3PL – Becoming an E-Commerce Powerhouse

Owning a third-party logistics (3PL) business isn’t without it’s challenges. However, many 3PL’s only monetise a small proportion of the supply chain. Many 3PL’s collect product from manufacturers, store it in large warehouses and then transport it to either distribution centres or fulfilment centres.

Many 3PLs are missing out on the back end of the supply chain. Getting a slice of the Ecommerce boom by putting the right technology in place can allow traditional 3PL’s to increase the offering to their customers and provide a full end to end solution.

Getting In on the E-Commerce Boom

E Commerce businesses going through this growth phase or starting up for the first time are looking to outsource their order fulfilment to 3PL’s and ecommerce fulfilment houses. These businesses expect their new partners to be fully equipped, not just with the right personnel and physical infrastructure but also with the correct technology. Technology that is capable of integrating seamlessly with Amazon, Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, eBay and Magento, that can handle all of the storage management, support accurate picking and packing as well as returns management.

What systems can do all that? Well gone are the days where you need a team of developers and a technically minded co-founder. On the market now are multiple options that can handle the integrations and the warehouse management software. With features like handheld picking, batch picking, and lot code or BBD management. These cloud-based systems give 3PL’s the opportunity to compete alongside the dedicated fulfilment houses, while offering all the services that they already offer to their clients.

However, for traditional 3PL’s moving into fulfilling E-commerce orders the costs can rack up. An E-commerce order can take 4-10 times longer to pick and pack than a whole-pallet order. Clients are often a lot more demanding – at the end of the day you are representing their brand every time an order is shipped out.

Moving into E-commerce fulfilment

Here at Bertle Fisher we can help with the implementation of a new system to compliment your existing system and allow you to move your customer relationships to the next levels by becoming the go-to partner for all their logistics needs.

We can also assist with designing your new fulfilment operation to ensure that you can match the dedicated fulfilment house in terms of demand, turn around, accuracy and efficiency.

Stay tuned for more posts and if we can help then please get in touch to discuss your next project of continued expansion.