The power of in-house fulfillment

In today’s highly competitive ecommerce market, reliable and fast delivery can make or break a business. Yet many retailers still choose to outsource their fulfillment to 3PLs, potentially sacrificing a key competitive edge.

Although outsourcing offers scalability and reduces upfront investment, it also means forfeiting a key competitive advantage. By controlling your own logistics, you gain the flexibility to shorten delivery times, maintain reliable performance during peak seasons, and invest in long-term initiatives like automation – all essential for staying ahead in a competitive market.

Let’s dive in and take a look at the key advantages of owning your logistics.

💡 Read until the end to hear from the founder of MTBIKER, one of Europe’s largest ecommerce retailers, about how owning their logistics has given them a big competitive advantage.

1. Faster delivery

Fast delivery is no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity. In fact, 62% of online shoppers state that delivery speed impacts their purchasing decisions, and a staggering 85% will abandon your store for a competitor if delivery times are too slow.

Managing fulfillment in-house allows you to control every aspect of order processing – from picking and packing to shipping – ensuring that your customers get their products quickly and reliably.

By contrast, outsourcing exposes you to risks and delays beyond your control, which can result in frustrated customers and a surge in support tickets.

This is why market leaders like The Feed handle their fulfillment in-house. With the help of Brightpick robots, they ensure that every order is picked and packed within an hour, providing an unbeatable customer experience that would be difficult to replicate with an external partner.

2. Improved reliability 

Relying on 3PLs during peak season can be risky, as many other retailers tend to have the same peak season which can overwhelm operations and lead to delayed deliveries.

Handling logistics in-house allows you to minimize these risks and maintain consistent service quality throughout the year.

For example, while many competitors face shipping delays of up to 10 days during peak season, MTBIKER ensures on-time delivery by fulfilling orders in-house using robotics.

3. Better control over inventory and processes

Relying on a third party to track your inventory can increase the risk of lost items or inaccurate counts, especially in multi-tenant fulfillment centers. This can cause unexpected stock-outs that harm customer satisfaction and inefficient inventory management, leading to unnecessary cash drain.

Managing logistics in-house provides greater control and data, enabling smarter inventory management and more accurate demand forecasting.

4. Superior long-term planning

It’s difficult to invest significant capital into operations you don’t own.

Owning your logistics allows you to make long-term strategic decisions, such as investing in robotics to enhance competitiveness and scalability. This brings significant benefits, including 24/7 operations, reduced errors, and substantial labor cost savings.

While some 3PLs collaborate with clients to adopt automation, strategic planning is more difficult when you’re limited to short-term contracts, such as a typical 3-year agreement.

5. Customization

In today’s competitive market, creating memorable experiences beyond the product is essential for standing out. Thoughtful customization like personalized messages, eco-friendly packaging, and custom designs help build customer loyalty and enhance perceived value.

By controlling your logistics, you gain the flexibility to implement these initiatives and seamlessly integrate customization into your fulfillment process – something much harder to achieve with outsourced operations.

For MTBIKER, the largest cycling e-shop in Central Europe, managing logistics in-house has become a key differentiator in a competitive market. Here’s what Tomas Cervenka, founder and CEO of MTBIKER, has to say about this.

“Having control over our logistics has proven to be a huge competitive advantage for us.

As an ecommerce retailer, outsourcing your logistics essentially means commoditizing that part of your business and relying solely on product and marketing to add value. However, the post-purchase experience can be just as crucial for driving customer loyalty and satisfaction as everything leading up to it.

That’s why owning the entire customer journey is so important to us. Outsourcing logistics would mean relinquishing control over a key element of the customer experience and missing out on differentiating ourselves with features like 24-hour delivery or same-day in-store pickup. These capabilities have generated millions in incremental revenue from customers who might have shopped elsewhere.

That’s why for us, outsourcing this critical process has never been a serious consideration.”

👉 To hear more from Tomas, watch our recent podcast with him on YouTube, or tune-in to Beyond the Pick on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Ready to embrace the future of AI? Brightpick offers an easy path to fully automate your order fulfillment using AI robots. Reach out to learn how we can optimize your operations.