Shopify 3PL Integration For Your Business and Why It Is Vital For Your Success

As ecommerce brand owners and marketers, seeing our businesses grow brings a sense of satisfaction. However, this also comes with some growing pains.

A sudden increase in order fulfilment expectations, more storage requirements leading to additional costs, issues with negotiating shipping contracts. It can feel like you are scampering around putting out fires around you.

Thankfully there is a simple solution. Third party Logistics integration(3PL).

Unsurprisingly, the services of Shopify 3PL vendors are in high demand because they are shipping and fulfillment experts that can house your inventory in their warehouses, pick, pack, and ship products to your customers.

Not just a solution for enterprise-sized brands, 3PLs are designed for brand owners of any size with intentions to scale.

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What is Shopify 3PL?

Third party Logistics or 3PL for short offers ecommerce brand owner’s services that help them manage their supply chain.

Early on, it is completely feasible to fulfill your orders on your own. However, as your business grows to 10-20 orders per day, it may become difficult to maintain a smooth order fulfillment process.  Using your bedroom, or garage as a storage warehouse is not good enough long term.

That’s why 90% of Fortune 500 companies turn to third-party logistics (3PL) providers to help.

Instead of managing your own warehouse and doing distribution inhouse, you can partner with a 3PL vendor. This gives you access to their warehouse, with products shipped directly from your manufacturers. When an order is placed on your website, items can be automatically shipped from the 3PL’s warehouse directly to your consumers.

This seamless process gives top ecommerce brand owners and marketers like you the capacity to do what you do best, develop, market, and sell products.

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How does it work?

There are many 3PL vendors out there and their processes may vary depending on the services offered. A typical process looks like this.

The 3PL vendor receives your product from your manufacturers and stores them in their warehouse. When an order is placed on your ecommerce website, it is forwarded to the 3PL where it gets packed in boxes with order details and a receipt.

The 3PL prints the shipping details to get the box ready for its shipping carrier. The carrier collects the package from the warehouse and delivers it to your customers.

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The number one benefit of a 3PL

As a brand owner nothing can hurt your business more than broken promises to your customers. We live in an era when global consumers expect same-next or two-day delivery.

A good 3PL vendor will help provide fast, reliable shipping, accurate order fulfillment, and excellent customer service. This can help you build a loyal customer base.

“We live in an era when Amazon delivers fast shipping to global consumers. The last thing you want to do as a brand owner is break order fulfillment promises to your customers. This can damage your brand.” (Antoine Lescun, Founder of LHG)

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Signs you need a 3PL partner now

• You are fulfilling way more orders than you can handle.
• You are experiencing a surge in demand for your product. Imagine a marketing promotion causes a sudden spike in demand for your products.
• When you are running out of storage space. Short term your garage may be sufficient to house your products. But as your brand grows you will need a warehouse.

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Choosing the right 3PL Vendor for your business (Ask Antoine on his experience)

What do you look for when choosing a 3PL partner? If you have read this far you must understand how important a 3PL partner is for your business. You don’t want to be lethargic with the process.

Here are some things to look out for,

1. Track record: What services do they offer. Is there evidence that they have been successful enough with their clients? Their track record gives you an idea whether they will deliver on their promises or not.
2. Scalability: Before you collaborate with a 3PL vendor, ensure they have the capabilities and infrastructure that allows you scale your business. They should be able to modify their services as per your business.
3. Location: This is a major factor to consider when choosing your 3PL partner. They must have fulfillment centres or warehouses close to you and your consumers. Having them near you presents an environment for a seamless partnership. Meaning it's easier for them to help you meet your order fulfillment promises.

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Written by Prosper Ocheme

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