How to choose a 3PL determines whether your fulfillment operation becomes a growth engine or a profit drain. The wrong partner costs more than the quoted rate—brands routinely lose 15-25% of their fulfillment budget to hidden fees, shipping errors, and customer service overhead from preventable mistakes. Lost inventory, late shipments, and botched orders erode margins … Read more
A standard packaging method for ecommerce business is “discreet shipping,” where no one can look at the outside of the order you ship and determine what’s inside. Discreet shipping hides any idea of what the products inside could be and often removes information that could quickly identify the sender or store. The goal of discreet … Read more
When you order items online, your order status may show up as “awaiting fulfillment.” But what does awaiting fulfillment mean? If you’re not in the 3PL industry, this may sound impossibly vague, as if your order were lost in processing. Awaiting fulfillment does have a specific meaning in ecommerce. It doesn’t mean that your order … Read more
Having the right warehouse locations can improve several aspects of your ecommerce business. Getting closer to your customers reduces shipping times and optimizes landed costs. But there are a few other factors worth noting. Too many fulfillment centers may cannibalize the benefits of a geographic strategy, requiring you to invest in higher overall inventory volumes … Read more
Depending on what your business sells, temperature-controlled storage can be important for maintaining the quality and longevity of your products. Some third-party logistics providers (3PLs) offer this service, and you’ll find a spectrum of temperature options ranging from “cold storage” to “chilled storage” to “ambient storage.” What is ambient storage? Ambient storage refers to the … Read more
What is Kitting? Kitting is gathering a set of products into a collection or kit. In manufacturing, the full kitting process assembles all the components a worker needs to complete a task. In order fulfillment, kitting is the practice of placing multiple SKUs together under a new SKU. Kitted items are often sold together as … Read more
Shipping a stroller shouldn’t cost a fortune or risk damage to your valuable item. Whether you’re selling, moving, or gifting a stroller, proper shipping practices make all the difference. Drawing from our experience shipping thousands of strollers for major brands, we’ll show you exactly how to pack your stroller to prevent damage, choose the right … Read more
Dock-to-dock shipping is a useful shipping strategy in which deliveries travel directly between two docks without being handled, transferred, or stored in between. When intermediaries are involved in a delivery, handling costs grow, and the risk of transit delays or damages increases. A dock-to-dock shipping strategy helps you mitigate these challenges by eliminating the need for … Read more
Return to vendor (RTV) is the process by which companies return purchased goods to suppliers. A high volume of returns adds extra costs and negatively affects your productivity. Couple that with an inefficient RTV process, and soon you’ll be looking at thin profit margins and an opaque supply chain. When I was an inventory manager, … Read more
Big and heavy items like snowboards face unique shipping challenges—a standard box and basic bubble wrap won’t cut it. Improper shipping can lead to issues like cracked edges, delaminated bases, and structural warping, turning your board into an expensive wall decoration. Your shipping strategy affects both the safety of your equipment and your wallet. Whether … Read more
Choosing between ShipBob and Amazon FBA for your ecommerce fulfillment can significantly impact your business’s growth and profitability. While both services excel at getting products to customers, they differ in crucial ways that affect your costs, control, and customer experience. ShipBob offers more flexibility and control but requires hands-on management of customer service. Amazon FBA … Read more
Red Stag Fulfillment and Spreetail offer dramatically different approaches to ecommerce logistics. While both companies help online sellers reach customers, their business models serve fundamentally different needs. Red Stag Fulfillment operates as a pure third-party logistics (3PL) provider—storing your inventory, picking and packing orders, and shipping them to customers while you maintain full control of … Read more
