B2B & retail fulfilment in Europe wholesale orders done right

D2C fulfilment ships single units to consumers in parcels; B2B fulfilment ships cases and pallets to businesses against a purchase order, with retailer-specific labelling, EDI documents and booked delivery slots. The operations, packaging, labelling and paperwork are all different, which is why a 3PL built only for consumer parcels often struggles with a first retail order. Look for a partner that names retail and wholesale fulfilment explicitly.

EDI (electronic data interchange) is the standardised messaging most large retailers use to send purchase orders and receive dispatch confirmations and advance shipping notices. If you supply major retail chains, they will usually require it. A 3PL set up for EDI can receive orders and send the required messages on your behalf, so confirm this before committing if retail is your channel.

An SSCC is the serial shipping container code on a pallet or carton label that a retailer's warehouse scans to book stock in. If the labelling, palletisation or documentation does not match the retailer's rulebook, they can reject the delivery or issue a chargeback — a financial penalty. A retail-capable 3PL applies the correct labels and follows the buyer's spec so those penalties do not happen.

Many can, and it is often the ideal setup: one stock pool serving both your consumer orders and your retail POs. What matters is that the partner runs true retail fulfilment, not just D2C with pallets bolted on. Tell us you need both and the matching filters to partners that genuinely operate on both sides.

Yes — the point of an EU-based B2B partner is to supply retailers and distributors across member states from within the single market, without a customs step on every trade shipment. Tell us the countries your buyers are in and the matching filters to partners positioned to serve them.