helps to reduce errors and ensure efficient processes. 

One of the main reasons for outsourcing fulfillment in many cases is rapid growth. Working with fulfillment service providers allows your company to scale flexibly. The costs in such a setup are usually dependent on the sales volume and there are no additional fixed costs. This relieves the pressure on cash flow, which is one of the most pressing challenges for scaling companies. The money can therefore continue to be invested in the production of your goods and the marketing of your brand. In addition, some logistics companies have strong fulfillment networks, making it easier to expand into new regions and countries.

Location-based benefits (costs, environment, speed)

It's precisely this flexibility in choosing a fulfillment location that can benefit your business. While most companies look for warehousing solutions in the geographic vicinity, it is usually the better strategic decision to use warehouses close to the target markets. This shortens delivery routes, which reduces delivery times. The reduced shipping distance also has a positive impact on the delivery costs as well as the environmental impact, due to lower CO2 emissions. 

At what shipping volume should you outsource your fulfillment?

As an e-commerce merchant, you've probably already asked yourself at what shipping volume outsourcing of logistics is an economic decision. This depends on many factors and must be decided on a case-by-case basis. Above all, the ratio between SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) and shipping volume is decisive. A small number of SKUs simplifies outsourcing logistics enormously. 

In addition, the nature of the products plays an important role. So, as is so often the case, there is no one-fits-all rule that applies to all e-commerce retailers. As a rule of thumb, however, experts often speak of a shipping volume of about 100-200 shipments per month to make outsourcing of warehousing and shipping reasonable.

What is essential when looking for a logistics partner?

The fulfillment market has developed considerably in recent years and months, in parallel with the development of online retailing in general. There are now numerous providers on the market. As an e-tailer or supply chain manager, you naturally want to find the optimal solution for your company. The following factors are crucial.

To allow collaboration, a fulfillment company needs to be able to integrate your online store. Hence, the connection of the fulfillment service provider to the Shopify e-commerce system is a basic requirement to benefit from automated and scalable processes.

In addition, however, there are significant differences in the technical solutions offered by warehousing and shipping service providers in some cases. This includes, for example, a dashboard that shows live data and thus simplifies planning and daily operations.

Moreover, the technical setup for LoT tracking, for example, is crucial. This allows you to track batches, keep track of expiration dates, store and ship organic products properly, and perform recalls if necessary.

LoT tracking, which was mentioned above, is one of the specifications for the handling of organic products. In addition, there are other factors that need to be taken into account. For instance, is it possible to store your organic products separately from non-organic products and do the warehouses have appropriate certifications (e.g. HACCP/IFS)? The possibility of controlled cooling of the products is another criterion that must be taken into account in many cases.

In addition to the characteristics of the warehouses, the location is also of utmost relevance. As already explained in the section on location advantages, location-based fulfillment offers numerous benefits. These include faster delivery times, cost savings in shipping, and less environmentally damaging deliveries. 

Another decisive factor for the shipping time is the process that takes place in the warehouse prior to loading parcels onto the trucks of parcel delivery services. A modern WMS can ensure that the logistics processes are handled efficiently and with a minimum error rate. Hence, an efficient pick and pack process of your fulfillment partner is indispensable if you want to focus on customer satisfaction.

In e-commerce, the packaging is literally the first touchpoint. To differentiate from big e-commerce players like Amazon, branded packaging is a strong differentiator. Thus, the ability to use your own packaging or branded options could be a relevant factor in deciding for or against a particular fulfillment partner.

The partner network of a fulfillment company includes, among others, parcel delivery services. A variety of long-term partnerships with logistics service providers is a big advantage. On the one hand, this strengthens resilience in the event of supply chain bottlenecks, and on the other, the choice of popular regional and international parcel services is a well-known conversion rate driver.

Accepting returns is a standard service provided by logistics companies. However, there are major differences in this area. One example is that some fulfillment service providers offer returns portals. These simplify the process for end customers and retailers. This means that online shoppers can initiate a return digitally and independently, and your company can save valuable resources.

Let's face it: e-commerce doesn't have a good reputation when it comes to environmental friendliness. As an online retailer, the increasing environmental awareness of your customers is a challenge, but it's an even bigger opportunity. Work with fulfillment companies that implement green operations, whether that's in warehouses or, say, partnering with shipping service providers that offer carbon-neutral shipping. Your customers will thank you, and your business will benefit, too.

Price can't be missing from any list of factors for the comparison of a service. On the contrary, it is often the primary decision-making facto. Nevertheless, informed decisions must be made here as well. After all, it's important to know that apples are often compared to oranges when it comes to a complex issue like fulfillment. Here's an example; some companies offer lower prices for storage, while these are then compensated with more expensive shipping costs, additional expenses for further services, or the like. For this reason, make sure that you calculate the total cost of your average order, and translate that to your overall logistics in a further step. This way you make sure that you get the best value for your money.

byrd - Your fulfillment partner for e-commerce in Europe

One of these warehouse and shipping logistics providers is byrd. Founded in Austria, it is now one of the leading fulfillment companies in Europe. With a growing network of more than 20 warehouses (as of Q1 2022) in 7 countries (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Spain), byrd is a reliable partner for Shopify merchants of almost any size. Existing customers like Durex, Rituals or Your Super, sell products ranging from cosmetics to nutritional supplements and pet supplies as well as sports equipment. With or without byrd, we wish you nothing but the best and are always happy to offer consulting for Shopify merchants.