Cross-border e-commerce: logistics and customs for parcels between Europe and Asia.

Typical situations

A retailer wants to sell via marketplaces in China, in eastern Europe or worldwide. A marketplace needs a shipping network with partners in many countries and tracking quality customers can rely on. A parcel carrier or forwarder wants to offer imports from China as a product of its own. And since the new customs rule, many are asking whether their current model still holds up.

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Approach

First, the chain is described step by step, from dispatch at the retailer through export, main leg and import clearance to delivery and returns. This includes the question of who takes on which role: merchant of record, importer of record, indirect representation. On this basis, trade and customs models are compared and assessed in a business case, coordinated with customs and tax advisers.

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Implementation and quality

At Fiege, an end-to-end chain was built from Berlin to the end customer in China, with customs checklists, a transit-time chain from day 0 to day 8 and a dedicated returns process. For an online marketplace active in 40 countries, shipping and tracking data across the entire carrier network were analysed, resulting in 43 action areas.

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Result

A model that brings together customs rules, costs and customer experience: clear roles and responsibilities, a reliable calculation per shipment and processes that also work for returns and complaints.