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of e-commerce with calm periods and seasonal peaks against entering another country. This may be
equally well, while requiring slim resources for both. The especially relevant with excise goods like alcohol
main component that decides its success is compliance. and tobacco, but also weapons or certain living
Is all the information provided in the required fashion, organisms like plants.
is the data complete and accurate, is it consistent and • The system also checks product descriptions and
comprehensible? The more boxes we can tick here, the less other data related to the product regarding data
likely it is a shipment will be held up at customs. This way, quality. The data in the customs declaration must
projected delivery times can be met, and fines for erroneous match the data provided on the product elsewhere
declarations that become an additional cost factor for and it must describe the shipped item and not, by
companies, are prevented. accident, another item also in stock at the retailers.
• In a final step, the system will also check the
A good customs flow equals good customer service product’s value. This is especially relevant
When tackling the ideal customs flow for retailers, we when the customs process includes a low value
are usually faced with a more complex situation. Yet, consignment option for imports into the EU. If
because we enter the value chain at a much earlier point the item is undervalued in the customs declaration
here, we are able to influence the process towards customs and this is revealed in a random customs check,
compatibility. And once again, it all comes down to data. the retailer may be fined, and the customer may
As a retailer, data is involved from the second a customer have to pay additional duties not included in the
places an order – and some of that data can be integrated retail price.
into the customs process as early as the web shop check-
out. Integrating it here doesn’t only help with setting up The outcome we aim for when setting up a customs process
a solid customs flow, it is also an act of customer service. for a retailer is to give the customer a sense of trust in the
My colleague, the one with the ‘one size fits all’ gym automation, that the process once set up will do its job
shorts encounter, has one absolute pet peeve about online reliably, always keeping them compliant and incorporating
shopping and that’s shops refusing to clearly state the role into their overall logistics flow flawlessly.
customs is going to play in the ordering process. Are duties
already included in the price? Will I end up trekking miles Combining ‘one size fits all’ automation into bespoke
to the next customs office to retrieve my order, where I solutions
will have to pay an absurd amount of money on top of the With all the above evaluations and analyses taken care of,
order price? Or will the parcel be delivered by a parcel we are comfortable to recommend a customs process that
carrier who collects a small duty upon delivery, plus a hefty will enhance our customer’s logistics and their customer’s
service charge for collecting said duty, raising the final experience. Only then do we go into the details of
price of the delivery above the retail price? My colleague technical integration and software implementation. And
has experienced all these situations and refuses to order while the automated parts of a customs flow may bear
from online shops that don’t make clear how they handle some resemblance to the unisex, one-sized gym shorts from
customs before the order is placed. Integrating the customs the beginning of this article, it is the analysis that precedes
process as early as the check-out prevents customer their implementation and the deliberations we are having
frustration and enables a smooth flow all the way to the with our customers about their priorities, their biggest
delivery. challenges and their most valued propositions that turn our
approach into bespoke solutions. ••
The good thing about starting this early: everything can be
automated. This automation checks a whole list of things
even before the customer has hit the ‘order now’ button:

• By checking the address of the person placing the
order, the system decides whether delivery to the
address is possible, i.e. whether it is in a country
that an import/export flow has been set up for.
• As soon as the destination country is known,
duties and taxes can be calculated for the order
and displayed as part of the final retail price. The
person placing the order will pay duties and taxes
at the check-out and won’t have to worry about
additional costs upon delivery.
• The system can cross-check the order against
any regulations or restrictions placed on items

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