Prioritize WMS functionality and integration (EDI/API), inventory accuracy, SLA guarantees for order lead time and accuracy, carrier portfolio and lane coverage, returns handling, and scalability for peak seasons. Also confirm customs and bonded storage capabilities if you ship cross‑border.

Proximity to major road corridors and nearby Adriatic ports reduces dray and road transit times, lowering freight spend and improving on‑time delivery. Faster regional routing can reduce safety stock needs, but cross-border customs processes and carrier selection still materially affect total landed cost.

Look for a modern WMS with real‑time inventory visibility, order orchestration, API/EDI connectivity, automated picking, batch and expiry tracking for regulated goods, kitting/light assembly, integrated returns processing, and reporting for SLA and cost analytics.

Negotiate volume tiers and flexible peak capacity, use consolidation and cross-docking to reduce handling, optimize slotting and cube utilization, select multimodal transport for lower cost lanes, and align KPIs to service-based pricing to balance cost against delivery requirements.