Online shop logistics: shipping, returns and customs into the EU

Setting up an online shop takes weeks today. What comes afterwards decides between success and trouble: how the goods get into the parcel, how quickly they arrive and what happens when they come back. In projects we regularly see logistics underestimated.

Post, Planzer or DPD – who suits which goods

Swiss Post covers the country best and offers the familiar options with PickPost and counter collection; for small items up to parcel format it is usually first choice. Planzer plays its strength with bulky goods, pallets and two-person deliveries – relevant as soon as you ship furniture, appliances or screens. DPD and similar providers are interesting at higher volumes and for cross-border shipments where customs clearance is built into the process.

What matters is the representation in the shop: if you use two carriers, the system must decide itself based on weight, dimensions and destination country. Otherwise someone chooses by hand – and that is where mistakes arise.

Own warehouse or fulfilment

Your own warehouse means full control and direct access for special requests, but tied-up space and staff who pack parcels instead of selling. A fulfilment provider stores, packs and ships for you and bills by storage space and movements. The switch usually pays off when packing ties up several hours a day. The price: you partly give up the unboxing experience and need clean interfaces.

Those interfaces decide everyday life anyway. Stock levels should flow back automatically, tracking numbers go into the shipping confirmation, invoices into the accounts. Every manual transfer is a source of error – and ties up time when things are busy.

Returns are a process, not an annoyance

In Switzerland there is no statutory right of withdrawal for online purchases, unlike in the EU. Even so, a voluntary right of return is de facto standard. What matters is a defined procedure:

Exactly this evaluation is most often missing. Yet that is where the cheapest improvement lies: if an item comes back more than average, dimensions, material details or a good picture are usually missing.

Packaging and delivery time

Packaging is transport protection, cost factor and first contact with your brand all at once. The box size should suit the goods, because volume is charged and half-empty boxes invite damage. Paper cushioning recycles well.

The stated delivery time influences basket abandonment more than many design questions. Two things help immediately: an honest statement directly on the product page instead of only at checkout, and a clear cut-off time along the lines of "ordered today by 2 p.m., delivered tomorrow". A kept promise of three days beats a broken one of one day.

Customs for deliveries into the EU

As soon as you deliver across the border, every shipment needs a commercial invoice, the customs tariff number per item and the indication of origin – for Swiss origin with the declaration that enables duty exemption under the free trade agreement. Add the import VAT in the destination country, which either the recipient pays or you take on as delivered duty paid. The latter prevents the most common negative review: the unexpected demand for payment at the door.

Conclusion

Plan the logistics before the design. Anyone who settles shipping routes, packaging, returns and customs questions before launch has a calm shop later. We go through these points in advance on shop projects and build the interfaces in right away.