When shoppers expect fast, reliable delivery across every channel, fulfillment can make or break your ecommerce business. But meeting those expectations on your own—across a DTC site, ecommerce marketplaces, and social commerce channels—requires advanced logistics infrastructure.
That’s why many ecommerce businesses turn to third-party logistics (3PL) providers for help. But not all 3PLs are built the same. Amazon Multichannel Fulfillment (MCF) gives merchants access to Amazon’s global fulfillment network—the same infrastructure that powers Amazon.com—to deliver orders across all their sales channels. And the cost? MCF’s pricing is competitive with other providers, and many businesses find they spend less overall. Here are four reasons why.
1. Cut overhead with a single pool of inventory
One of the biggest advantages of engaging MCF is that your inventory, across all your sales channels, is consolidated into a single pool and stored within Amazon’s logistics network. That includes orders from your ecommerce site, online marketplaces, social commerce stores, and Amazon.com orders shipped through Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).
Consolidating your stock into a single pool with MCF can result in:
- Lower overhead costs: Working with multiple supply chain vendors adds up fast, as each provider has its own fees and staffing costs. Beverage brand Poppi found a 30% savings per order after using MCF for just seven months, with labor and freight costs dropping significantly when they consolidated their inventory into a single pool.
- Lower storage costs: Most 3PLs charge storage fees—the longer your stock sits in the warehouse, the more fees it’ll rack up. When you consolidate your inventory into a single pool with MCF, stock is stored strategically across Amazon’s network to be close to your customer base and will be shipped quickly once sold. In fact, sellers who fulfilled orders in the United States using both MCF and FBA, on average, improved inventory turnover by 12%.1
- Volume-based discounts: Consolidating your inventory with MCF may make you eligible for lower rates based on volume, with bulk discounts of up to 50% off standard rates.
Fishers Finery, a luxury home goods and apparel brand, saw significant benefits from consolidating its inventory with MCF. “To be able to run one continuous pool of inventory for FBA and MCF has been ridiculously beneficial for us,” said Fishers Finery Co-Founder and COO Craig Barnell. “The ability to use products to fulfill orders from all our channels has created faster inventory turns, greater operational efficiencies, and significant cost savings. I can’t think of any case that would cause a seller not to use FBA and MCF hand in hand.”
1Based on trailing twelve-month data from 590,000 sellers who shipped more than 100 units with FBA throughout 2023, comparing performance between sellers using both MCF and FBA versus those using FBA only.
2. Reduce returns and ensure on-time delivery
As an ecommerce business operator, you know that returns are expensive. Maintaining a low rate of returns is one of the most effective ways to keep fulfillment costs down.
When you build shopper trust through reliable delivery, you may be able to reduce returns organically. When orders are delivered on time and in good condition, customers are less likely to initiate a return simply because an order is delayed, damaged, or doesn’t arrive when they need it. MCF offers fast, reliable delivery backed by Amazon’s network, with a 96.4% average on-time delivery rate globally2 and a 99.98% undamaged package delivery rate3—which means fewer returns compared to traditional 3PLs with lower performance benchmarks.
2Based on all worldwide orders placed and delivered between October 2024 and September 2025, and measuring the percentage of orders that were delivered on or before the estimated delivery date generated upon order confirmation.
3Based on all orders fulfilled by MCF in the United States from January 2023 through March 2024.
3. Only pay for what you need with MCF’s flexible pricing model
MCF’s flexible pricing model is transparent and straightforward, with one fee that covers picking, packing, and shipping. You pay only for the services you need, so you won’t waste money on unused warehouse space or be locked into threshold-based pricing models tied to volume goals you haven’t hit yet.
Included in MCF pricing is white-label fulfillment and orders that ship in unbranded packaging. For additional pricing flexibility, you can opt to ship some FBA products via Amazon’s Ships in Product Packaging (SIPP) program, which offers sellers in select countries the opportunity to send products in custom packaging. With SIPP, you can earn an additional ecommerce fulfillment discount—between $0.04 and $1.32 per item—while minimizing waste and lowering your carbon footprint.
4. Save with discount programs
Beyond volume-based discounts, MCF offers programs to help merchants reduce fulfillment costs even further:
- Preferred Pricing: This program helps small- and medium-sized businesses, including merchants new to Amazon, reduce fulfillment costs as they scale. Eligible merchants can save up to 15% on MCF fulfillment fees and earn up to a $1 FBA credit per MCF unit shipped. Read more on how Preferred Pricing works.
- New Seller Incentive: If you’re new to MCF, you may be able to receive to 25% off fulfillment fees on your first 100 units shipped. Learn more and check your eligibility.
- Custom Pricing: Merchants with high fulfillment volumes may be eligible for custom MCF pricing. Visit the MCF pricing page for more details.
With MCF, you don’t have to choose between fulfillment quality and cost. Amazon’s global network gives you the reliability and scale of a world-class fulfillment operation at pricing that works for growing businesses.
