Warehouse Locations
Our warehouses, positioned so your orders never wait at a border.
Stock held inside the market it sells into arrives as a domestic delivery. No customs event on the order, and nothing for your customer to settle before the courier hands the parcel over. Ours sits in the UK, the Netherlands and the US, which covers the customs territories our clients sell into most, and where it sits is what decides how quickly and how cheaply an order reaches the person who bought it.
In short
Expandly operates warehouses in the UK, the Netherlands and the US. Because the European Union is a single customs union, stock held in the Netherlands reaches customers in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and every other member state as an internal movement, with no customs formalities and no duty at the border. The UK became a separate customs territory after Brexit, which is why UK stock is held in the UK. Between them, the two positions cover the markets most brands expanding into Europe are selling into, without splitting inventory across multiple countries.
- Netherlands, serving the European Union
- United Kingdom, serving the UK market
- United States, for brands moving the other way
- One inventory plan across all three
The Network
What each position reaches
Each site exists to put your stock inside a customs territory rather than beside it. What follows from that is delivery speed, delivery cost and a returns address your customer recognises.
EUROPEAN UNION
Served from the Netherlands
The EU is one customs union and one market. Once your goods are in free circulation there, a parcel to a customer in Germany, France, Italy or Spain moves without customs formalities, without duty at the border and without anything for the customer to settle before the courier hands it over. It is a domestic delivery in every way that matters to the person waiting for it.
The Netherlands is where we put that stock, and the geography is the reason. It sits on the road network into Germany, Belgium and France, with major air and sea freight gateways close by for the inbound leg. A container arriving from the US clears once, and everything after that is European road freight.
Germany
France
Italy
Spain
Netherlands
Belgium
Poland
Sweden
Ireland
Czech Republic
and the rest of the EU
UNITED KINGDOM
Served from the UK
Since Brexit the UK has been its own customs territory, which means EU stock and UK stock are two different propositions rather than one with a longer drive. Selling properly into both takes a position in each, and that is exactly what the network is built to give you.
British customers get a domestic delivery, a domestic price at the checkout and a UK returns address. Your inbound clears UK customs once, as freight, instead of every order clearing separately as a parcel.
England
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland
UNITED STATES
Served from the US
Most brands we work with are moving stock from America into the UK and EU, so the two European sites do most of the work on this page. Expansion runs in both directions though. For UK and European brands looking at the American market, the US warehouse does the same job in reverse, putting your inventory inside the territory your customers are buying from.
The compliance work in front of it changes rather than disappears, and it is handled by the same team either way.
United States
Inventory Strategy
More warehouses is not the same as better coverage
It is tempting to assume that a provider with a building in every country serves those countries better. Inside a customs union that is rarely how it works out, and for a brand at your stage it can work against you.
Split your stock across five countries and you need safety stock in five places rather than one. Capital that could be buying inventory is instead sitting as buffer, the same SKU goes out of stock in one country while sitting idle in another, and every additional country you physically store goods in creates a VAT registration and a filing obligation there. You take on cost and administration in exchange for a delivery improvement the single market was already giving you.
One well-placed EU position and one UK position is the shape that suits almost every brand entering Europe. If your volumes ever justify a second EU node, that is a conversation worth having on the numbers rather than on instinct, and we will tell you when it does.
Continuous Improvement
Getting better at this is the whole job
Nothing about a fulfilment operation should sit still, and ours improves on four fronts at once. New technology, in the warehouse and in the platform behind it. Capacity, which grows with demand and takes in new locations over time, increasing the number of markets we serve directly and improving delivery times and shipping rates as it does. Then the two nobody notices until they go wrong: a standing review of our own processes, and of the carriers and suppliers sitting behind them.
None of this is altruism. Our fortunes are tied directly to our clients’, so the numbers we work to move are yours rather than ours. Lower handling costs and better shipping rates land in your margin. Better delivery performance lands in your customer satisfaction scores, which track it more closely than almost anything else you control. International markets are a considerable opportunity, and we do well when you succeed in them.
Capacity ahead of demand
Peak trading is not the moment to find out a warehouse is full. Capacity planning sits inside your account review rather than happening after a problem.
Carriers reviewed, not inherited
Carrier performance and rates are looked at on a standing basis rather than left where they were set. When a better option appears for your profile, you get the benefit of it.
Your setup travels with you
One platform, one contract and one team, whichever building your stock is in. Adding a location as you grow is a conversation rather than a migration.
Choosing
Deciding where your stock should land
This is a commercial question before it is a logistics one, and it is one of the first things we work through with you.
Step 01
Where your customers already are
Existing order data usually answers most of this. If European demand is concentrated in the eurozone, the EU position leads. If it skews British, the UK does.
Step 02
Which channels you are selling on
Marketplace strategy shapes the answer. Pan-European FBA, bol.com in the Benelux and your own store all pull in slightly different directions.
Step 03
What your products need
Weight, size, value and any batch or serial requirements all affect where stock is best held and how it should be stored when it gets there.
Step 04
Where the compliance lands
Storing goods in a country creates obligations there. We size that up front so the location decision is made with the full cost visible, not half of it.
Questions
Common questions on locations and coverage
Do you serve Germany?
Yes, from our Netherlands warehouse. Germany is inside the same customs union, so a parcel travelling from the Netherlands to a German customer carries no customs formalities and no duty, and arrives on a domestic service. Holding a separate pool of stock inside Germany would split your inventory and create a German VAT registration, in exchange for a delivery outcome the single market is already giving you.
Which European markets can you reach?
All of the EU from the Netherlands position, and the UK from the UK position. On the compliance side we most commonly work across Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Sweden, Ireland and the Czech Republic alongside the UK, and other markets are added where a brand needs them. Tell us where you are selling and we will map it against what you already have in place.
Can I hold stock in both the UK and the EU?
Yes, and for most brands selling into both it is the right answer rather than a luxury. They are two customs territories, so a single position on one side always leaves the other side importing. Both draw on the same platform and the same account, so you are running one operation across two buildings rather than two separate relationships.
Are you opening more warehouses?
As we continue to grow, we have plans to add additional warehouse capacity and new locations, further increasing the number of markets we serve directly and making continuous improvements to delivery times and shipping rates. We would also rather tell you a second location is premature than sell you one, because splitting stock too early costs more than it saves.
How do you decide which warehouse my stock goes into?
On your order data, your channel mix, your product characteristics and where the compliance obligations fall. It is worked through during onboarding and reviewed as your markets shift, so the answer you start with is not the answer you are stuck with.
Elsewhere In This Section
The rest of the picture
Parent page
The case for holding stock in Europe, and how the whole service fits together.
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Fulfilment model
Every unit prepped to Amazon’s standard before it reaches a fulfilment centre.
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Fulfilment model
Merchant-fulfilled orders shipped inside the window your metrics are measured against.
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Fulfilment model
Your own store, delivered locally, from stock that feeds every other channel.
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After the sale
Value recovered from returns, and what cannot be recovered handled responsibly.
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Work out where your stock should sit
Thirty minutes on your order data, your channels and your markets, and a straight answer on which position would serve your customers best and what it would cost to run.