GLOBAL BRANDS LOOKING FOR UNIFIED FULFILMENT
If you’re wondering when to outsource fulfilment for your ecommerce business, this article will help you identify the key signs and strategic advantages of moving to a 3PL provider.
You’re doing everything yourself… and the box you packaged last night still hasn’t shipped. Sound familiar? For many ecommerce founders, this is where the story shifts. You’ve built traction, orders are flowing in, but the late nights spent taping boxes and chasing couriers aren’t scaling with your business.
The reality is that fulfilment and logistics aren’t just back-end operations. They’re a growth engine or a bottleneck. In fact, McKinsey reports logistics costs now consume 12–20% of ecommerce revenues and continue to rise year on year. That means every inefficiency eats directly into your margins and limits how fast you can reinvest into growth.
At some point, keeping fulfilment in-house stops being a sign of control and starts being a sign of constraint. Missed delivery deadlines, increasing customer complaints, rising warehouse costs, burnt-out staff. These are operational headaches, but they’re also signals your growth has outpaced your current setup. Shopify found that customers receiving fast, reliable shipping are 2.3× more likely to make repeat purchases, so the stakes are high.
That’s why more high-growth brands are turning to outsourced fulfilment and logistics earlier in their journey. Not as a last resort, but as a strategic advantage. Don’t be fooled - outsourcing fulfilment isn’t about giving up control. It helps you scale smartly, unlocking technology and expertise you don’t have to build yourself, and freeing your team to focus on product, marketing, brand building and the customer experience.
In this article
Why logistics and fulfilment become a bottleneck
Every ecommerce founder starts out scrappy. It’s not unusual to be handling packaging, labelling and shipping from the office floor or garage. But as order volumes climb, what once felt lean and efficient quickly becomes an anchor.
The thing is that logistics is inherently complex. You’re managing inventory, suppliers, couriers, packaging, compliance and customer expectations all at once. Even with a small team, tiny mistakes scale fast. An error rate of 2% might feel minor at 50 orders a week, but at 5,000 orders a month it translates to 100 frustrated customers.
“We see it all the time. Brands that reach a certain order volume suddenly find fulfilment consuming more time and resource than product development or marketing. That’s when the pendulum swings. Logistics stops being a support function and becomes the bottleneck to growth.” - Paul Lavin, Transformation and Operations Director at IFGlobal.
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Beyond errors, fulfilment is time- and capital-intensive. McKinsey highlights that logistics costs now consume 12–20% of ecommerce revenue on average and could rise to 25% in some sectors. That’s a direct drag on profitability.
Add rising warehouse rents, labour shortages and increased customer expectations for same-day or next-day delivery, and suddenly fulfilment shifts from being a manageable process to your biggest growth limiter.
Key signs you should consider outsourcing fulfilment
So, how do you know when in-house fulfilment has reached its breaking point? The moment you start to feel like fulfilment is running you rather than supporting you, that’s when outsourcing moves from optional to essential. There are a few universal signals founders share.
|
Sign |
What to look out for and why it matters |
Supporting data/context |
|
Rising fulfilment costs outpacing growth |
If your overhead (warehousing, labour, packaging, shipping mistakes) climbs faster than revenue, margins start shrinking. You may be losing money on orders or ‘cheap’ shipping becomes very expensive. |
Logistics costs have risen by roughly 5 percentage points since 2010, largely due to ecommerce complexity (returns, faster fulfilment, capacity demands). Also, logistics costs now represent 12-20% of ecommerce revenues and could creep up to 15-25% in many sectors. (McKinsey) |
|
Missed delivery deadlines and increasing customer complaints |
Shipping delays, wrong orders, increased refunds/returns. These are all signs internal processes are failing. Bad customer experience erodes trust and repeat business. |
A 2023 Harvard Business Review study found that improving delivery speeds increases conversion rates by 8-10%. Speed matters. |
|
Overwhelmed staff and operational capacity stretch |
Packing, labelling, managing returns are consuming resources (time, people) that should be elsewhere (product development, marketing, growth). When staff are burning out or you’re hiring just to “keep up,” not optimise. |
Common among Shopify sellers as volume scales; poor fulfilment becomes the bottleneck. Signs like burnt-out teams and rising mistakes in orders can’t be ignored. |
|
Limited warehouse/storage space or rising rents |
Physical constraints can hold back growth, for example when you need more locations, or your storage costs rise sharply. When geography starts hurting delivery times (shipping from only one warehouse far from many customers). |
McKinsey analysis points to a looming shortage of warehouse space. Forecasts suggest around 190 million square feet will be short over next 5 years, pushing rental prices up. Also, DHL estimates B2C logistics will rise ~20% in 5 years and more in ten, increasing demands on fulfilment capacity. |
|
Technology, visibility or systems gaps |
If you don’t have real-time inventory tracking, integration between order system/WMS/your website is brittle, returns are a mess, forecasting is poor... these can drag you down. Outsource providers often have mature tech stacks, such as BladePRO fulfilment software, and can provide visibility and automation. |
DHL and others note that access to technology and automation is one of the primary advantages of outsourcing. Also, the Shopify Fulfilment Network advertises that merchants can tap into trusted 3PL partners with systems already “connected” for inventory, fulfilment, returns, etc. |
|
International or last-mile delivery challenges |
Expanding to new markets or dealing with high last-mile costs, complex customs rules or long transit times. If your current setup is slowing down expansion or making shipments inconsistent. |
There's increasing pressure on final-mile delivery costs (fuel, regulations, emissions), and customers expect faster and more reliable global delivery. |
“Outsourcing fulfilment is always a big decision,” says Jane Derbyshire, Sales & Commercial Director at IFGlobal. “You’re handing over a piece of the customer experience. That’s why we don’t treat it as a transaction. We treat it as a partnership built on shared success. For most of our clients, the decision isn’t just about saving money. It’s when fulfilment starts running the business instead of enabling it. That’s the moment outsourcing shifts from a nice-to-have to a growth enabler.”
