Regional warehouse expansion: express merch delivery in Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi

Name: Merch.com.ge
Address: GE

Three new bonded warehouses in the South Caucasus cut delivery times to express inside Georgia and 48 hours end-to-end across the region, with no minimum order surcharge for top-SKU pickup orders.

Check stock at the nearest hub Logistics service brief

The hubs and what each carries

The expansion adds three new bonded warehouses to the network. The Tbilisi hub in Saburtalo, two streets from the existing production workshop, holds the finished-goods buffer for the 24–48 hour rush lane plus the full top-100 SKU catalogue for buyers inside the Tbilisi metro. The Batumi hub on the Black Sea coast, inside the customs-free zone adjacent to the Batumi port, holds the coastal-resort and maritime-sector merchandise — straw hats, beach totes, salt-resistant stainless bottles, yacht-club caps — plus the regional conference overflow for the Adjara and Guria programmes. The Kutaisi hub near the parliament and the Bagrati cathedral, the geographic centre of the country, holds the Imereti regional government, education-sector and wine-industry merchandise and acts as the inland cross-dock for programmes bound for the western Caucasus.

Each hub holds between 4,000 and 8,000 finished units at any given time. The SKU mix is calibrated to the local buyer profile, but the cross-dock protocol means any hub can fulfil any other hub's typical programme within 24 hours by road. The Tbilisi–Batumi road (via the Rikoti pass or the new Zestaponi–Samtredia shortcut) is approximately 330 km and runs in 4.5 to 5.5 hours by van. The Tbilisi–Kutaisi road is approximately 230 km and runs in 3 to 3.5 hours. The Kutaisi–Batumi road is approximately 110 km and runs in 1.5 to 2 hours. That is the operating envelope the cross-dock runs against.

The hubs are bonded warehouses under the Georgian customs regime, which means cross-border programmes — a Yerevan-bound programme routed via the Sadakhlo–Bagratashen bridge, a Baku-bound programme routed via the Red Bridge, a Trabzon-bound programme routed via the Sarpi border — can be cleared at the hub without an intermediate storage step. The clearing is done by our partner broker in Tbilisi; the average clearance time at the bridge crossings is 1.5 to 3 hours, and we build that into the courier schedule rather than promising a window we cannot keep.

Why regional warehousing matters in Georgia

Georgia is small but topographically severe. The Greater Caucasus range to the north, the Lesser Caucasus to the south, the Likhi range in the middle, and the Black Sea coast to the west create four very different logistics and weather realities. A van that runs the Tbilisi–Batumi road in five hours in summer can take eleven hours in winter when the Rikoti pass closes. A programme bound for the Adjara wine sector or the Svaneti tourism sector needs a route plan that accounts for the road, not just the postcode. National courier services are excellent for documents and small parcels, but for a 200-unit merchandise programme a hub-and-spoke model is more reliable than a national post model.

The expansion is calibrated to the buyer profile we have measured over the past five years. Tbilisi is the corporate headquarters city and accounts for roughly 60% of the buyer count; the top three SKUs here are the corporate polo, the stainless corporate bottle and the A5 corporate notebook. Batumi is the hospitality and tourism centre and accounts for roughly 18% of the buyer count; the top three SKUs are the coastal tote, the resort-grade baseball cap and the hospitality uniform set. Kutaisi is the parliament, the regional government and the Imereti industry base; the top three SKUs are the regional-government service-award medal set, the parliament press-kit folder and the Imereti wine-industry gift set. The hub stocking follows those profiles.

For buyers the practical effect is that a 100-unit top-SKU order placed before 11:00 on a working day in Tbilisi, Batumi or Kutaisi is on the courier the same afternoon. A 500-unit order is on the courier the next morning if it pulls entirely from buffer, or inside three working days if any line requires production. A 2,000-unit order routes through the Tbilisi workshop for production and ships from whichever hub is closest to the final delivery point, with a 7–10 working-day end-to-end window.

What the warehouses do not do

The warehouses are finished-goods buffers and cross-docks, not decoration shops. They do not carry silkscreen mesh, embroidery thread, laser gas, or any decoration consumable. Decoration happens in the Tbilisi workshop, period; the hubs receive finished, QA-passed units, hold them under bond, and ship them out. The reason is that decoration is the highest-skill, most labour-intensive, most QA-sensitive step and consolidating it in one workshop with one QA team is the only way we know to keep decoration quality consistent across the network.

The warehouses also do not act as retail outlets. They are not open to walk-in buyers and they do not sell branded merchandise to the public. The merchandise we produce is sold exclusively on a business-to-business basis, with a minimum opening order of 30 units and a brand-confirmation step before any decoration file is loaded onto a production line. A retail customer who walks into the Saburtalo workshop asking for a single embroidered polo will be directed to our retail partners; we do not sell to consumers.

