Large and heavy goods? International shipping? You’ve come to the right place!

Selling directly to consumers (D2C) can be a very profitable way of doing business, as it cuts out some third-party costs, and can also cut delivery leadtimes. E-commerce has opened the door to this huge and growing opportunity.

But what if your company sells goods that don’t fit in standard parcels? “Say if you’re shipping a television or a sofa, you have additional considerations to take into account,” says Michael Altenweger, Senior Commercial Manager Last Mile, DHL Fulfillment Network. “International fulfillment can be a daunting prospect for companies who can find costs, leadtimes and red tape prohibitive.”

Whether you call it ‘two-man handling’, ‘home delivery’ or even ‘non-standard goods handling’ the facts are the same: it’s complex getting your goods from your warehouse to a cross-border freight/cargo transporter, then via a local carrier to your destination address, and then up to the fourth floor to your consumer.

“It gets even more complex when you factor in value-added services, like unpacking, installing, assembling, wall-mounting, the removal of packaging, and returns, which are very often part of the consumer order,” explains Michael. “Some services are actually compulsory, such as the handling of used goods under Europe’s WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive: the consumer’s old television may have to be taken away and brought to a particular recycling location.”

Fred Onnekes, Global Account Manager, DHL Fulfillment Network adds: “When goods need to travel outside of the EU, say from The Netherlands to Switzerland, customs need to be taken into account too.”

DHL Fulfillment Network’s services are all about ease for customers: we offer customers the flexibility to scale up and down, and to store their goods in a network of warehouses around the globe, close to their consumers, which reduces delivery times and costs. Integration with e-commerce platforms such as Spotify and WooCommerce is simple. All customers have access to advanced inventory insights: a dashboard with detailed stock information that allows them to optimize their logistics.

Michael concludes: “Our whole approach is based on simplifying services for customers, and allowing them to do what they do best, while we take care of fulfillment. With our dedicated expertise in two-man handling, we are proud to be enabling these customers to avail of the buoyant e-commerce market.”

Find out how we can help you today by talking to our in-country experts.