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~ AEB ~

THE ROAD TO

PERFECTION

HOW WE ARRIVE AT THE BEST

POSSIBLE CUSTOMS PROCESS

FOR OUR CUSTOMERS

Text: Ian Crauwels // Photos: AEB

Have you ever stumbled into an Alice in Wonderland-like e-commerce rabbit hole when
doing some online shopping way past midnight? Online shopping can be quite the madhouse
sometimes. A colleague told me about such an adventure, when she encountered something,
she simply could not wrap her head around. “Gym shorts, but the product description said,
‘one size fits all.’ For men and women!” Outlandish, of course. And yet, I can absolutely

understand the appeal of a ‘one size fits all’ solution for the retailer. The potential customer
base is huge, while you can keep things simple during production. And once the item is
shipped, your job is done. You don’t have to look at the result.

t AEB, providing software solutions for is the type of business approaching us. Is it a start-up
customs and trade, we probably wouldn’t or a corporate company, is it an established business
Ahate having a ‘one size fits all’ tool or transitioning into the wonderland of e-commerce or a ‘new
application for our customers. And you could be kid on the block’ starting from scratch? This distinction
forgiven for thinking “why don’t they?” A customs matters because it heavily influences what we are working
declaration is always a customs declaration, after all. with. The biggest difference: A newly established company
And for the individual parts that make up a customs can set itself up 100% digitally. Together, we can make
process, this is true. We can provide a ‘one size fits sure that it starts out with a functioning database of all its
all’ for those. The magic happens – to take one last products, including information relevant to customs like
look at Alice and her rabbit hole – when we begin to classifying products according to the harmonized system
talk to new customers about how to put the one- and the combined nomenclature. Setting this up for the
size gym shorts of customs together to create one first time is easier than making a long-standing company’s
killer outfit that means our customer is dressed for database fit for automation. Solid data management is the
success. number one prerequisite to an automated workflow that
significantly decreases manual efforts or even makes them
The customs process as a factor for success obsolete.
So how do we create a customs process for our customers
that fits their needs exactly? What parameters do we look Alas, not every company can start from scratch. So,
at and how do we weigh different options to make sure is having a long history of selling your products in an
they not only end up with a process that works – but one analogue world a deal-breaker for becoming a successfully
that elevates their business and is a factor for success? e-commerce provider? Of course not! But our approach
is very different then. We may not even want to turn the
One of the key pieces of information we look at first entire company inside out, data-wise. Instead, it often

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