Inside the bonded regime

The Georgian customs regime treats bonded warehouses as deferred-customs spaces: goods can be imported, stored, processed and re-exported without an immediate customs duty, provided the operator is licensed and the goods stay under bond until they are either cleared for the Georgian domestic market (which triggers the duty and 18% VAT) or re-exported (which does not). For cross-border programmes — merchandise produced in Turkey or the EU and shipped to a Georgian corporate buyer, or merchandise produced in Georgia and shipped to an Armenian or Azerbaijani corporate buyer — the bonded regime lets us stage the customs clearance at the bridge crossing rather than at the production point.

The practical effect for a Yerevan-bound programme produced in Tbilisi is that the merchandise can be packed, sealed and customs-sealed in the Tbilisi workshop, then driven to the Sadakhlo bridge under T1 transit documentation, cleared by our partner broker on the Armenian side, and delivered to the Yerevan office inside 24 hours. The reverse direction is the same: a Baku-bound programme produced in Tbilisi and routed through the Red Bridge is delivered inside 36 to 48 hours.

For buyers inside Georgia the bonded regime simplifies the VAT accounting. The merchandise leaves the warehouse under a domestic tax invoice, the buyer pays 18% VAT on the invoice (input-recoverable for VAT-registered buyers), and the warehouse closes the bond entry. Buyers who need an EUR.1 movement certificate for re-export from Georgia can have the certificate issued at the warehouse on production of the buyer's commercial invoice and the destination customs declaration; the certificate is a separate line item on the quote.

Coverage beyond the three hubs

Outside Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi the network uses national courier and partner-van services. express delivery is feasible to Rustavi, Gardabani, Mtskheta and the immediate Tbilisi metro. Next-day delivery is the norm for Gori, Telavi, Zugdidi, Ozurgeti, Poti and Kutaisi metro. Two-day delivery is the standard for Sokhumi, Tskhinvali (subject to access), Mestia (subject to weather), and the high-mountain communities. The mountain programmes are always quoted with a weather buffer; a Mestia-bound programme that misses the Zugdidi–Mestia road for two days in spring is a known operational risk and we build that into the schedule, not into the marketing line.

Cross-border beyond the immediate neighbourhood uses the same hub network as the consolidation point. An Ashgabat-bound programme ships out of the Tbilisi hub via the Turkmenbashi ferry crossing at the Caspian. An Istanbul-bound programme ships out of the Batumi hub via the Sarpi border and the Trabzon road. A Bucharest-bound programme ships out of the Batumi hub via Constanta. The handoff at the border is to a partner carrier on the other side; we own the cargo until the handoff is signed.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a minimum order value to use the regional hub pickup?

No minimum order value for pickup from the Tbilisi, Batumi or Kutaisi hub for top-SKU lines (caps, polos, stainless bottles, A5 notebooks, totes, basic tees). Custom-decorated lines follow the standard 30-unit MOQ for the decoration to make sense economically.

Is Corp-Merch affiliated with the Batumi port, Kutaisi airport or the Georgian customs service?

No. Corp-Merch is an independent corporate merchandise producer. Our bonded warehouses are licensed by the Georgian Revenue Service under standard private-bonded-warehouse rules. We are not a partner, sponsor or official supplier of any port, airport, customs authority or government body.

Can buyers collect in person from the Tbilisi, Batumi or Kutaisi hub?

Yes, with 24 hours' advance notice and a buyer-side ID check at the warehouse gate. Walk-in retail is not supported. The hub collection window is 09:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday and 10:00 to 14:00 Saturday.

What is the typical express delivery radius from each hub?

Tbilisi hub: Tbilisi metro, Rustavi, Gardabani, Mtskheta. Batumi hub: Batumi metro, Kobuleti, Chakvi, Gonio. Kutaisi hub: Kutaisi metro, Samtredia, Zestaponi. express delivery to those areas is feasible for orders placed before 11:00 on a working day.

Corp-Merch is an independent corporate merchandise producer in Georgia. We are not a partner, sponsor or official supplier of any port, airport, customs authority, exchange, conference, awards body, association or hospitality group named anywhere on merch.com.ge. We produce merchandise on behalf of the buyer; the buyer owns the artwork, the brand and the message.

Plan a regional programme

If your brief involves multiple Georgian cities or a cross-border route through the South Caucasus, send the SKU list, the destination cities and the delivery window through the form. A named account contact will reply within one working day with a hub-to-door plan and a fixed quote.