London, Lisbon and Larnaca Delivery in Two Days With GlobeCross

In 2025, the cross-border market in Europe totaled over €350 billion in value and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18% from 2026 to 2034, as shoppers look abroad for price, assortment, and access to specific brands. To capture a share of this cross-border growth, brands need to provide the same fast, reliable delivery experience they offer locally to international customers.

According to the Metapack eCommerce Delivery Benchmark Report published for 2026, shoppers in Europe expect their online orders to arrive within 1-2 days. This delivery expectation is one of the key aspects that keeps the potential buyers from committing to a cross-border purchase, due to longer delivery timelines. Faster shipping is no longer considered a competitive advantage, but a basic service requirement. However, as per the report, only 30% of retailers can deliver within two days as a standard. For online retailers, delivery performance is the ultimate success/failure factor.

There is, therefore, a clear need for a logistics partner that can meet the challenges of customers’ expectations of fast and reliable delivery while being a one stop solution for the European network, all at an affordable cost. Unlike the USA market, where there are several levels of domestic delivery services, in Europe, there are typically only two delivery options available to the customer, standard delivery and express delivery. Standard delivery services can take between three and six days to some markets, and road linehaul is the norm when it comes to cross-border deliveries. Express delivery services usually take one to three days to deliver via priority distribution systems.

This usually comes at a significant premium; therefore, express shipping often captures less than 10% of retailers’ volumes. Express delivery also comes with limitations such as early order cut-offs, very high costs, etc., making it difficult for retailers to offer affordable and fast delivery to customers. This narrow classification of delivery options in Europe creates bottlenecks for delivery-experience-led growth and expansion for eCommerce retailers and fails to leverage the world’s largest single market.

As the “first mover” and still the only service provider in Europe to utilize the belly capacity of passenger flights for eCommerce parcel delivery, GlobeCross bridges the gap between standard and express delivery with a 2-day service across Europe. This model is designed to be faster than standard shipping yet far more affordable than the available express options, making fast and reliable deliveries accessible to eCommerce retailers of all sizes.

By utilizing the cargo space in the lower deck (belly) of the Lufthansa Group of airlines, GlobeCross built an integrated solution benefiting not just from daily passenger flights, but also from numerous daily flight options, unlocking higher scheduling and routing flexibility across the farthest points of the European continent.

With this hybrid network, GlobeCross has exclusive access to more than 10,000 monthly departures across 100 destinations in Europe, including distant and remote locations that are otherwise not easily accessible.

How does this benefit the shippers?

• Faster delivery

• Volume flexibility

• Affordable price

Portugal case in point

In Portugal, cross-border purchases make up more than 80% of all online sales, yet customer complaints about the shopping experience increased by 64 % in 2025 compared with 2024. Delivery failures are cited as the number one reason for dissatisfaction.

If a parcel is being sent from Poland, often a key logistics hub for eCommerce players, it could take four to five days to deliver to a Portuguese customer in the best of cases.

GlobeCross offers daily connections from Frankfurt to Lisbon, with at least three flights per day, ensuring the same day uplift. eCommerce brands, therefore, get their parcels to Portuguese consumers within 2 days, without the price tag of express shipping.

For example, if a customer orders a product at 19:00, and the shipper’s warehouse dispatches it the same evening, the order can be connected to the next morning’s flight to Lisbon, the parcel is injected to last mile carrier on the same day, and delivery is then completed the next day.

This level of service is not just limited to the capital Lisbon, but also to other cities and islands by capitalizing on daily flights to places like Madeira. A customer from Madeira and a customer from Lisbon ordering at the same time, get their delivery about the same time by implementing a direct connection in Madeira to the local carrier, thus skipping the networking effects of shipping via mainland Portugal.

These are not just possibilities; GlobeCross has already shipped over 1 million parcels utilizing belly capacity in the past year.

As the cross-border eCommerce market grows, brands must seek competitive advantages to maintain and grow market share. Some markets are spoilt by quality delivery choices, and in Europe, there can still be a wide gap between customer expectations and available delivery solutions.

GlobeCross is positioned to support eCommerce businesses of every size and design custom cross-border solution to open the full potential of the European network. Customers in London, Lisbon and Larnaca can all benefit from the same delivery timeline and receive their parcels in 2 days. 

ABOUT GLOBECROSS At GlobeCross, we turn borders into gateways. We simplify the complexity of global trade by combining cross-border eCommerce logistics with deep customs expertise - creating seamless, compliant, and scalable solutions from origin to doorstep. Powered by Lufthansa Cargo, we connect markets, partners, and systems across the globe through digital processes, operational excellence, and entrepreneurial thinking. From global manufacturers to fast-growing eCommerce platforms, we help our customers move goods across borders with speed, transparency, and reliability.