PVS is headquartered in Germany and has a number of subsidiaries there, as well as in Italy, Austria, France, Switzerland and the Benelux countries.

In addition to the PVS Europe partnership, Whistl Fulfilment and Contact Centres will join European fulfilment platform the F4E network. F4E is an association of successful and experienced fulfilment houses who work closely together, often with integrated systems, to provide a Europe-wide fulfilment offering for a broad range of product categories.

With the F4E platform, B2B and B2C e-commerce customers have access to a complete range of services located in over 20 fulfilment centres.

Whistl said the partnership with PVS Europe and the F4E network will enable it to offer its UK customers growth opportunities in mainland Europe through a single point of contact, rather than having to establish multiple relationships with different suppliers.

Through a single account manager Whistl can now provide e-fulfilment, contact centre services, returns and customs clearance together with order and delivery management with IT integration across Europe.

Whistl CEO Nick Wells said: “Both Whistl and PVS are owner managed entrepreneurial businesses that share the same philosophy of taking a partnership approach to customer relationships.

“Working with them and the F4E network we can provide pan-European expertise to help customers grow their businesses through operational excellence.”

PVS Europe CSO Christian Paechter added: “Our goal is to offer customers the leading premium European fulfilment platform. The partnership with Whistl and PVS represents an outstanding opportunity for customers to grow in the UK and mainland Europe.

“The UK has the largest e-commerce market in Europe, and in mainland Europe with its several markets and different cultures, market rules and consumer expectations, it can be quite challenging. That is why we are very happy with this partnership with Whistl and the F4E network to enable our customers’ success.”

Whistl said the first beneficiary of the partnership is SportPursuit, one of its longstanding high growth e-commerce fulfilment clients.

Following Brexit, SportPursuit needed a European fulfilment centre alongside its UK operation to support its customer base across the UK and Europe. Due to the new partnership with Whistl, PVS was able to quickly step in and manage SportPursuit’s European fulfilment requirements for pick and pack and dispatch.

At the end of 2020 Whistl acquired Clientbase Fulfilment and Contact Centre, its third transaction in the full-service e-commerce fulfilment sector.