Fluent Commerce Docs

European fulfillment spans multiple countries with distinct regulations, market dynamics, and logistical considerations. To ensure efficient, compliant, and cost-effective order fulfillment, the sourcing system must account for country-specific restrictions, operational priorities, and geographic constraints.

Key constraints to address include:

Country-specific supply networks: Each country operates its own network of local stores and warehouses, and sourcing must prioritize inventory availability within the correct national network before considering cross-border fulfillment.
Regulatory restrictions: Certain products cannot be imported across borders due to legal or safety regulations.
Operational priorities: Different regions may use different sourcing criteria, such as distance thresholds, capacity limits, or network prioritization.
Geographic delivery limitations: Some sourcing routes are excluded if the delivery location exceeds a defined distance.

Why It Matters

Without country-aware sourcing logic, businesses risk violating regulations, incurring excessive cross-border shipping costs, and introducing unnecessary delivery delays. Implementing country-specific rules ensures compliance, reduces transportation expenses, and improves fulfillment speed and reliability.

Example

A retailer operates in United Kingdom, Belgium, and France, with each country’s local stores and warehouses grouped into their respective networks:

`UK_LS` and `UK_WH` for United Kingdom
`BEL_LS` and `BEL_WH` for Belgium
`FRA_LS` and `FRA_WH` for France

Sourcing priority

General

Priority is given to local stores within the regional network of the same country
The next choice is local stores within the regional network of a neighboring country
The last choice is any available warehouses

United Kingdom

If the order contains any Jewellery category items, source exclusively from U.K. networks (`UK_LS`, `UK_WH`) to comply with import restrictions
Apply tiered distance bands to prioritize closer fulfillment points first, reducing transit times and shipping costs while maintaining service-level agreements (SLAs)
Respect daily maximum order capacity to prevent operational overload, maintain consistent service quality, and avoid delays during peak demand periods

Belgium

Prioritize fulfillment from Belgian local stores (`BEL_LS`) first, then from France (`FRA_LS`) if needed
Apply distance-based prioritization to ensure efficient cross-border delivery only when necessary

France

Prioritize French local stores (`FRA_LS`), then source from Belgium (`BEL_LS`) if domestic stock is insufficient
Apply distance exclusion to meet delivery expectations, avoid excessive transit times, and maintain service quality.
Ensure that the sourcing logic always considers real-time inventory levels to minimize partial shipments, backorders, or cancellations caused by stock shortages