Prevent stockouts and improve inventory management with the help of a 3PL

There are three words that both online shoppers and ecommerce retailers hate to hear more than almost anything else: “out of stock.”

For consumers, stockouts—no available inventory of a specific product to satisfy demand—are a source of frustration. According to recent research from the AlixPartners Consumer Sentiment Index, two-thirds of consumers will shop with another retailer when an item they are looking to purchase is out of stock.

For ecommerce companies, stockouts are a source of lost sales—as the total cost of out-of-stocks is $1.2 trillion for retailers.

Stockouts are a pervasive problem across the ecommerce landscape, with average out-of-stock rates for ecommerce benchmarks ranging between 5%-10%.

There are many different causes of stockouts, including:

• Sudden spikes in customer demand for specific products
• Production delays by suppliers
• Inaccurate demand forecasting
• Ineffective inventory management practices such as stock counting and replenishment
• Logistics issues, including shipping and delivery

Although there’s no magic bullet that can eliminate out-of-stock situations from ever happening, you can reduce the chances of a stockout occurring by improving how you manage your inventory and end-to-end supply chain. And a growing number of ecommerce companies are engaging third-party logistics (3PL) providers to help their businesses do precisely that.

In this blog, we will explore the three ways that a 3PL can help your ecommerce business prevent stockouts.

#1: Optimizing your end-to-end logistics operations

One of the primary causes of stockouts is when inventory gets stranded or stuck in transit at some point along the supply chain. Third-party logistics providers can help you overcome these supply chain delays (and optimize your stock management) by:

• Streamlining your end-to-end logistics operations. A 3PL like Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS) and its fulfillment service Amazon Multichannel Fulfillment (MCF), gives you access to Amazon’s world-class logistics network—which has over 2,000 facilities (including more than 200 fulfillment centers), as well as more than 80,000 trailers, containers, and over 100 aircraft. ASCS utilizes a single pool of inventory to serve all sales channels, enabling product to go where it’s needed and keep inventory balanced. This single pool approach also helps reduce stockouts (30% fewer stockouts in Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA))¹ and improve inventory turnover. In fact, businesses using Amazon for cross-channel order fulfillment experience a 12% average improvement in inventory turnover by fulfilling from a single pool.²
• Providing an understanding of supply chain conditions around the globe, and alerting you to any bottlenecks or disruptions that may cause shipping delays, so you can proactively plan and explore different types of transportation options (such as ocean, land, or air freight) to get your goods where you need them to go.
• Monitoring and minimizing your lead times (the amount of time it takes for your product to be manufactured by your suppliers and then shipped and inbounded at your warehousing or fulfillment facilities). Since MCF is part of ASCS’s broader end-to-end (E2E) supply chain solution, you also get access to other supply chain services that your business might need, like freight, air cargo, warehousing and distribution, and more.

¹_{Based on Q4 2025 results}
²_{Based 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: Providing storage and distribution

One of the ways ecommerce businesses try to prevent out-of-stock situations is by maintaining safety stock (also known as “buffer stock”) they can use in the event of a sudden surge in demand or a production or supply chain delay. Although keeping safety stock can be an effective strategy for eliminating stockouts, it comes at a price. Maintaining this extra inventory can be expensive to store in warehouses for a protracted period of time.

Some 3PLs, however, offer inventory storage solutions, which enable your ecommerce business to efficiently store your inventory in the 3PL’s facilities until you need it. For example, Amazon’s Multichannel Fulfillment service provides transparent fulfillment rates that include pick, pack, and ship capabilities with no hidden fees.

By maintaining optimal levels of safety stock in your 3PL’s storage facilities, you can be certain that no matter what supply chain conditions and constraints you face, your ecommerce business will have enough inventory on hand to meet demand.

#3: Automating your stock management and replenishment

A chief cause of stockouts is inaccurate inventory counts—when there’s a discrepancy between the amount of inventory you think you have and the amount you actually have.

One of the ways of preventing manual counting mistakes (and the stockouts that result from them) is by automating your stock management process.

A 3PL provider can help you automate your inventory management operations. Many 3PLs utilize state-of-the art inventory management tools and can also work with you to integrate third-party stock management solutions.

With these technologies, you can gain real-time visibility and control over inventory levels across your supply chain as well as customer orders and tracking information across sales channels.

By automating your stock management, a 3PL can help make sure you always have the right amount of the right products in the right places at the right times to satisfy demand and avoid stockouts.

Choosing the right 3PL to optimize your stock management

It’s an ongoing challenge—due to the constant, sudden shifts in supply and demand dynamics—for ecommerce businesses to entirely eliminate stockouts. But working with a 3PL can help you dramatically decrease the likelihood of out-of-stock events by optimizing your end-to-end logistics operations, utilizing cost-effective storage, and automating your inventory management.

Although a 3PL can’t solve every issue that causes stockouts, such as supply chain volatility, manufacturing delays, and inaccurate demand forecasting, if you find the right 3PL partner that builds its network with this near-constant change in mind, you’re better positioned to minimize your out-of-stock rate while maximizing customer satisfaction and bottom-line growth.