Fulfilment from France

Before we decided to import, we carried out an exercise to make sure that we understood the costs and cashflow implications of what we proposed to do. If you can't make a Business Case then why bother taking it any further? What was interesting is how few transport and delivery organisations proved to be any help. Most of them didn't return calls, and most of those that did weren't in a position to move the product in the way that we wanted.

When we eventually found an organisation that was willing to work with us, it proved to be very slow at handling the conceptual issues although its logistics service levels seem to be no worse than anyone else. They have also added a tracking service within the cost that we hadn't considered. It wasn't our original intent to bring an inventory into the UK, but it currently seems to be the only practical solution, given the difficulty of running a fulfilment service from France. Maybe there is a business idea there for someone.

Tags

• Business