Managing logistics operations is a huge challenge for ecommerce businesses. To move products from the manufacturing floor to the customer’s door as quickly and cost-effectively as possible, ecommerce companies must be able to operate with the utmost efficiency. That’s why so many turn to third-party logistics (3PL) service providers.
As businesses scale and increasingly need to handle a higher volume and variety of orders, many struggle to manage their inventory and order fulfillment operations.
To conquer these challenges, more and more ecommerce companies turn to3PL logistics services providers. In fact, the global 3PL market is projected to reach over $2.5 trillion by 2033.
Most 3PL logistics service providers offer an à la carte menu of services, allowing you to pick and choose according to your business needs. These 3PL solutions can help you:
- Streamline various areas of your logistics operations—including order fulfillment, inventory management, expedited shipping, reverse logistics, and more
- Scale your ecommerce business, enabling you to handle increased order volume and expand into new markets
Choosing the right 3PL for your business is critical. In this blog, we’ll provide an overview of the services that 3PLs typically offer, so if your ecommerce business decides to engage such a provider, you’ll be able to choose which services are right for you.
Order fulfillment with a 3PL logistic service provider
One of the fundamental processes in ecommerce is order fulfillment. When you receive an order on one of your online sales channels (such as your brand website, an ecommerce marketplace, or a social media store), you’ll then need to locate the products in your inventory, pack those products, and ship them to customers. Many small- and medium-sized ecommerce businesses start off handling their own order fulfillment—and many have stories of the early days of their companies, packing orders from their garages or living rooms!
But as businesses scale, they find they can’t cope with the complexity and challenges of order fulfillment on their own—and decide to outsource their order fulfillment to a 3PL.
By choosing 3PL fulfillment services, you can:
- Access a wide fulfillment network and team of experts. For example, Amazon’s 3PL, Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS) and its fulfillment service Amazon Multichannel Fulfillment (MCF) have a world-class logistics network
- Optimize your end-to-end fulfillment process—from receiving and storing your inventory, to picking, packing, and shipping your orders, and even handling returns.
- Improve your performance in key order fulfillment metrics such as click-to-delivery speed, on-time delivery performance, and undamaged package delivery rate.
- Overcome the challenges of ecommerce order fulfillment, such as stockouts, managing multi-unit orders, and supply chain volatility.
Inventory management with a 3PL provider
In today’s global economic environment—where the threat of change constantly looms—inventory management is a balancing act. Keeping too much stock can result in overstocking (and skyrocketing costs for excess inventory), while not having enough stock can lead to stockouts (which can lead to a loss of sales and customer trust). To avoid these pitfalls, ecommerce businesses must be able to maintain the right amount of inventory in the right locations, at the right times—and 3PLs can help.
3PL providers can help you optimize your inventory management by:
- Distributing your inventory across their network of warehouses and fulfillment centers. ASCS, for example, automatically distributes your inventory across Amazon’s fulfillment network so it’s as close as possible to your customer base—reducing delivery time and the risk of stockouts.
- Storing your products in their facilities for as long as you need. Some 3PLs require you to enter into contracts for storage, while other providers and their services—like MCF—charge monthly fees for just the space your inventory occupies.
- Consolidating your inventory into a single pool that you can use for orders across all your sales channels. With ASCS, for example, ecommerce businesses can tap into the same pool of inventory that they use for their Amazon orders with Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and use it for their orders on sales channels beyond Amazon through MCF.
- Monitoring your inventory levels with the utmost accuracy, using state-of-the-art warehouse management systems and other technologies.
- Utilizing your stock in the most efficient and effective possible way to satisfy demand, whenever and wherever it arises.
Expedited shipping and 3PL ecommerce fulfillment
According to recent research, 21% of shoppers abandoned their online shopping carts and didn’t complete their purchases because delivery was too slow. This underscores the importance of being able to rapidly make accurate delivery promises to your customers at checkout and offer them fast, reliable delivery options (same-day, one-day, or two-day delivery). A 3PL provider can help you make it happen.
Some 3PLs, like ASCS, are carriers themselves with their own global network and transportation fleet, while other 3PLs partner with carriers who offer shipping services.
A 3PL can help you improve your order delivery speeds and reliability. With ASCS Multichannel Fulfillment, for example, you deliver your orders to your customers’ doorsteps in as fast as one day, with an average on-time delivery rate of 96.4% for all MCF orders worldwide.1
1Based on all orders placed and delivered between October 2024 and September 2025 in the US, and measuring the percentage of orders that were delivered on or before the estimated delivery date generated upon order confirmation.
Reverse logistics with a 3PL provider
The order fulfillment process doesn’t always end with delivery. Ecommerce businesses must also be prepared to handle product returns or exchanges by customers. Seamless reverse logistics (also known as returns management) is a critical component of customer satisfaction and loyalty.
3PL providers can handle your end-to-end reverse logistics process—from customer support, to shipping products back to the warehouse, to assessing the returned stock and determining if it should be restocked or disposed of.
By making the returns process as smooth and simple as possible for consumers, 3PLs can help you maintain a first-class customer experience across all your sales channels.
How to choose third-party logistics services to support your business
By engaging a 3PL provider, you can streamline your operations and set your ecommerce business up to succeed and scale in the future.
It’s important that, when you are choosing a 3PL, you select a provider that offers the right suite of services to meet your needs—so you don’t have to worry about your logistics operations and can instead focus on building and growing your business.
