Setting Up Country-Specific Sourcing Logic
Author:
Kirill Gaiduk
Changed on:
13 Oct 2025
Problem
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
Solution
