Edition 005 | December 2025
You're reading IF/Then by IFGlobal, the monthly newsletter for brands who don't compromise. For every what if, there's a then. If you're building your brand, then we're building with you. If you want scale, then you need strategy. If you're ready to grow, then this is where it starts.
Every established founder has a story about the day their brand suddenly went global. Yet, it rarely happens through a perfectly crafted international launch. More often, it’s a creator post that goes viral in a region you’ve never shipped to, a marketplace algorithm surfacing your bestseller overseas, or a retailer featuring you in a country your team has never visited.
Sales climb. Mentions increase. New customer names appear in your dashboard in languages your website doesn’t yet support. It feels like success, and it is. But it also marks a subtle shift. Demand has outpaced operational readiness, and from this point forward, your ability to scale isn’t determined by marketing, but by infrastructure.
Shopify’s 2025 International Ecommerce Guide highlights this shift, noting that global customers now expect “local-level service standards” regardless of where the brand originates. It’s the moment every ambitious business hits... Intent is global, while operations are still local.
As ecommerce becomes increasingly borderless, the brands that scale internationally aren’t necessarily the loudest or the most VC-backed. They’re the ones whose operational foundations can absorb complexity.
DHL’s latest ecommerce report reinforces the trend. International shoppers expect clear duties, fast delivery and localised returns as standard. Baymard’s ongoing checkout research adds that unclear shipping costs and unexpected duties remain two of the most common reasons for cart abandonment worldwide. This matters because global growth magnifies every inefficiency.
Back in 2022, McKinsey’s analysis of cross-border commerce explained it simply. Brands that win globally aren’t the ones chasing the most markets, they’re the ones with an infrastructure designed to withstand volatility. Distributed inventory, regional compliance readiness, and unified visibility aren’t “nice to have”; they’re the price of entry into global scale. That report discusses how leading cross-border parcel providers are building for reliability, speed and visibility; as McKinsey writes, “clearly ahead companies … will stake out a winning value proposition by providing reliability and end‑to‑end visibility … as well as an acceptable speed for the shopper … and a favourable fee for the shipper.”
“Borders are invisible to the modern customer. What matters is how the brand shows up for them. A customer in Miami doesn’t pause to consider that the product came from Dorset. Shoppers in Munich won’t wait for a formal market entry before deciding whether to trust your brand. Someone in Toronto isn’t evaluating whether this is your first transatlantic shipment. They’re judging the reliability and care of the experience. The success is defined by the critical details. Duties that are transparent. Delivery promises that are kept. Unboxing moments that feel deliberate and unmistakably yours.”
Ryan Grimshaw, Head of Marketing & Communications, IFGlobal.
DHL, Global-e, and FedEx data and trends all point to the same truth. International shoppers only behave differently when the experience makes them uneasy. Global‑e finds that many abandon carts when the final cost (taxes, duties) is unclear. FedEx’s research supports this, with over a third of shoppers citing high duties and taxes as a barrier, and a majority prioritising free or low-cost delivery over speed.
Experience is the real currency of global growth, and experience depends on expertise, partnership and infrastructure.
This is why the quality of your 3PL fulfilment partner matters far more than most founders initially realise. A strong partner doesn’t only ship orders. They build the operational environment that lets you scale with confidence. They understand your true cost-to-serve by region... not just carrier rates, but duties, tariffs, handling costs, marketplace requirements and regional return patterns. They position inventory based on real demand signals, not guesswork. And they bring the compliance governance that prevents operational surprises from blocked listings, customs delays, inadmissible goods and shifting VAT rules.
Most importantly, they preserve the brand experience at the doorstep. Whether the parcel lands in Manchester, Miami, or Munich, the unboxing moment must reinforce your identity, not dilute it.
“For scale-up brands entering new markets, growth can feel both exhilarating and risky. At IFGlobal, we turn that complexity into clarity, becoming more than a fulfilment partner. We become an extension of your team, a trusted ally where you’re never just another account, and a steady hand that lets founders and teams focus on growth with confidence. The next wave of global winners will be the brands that treat operations as strategy, not an afterthought.”
Jane Derbyshire, Sales & Commercial Director, IFGlobal.
As 2025 closes, analysts from DHL and FedEx expect cross-border ecommerce to keep outpacing domestic growth through 2026 and beyond.
Shopify’s investments reflect the same belief, highlighting a move from being a simple ecommerce SaaS to a modular commerce platform/infrastructure layer, letting brands plug into checkout, payments, logistics and more. Shopify’s architecture is likened to Amazon Web Services; modular, scalable and designed for global commerce operations.
The next wave of global winners won’t just be the brands with great products, they’ll be the ones that treat operations as a strategy, not an afterthought. For founders planning new market entries in 2026, the central question changes: it’s no longer “where should we launch next?” but “how do we gain the infrastructure to serve customers we haven’t met yet with the same excellence our current customers receive?” If that’s the question on your mind, then you’re already thinking like a global brand.
With over 20 years of fulfilment experience, a growing global infrastructure, and deep operational expertise, IFGlobal effectively ‘wraps around’ a brand - supporting every order, channel and market. This combination of infrastructure and insight allows founders to scale confidently, knowing that operational complexity, compliance and customer experience are all managed seamlessly, so growth is driven by strategy.
Book a discovery call and let’s build the infrastructure your next market deserves.
IFGlobal opens new Las Vegas fulfilment centre to help brands scale across the US. We’re excited to announce the opening of our new Las Vegas fulfilment centre, a larger, fully owned and managed facility built to support brands scaling in the US market. The new centre complements our existing East Coast facility in Virginia, providing true coast-to-coast coverage and enabling faster, more reliable fulfilment.
Read the full announcement article.
When to outsource fulfilment: Scaling smarter with IFGlobal. Troy Kniveton, our Senior Business Development Manager, sat down with Real Agency’s Adam King on the Real eCommerce Podcast to discuss when ecommerce retailers should consider outsourcing fulfilment, the first warning signs that operations are holding growth back, and how partnering with the right company can free up time, reduce costs and improve customer experience for retailers.
Read the full conversation or listen to the podcast.
Amplifi launches enhanced ads. We're excited to introduce a suite of powerful upgrades that make Amazon campaign management smarter, faster, and more profitable than ever. Enhanced ads give you deeper optimisation, greater efficiency, and clearer visibility so you can scale with confidence and get more from every pound you spend.
Get started with a FREE Amazon audit.
Breakout Beauty UK by Growth Studio Grand Finale. Our Sales & Commercial Director, Jane Derbyshire, and Head of Marketing & Communications, Ryan Grimshaw, had the pleasure of attending the Breakout Beauty UK grand finale, where the energy, creativity and ambition of the scale-up beauty industry were on full display. It was also inspiring to hear from programme partners Boots UK , TikTok Shop, Bird & Bird, HSBC Innovation Banking, British Beauty Council, FDD International, and Venrex.
A huge congratulations to all the 2025 cohort and the two standout winners, Make Waves and ByErim, for taking home the grand prize. We left feeling energised by the pitches, the passion and the powerful stories behind each brand. The future of beauty is bright, and we’re proud to be part of a community that continues to innovate and inspire.