Customization is an important aspect where different regionalisms impact
freight distribution. Europe is a grouping of different cultures, implying a variety
of tastes, preferences and languages. That leads to a higher need for customization
for each specific market. Some added value customization functions (labeling,
power supplies, manuals, etc.) must thus be performed in proximity of final
markets (distribution centers), as market fragmentation renders particular sourcebased
(factory) functions prohibitive for many ranges of goods (e.g. a change from
ISO-pallet to a Europallet, or a change in packaging to meet local tastes and
language). The North American market is much more homogeneous culturally (or
at least linguistically). There is less culture-based customization, so the matter
resides in distributional efficiencies. Customization can thus be performed at the
source (e.g. Chinese free trade zone) or in the early stages of the supply chain. For
a variety of consumer goods such as shoes, price ticketing is even done in China as
the last step of the production process before shipping to North American distribution
centers. For European markets, the customization at the source (China) is
also a growing business, but it primarily involves more generic products.