European Pet Supplies Market Insights: Driving Growth Through Fulfillment Services
4 December 2025
5 Ways to Reduce Fulfillment Costs Per Shipment for European E‑Commerce Businesses
4 December 2025
FLEX. Logistics
We provide logistics services to online retailers in Europe: Amazon FBA prep, processing FBA removal orders, forwarding to Fulfillment Centers - both FBA and Vendor shipments.
The European e‑commerce landscape is booming. In 2024, cross‑border online retail in Europe reached a sales volume of €275.6 billion, marking a growth of over 16% compared to 2023. Cross‑border transactions now represent roughly 36% of the entire European online market.
Moreover, as of 2024, approximately 73% of Europeans aged 16–74 made at least one online purchase. Internet penetration and digital comfort are high — setting the stage for continued growth.
Yet with rising volumes comes complexity. Cross‑border e‑commerce involves a patchwork of national regulations, VAT and tax rules, customs procedures, variable delivery expectations, and fragmented logistics networks. Without an optimized fulfillment strategy, margins can shrink dramatically under the weight of shipping costs, delays, returns, and inefficient inventory management.
That’s where having a robust fulfillment partner — like FLEX Logistics — becomes a competitive advantage. Below we outline three fulfillment approaches that European online retailers can adopt to unlock higher profitability and scalable growth.
Fulfillment Approach 1: Centralised European Warehouse + Bulk Forwarding
What it means
Under this model, a merchant stores a large portion of their inventory in a central European warehouse — for instance, in Poland — and from there ships in bulk to distribution centres or directly to customers across Europe.
Why it works & For whom
Cost-efficiency through scale and consolidation: Bulk shipments to a single central warehouse reduce per‑unit freight cost compared to shipping individually from a non‑EU warehouse. Once goods enter the EU, intra‑EU transport tends to be more cost-effective and predictable.
Simplified customs & VAT handling: Importing in bulk into one EU country and then redistributing within the EU often streamlines customs clearance and VAT compliance.
Faster delivery across Europe: From a central EU warehouse, shipping times to major markets can be much shorter than shipping directly from overseas.
Ideal for: Merchants sourcing products from outside Europe (e.g., Asia) who want to aggregate inventory first before distributing — and those with moderate-to-high volume of orders across multiple EU countries.
How FLEX can support
FLEX offers centralised warehousing solutions that can serve as your European hub. By consolidating bulk imports and handling customs, warehousing, and onward shipping — FLEX helps reduce overhead, simplify compliance, and accelerate delivery to customers. This translates into lower cost per order and higher margins for you.
Fulfillment Approach 2: Distributed Regional Warehouses (“Hub-and-Spoke”)
Concept in brief
Instead of relying on just one central storage point, this model uses multiple regional warehouses across Europe (e.g., Central Europe, Western Europe, Eastern Europe). Inventory is stocked based on demand forecasts and geographic distribution of customers.
Why this approach is increasingly important
Faster delivery and better customer experience: With inventory closer to end customers, delivery times shrink — a key competitive factor in today’s e‑commerce landscape.
Lower last‑mile & cross-border shipping costs: Shipping within a region costs less than long-haul or cross-border shipments.
Flexibility & resilience: Regional stocking helps absorb demand spikes, reduces risks of stockouts, and adapts to dynamic regional demand.
Optimized inventory distribution: According to a recent study by a major e‑commerce operator, advanced algorithms that allocate inventory dynamically between central and front warehouses improved local fulfillment rates and reduced costs.
For which merchants?
Retailers with a pan‑European customer base and high order volume.
Brands aiming to guarantee fast delivery (e.g., <2‑3 day shipping) to increase customer satisfaction & repeat purchases.
Companies launching in multiple markets — want to avoid overstocking in one location while stockouts happen elsewhere.
How FLEX supports the hub‑and‑spoke model
FLEX can manage and operate a network of regional warehouses — handling inventory allocation, storage, order picking/packing, and shipping. By combining demand analysis with distribution logistics, FLEX lets merchants deliver closer to customers while keeping operational complexity under control. This helps you reduce shipping costs, delivery times, and increase customer satisfaction — all improving long-term profitability.
Fulfillment Approach 3: Marketplace Integration + Multi-Channel Fulfillment
Why marketplaces dominate cross-border e‑commerce
Marketplace platforms remain a major force in European cross-border e‑commerce. According to a recent report, online marketplaces generated €247.5 billion in 2024/2025, accounting for ≈ 70% of total European cross-border e‑commerce turnover.