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The trade-offs: what you gain and what to watch out for
Outsourcing fulfilment is a powerful growth lever, though like any strategic move, it comes with trade-offs.
On the plus side, outsourcing allows you to access scale and expertise instantly. You get faster shipping, lower carrier rates, advanced technology and the ability to focus your internal team on growth instead of box-taping marathons.
The trade-off? You sacrifice some day-to-day control. You’ll need to trust a partner with the brand moments your customer experiences when they receive an order. This makes alignment on service-level agreements (SLAs), packaging and customer service response times crucial.
There’s also a learning curve for many ecommerce brands such as integrations, onboarding and process adjustments. The key is to go in eyes wide open, choosing a partner who views your success as their success.
Outsourcing isn’t a silver bullet. Here are some pros and caveats to keep in mind.
|
Pros |
Potential challenges |
|
Scale without huge capital investment in space, staff and equipment |
Less direct control over every detail (packaging, branding and process tweaks) |
|
Improvement in delivery speed and accuracy |
Risk of choosing a poor partner leading to delays, communication issues, hidden fees |
|
Cost savings from volume shipping and shared infrastructure |
Integration work required (software, data, forecasting) |
|
Better visibility, more predictability |
Dependence on a 3PL; you must monitor performance closely such as KPIs, SLAs and audits |
|
Opportunity to focus on core business such as products, marketing and customer experience |
Risk of disconnect between operations and customer experience; you’ll need strong communication loops with your 3PL to ensure your brand promise is upheld |
How to choose the right fulfilment partner
Not all fulfilment providers are created equal, that’s for sure. The right 3PL can transform your operations. The wrong one can harm your customer experience and lock you into costly contracts.
- Technology integration: Your fulfilment partner should plug seamlessly into your ecommerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, etc.) and provide real-time visibility on orders and inventory. At IFGlobal, we’ve invested heavily in integrations and reporting tools so brands aren’t left guessing. We make stock and order data accessible, accurate and actionable through BladePRO, our proprietary fulfilment software.
“Integration and visibility are non-negotiable for growing brands. With BladePRO, we give businesses the same level of control as if they were running fulfilment in-house, but with the added advantage of scale," says Jay Morris, BladePRO Product Owner at IFGlobal. "Every order, SKU and shipment is tracked in real-time, inventory is synced across multiple sales channels, and our reporting centre provides actionable insights on performance metrics like order accuracy, pick rates and throughput. It’s not just about seeing what’s happening... It’s about making smarter decisions that drive growth, reduce errors and keep customers happy.”
- Network and location: Fulfilment centres close to your customer base reduce delivery times and shipping costs. This is critical for brands expanding internationally. With our UK, US and EU fulfilment centres and global carrier network, we can cut lead times and support international growth without brands needing to build costly infrastructure overseas.
- Scalability and flexibility: Can they handle your peak season surges? Do they offer batch tracking, returns management, or temperature control if your products require it? These are exactly the operational details IFGlobal is built around; handling seasonal spikes, offering batch/expiry control for beauty and wellness brands, and tailoring returns flows without compromising efficiency. Learn more about our wealth of fulfilment services.
- Clear SLAs and reporting: Look for transparency around accuracy rates, on-time delivery and returns handling. The best partners provide dashboard-level insight so you’re never in the dark. Our service-level agreements at IFGlobal are detailed, tracked and shared with clients, because accountability builds trust. Plus, we provide Monthly- and Quarterly Business Reviews, as well as executive-level top-to-top sessions when required.
- Cultural fit: Beyond operations, you want a partner that shares your values. If customer experience and sustainability are core to your brand, your fulfilment partner should reflect that. At IFGlobal, we’ve built our model around partnership; from ISO-certified operations, credible and trusted strategic partners across custom packaging to personalised inserts, and account managers who act as an extension of your team.
Think of it less as hiring a supplier, more as bringing on a strategic partner. Done right, outsourcing is an extension of your brand, not a detour. That’s the mindset we take at IFGlobal. Your growth and your customer’s experience are as critical to us as they are to you.
If you're seeing several of those signs already, it might be time to explore how outsourcing fulfilment and logistics can unlock growth. At IFGlobal, we help businesses transition smoothly to 3PL or hybrid models, maintaining control and visibility every step of the way.