For many merchants, selling through marketplaces (in addition to their own webshops) is a fast route to scale — but it also brings complexity in fulfillment, returns handling, and multi-channel inventory management.
Multi‑channel fulfillment: balancing marketplace demands with direct commerce
Unified inventory & fulfillment management: Rather than treating your webshop and marketplace channels separately, a combined fulfillment approach ensures that stock is synchronized, orders are processed efficiently, and over-selling is avoided.
Faster fulfillment for marketplace orders: Marketplaces often carry strict delivery-time expectations. Having a fulfillment partner that handles packing, shipping, and returns allows you to meet those expectations reliably.
Cost control and margin protection: Efficient fulfillment lowers storage, packing, and shipping costs. It also reduces risk of returns, wrong deliveries, or delays — all of which erode profitability.
Why this is essential now
As the European cross-border e‑commerce ecosystem grows — now estimated at ~€358.7 billion in 2024/2025, with pushing marketplaces at its core — sellers who rely on marketplaces cannot afford inefficient logistics.
How FLEX helps
FLEX can act as your multi-channel fulfillment backbone. Whether you sell on your own site, on one or more marketplaces, or even run hybrid models — FLEX handles warehousing, order fulfillment, shipping, returns, and inventory synchronization. That allows you to focus on sourcing, marketing, and sales — not logistics.
Comparative summary: Which approach for which merchant
| Your business profile / goal | Recommended Fulfillment Approach |
|---|---|
| Sourcing from outside EU + spreading to many countries | Centralized European Warehouse + Bulk Forwarding |
| High volume, pan‑EU customer base, need for fast delivery | Distributed Regional Warehouses (Hub‑and‑Spoke) |
| Selling on marketplaces + your own webshop, need multi-channel logistics | Marketplace Integration + Multi-Channel Fulfillment |
Many successful e‑commerce merchants combine aspects of two or all three approaches: e.g., use a central warehouse for bulk import, stock high-velocity products in regional hubs, and fulfill marketplace orders through a unified fulfillment network.
Why efficient fulfillment directly translates to profit margin growth
Lower shipping and logistics cost per order — consolidating inventory, optimizing shipping routes, minimizing cross-border surcharges, and reducing returns/damaged goods result in a lower “cost-to-serve.”
Faster shipping = higher conversion & repeat purchases — modern e‑commerce consumers expect quick delivery. Meeting these expectations can improve conversion rates, average order value (AOV), and customer loyalty.
Reduced overhead & administrative complexity — handling customs, VAT, returns, multi‑channel orders, inventory management, and shipping documentation internally is resource-intensive. Outsourcing to a fulfillment specialist reduces fixed overhead and lets you scale without adding equivalent internal costs.
Risk mitigation & resilience — with distributed warehousing and a reliable logistics provider, you're less vulnerable to single-point failures (customs delays, local warehouse issues, overloaded delivery networks).
Together, these advantages help increase net margins, especially in competitive categories where price pressure is high.
Why choosing FLEX Logistics makes sense
European network & cross-border expertise: FLEX understands the complexities of cross-border shipping, VAT, customs, and EU logistics — a critical advantage when targeting multiple European markets.
Flexible fulfillment models: Whether you need a central EU hub, regional warehouses, or multi‑channel fulfillment, FLEX can tailor the approach to match your business needs.
Scalability: As order volume grows, FLEX’s infrastructure supports scaling without requiring you to build internal logistics capacity — avoiding costs of warehouse leases, staff, compliance, returns handling, etc.
Focus on profit, not operations: By outsourcing logistics to FLEX, you focus on what truly drives growth: product sourcing, marketing, customer acquisition, and brand building — while keeping fulfillment costs predictable and optimized.
Maximizing Profit in European E‑Commerce Through Strategic Fulfillment
European cross‑border e‑commerce offers immense opportunity — with a market now valued at close to €360 billion and growing rapidly. But to convert that opportunity into sustainable profit and growth, logistics & fulfillment must be more than an operational afterthought.
By adopting one or a combination of the fulfillment approaches described — centralised hub, regional warehouses, multi-channel marketplace fulfillment, or hybrid & data‑driven models — merchants can significantly reduce costs, improve customer experience, and build scalable, resilient operations.
Partnering with a professional fulfillment provider such as FLEX Logistics makes these strategies practical, manageable, and scalable. With the right fulfillment strategy in place, you can focus on growth — and let fulfillment drive profit, not drag it down.
