State of Ecommerce Fulfillment Report: Industry Trends in 2025
Insights from 554 ecommerce leaders and fulfillment data from millions of orders
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State of Ecommerce Fulfillment Report:
2025 Edition
Download the report to access 185+ data points about the current fulfillment and logistics landscape.
ShipBob’s annual State of Ecommerce Fulfillment Report is based on insights from a survey of 554 executives from ecommerce brands about their 2025 plans, as well as proprietary data from the hundreds of millions of units ShipBob fulfilled globally last year.
Created to help understand the current logistics and fulfillment landscape and how brands performed last year ShipBob’s State of Ecommerce Fulfillment Report showcases over 185 data points on subjects ecommerce brands care about the most.
Key ecommerce statistics highlights
- 80% of brands grew YoY
- 36% of brands plan on expanding internationally in 2025
- 78% of brands sell on 2 or more sales channels as of 2025.
- ShipBob experienced a 630% increase in B2B order growth YoY, with top retailers including Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Chewy, and Target.
- ShipBob Inventory Placement Program (IPP) merchants achieved 99.95% fulfillment accuracy.
- Our Place saved USD $1.5 million using ShipBob’s Inventory Placement Program.
Top trends in ecommerce fulfillment for 2025
Based on our findings, we identified five major trends for this year.
Omnichannel is standard
More brands than ever before are adopting an omnichannel approach.
- 78% of brands sell on two or more sales channels, with TikTok Shop breaking the top 4.
- 53% of brands sell on B2B channels or sell in brick-and-mortar stores.
- 37% of brands sell on big box retailers’ websites.
Fragrance brand, Dossier, leverages ShipBob to effectively handle retail distribution for 4,000 Walmart stores in the US.
“Retail distribution with Walmart has had a tremendous impact on our revenue growth, and the quality and consistency we’ve seen with ShipBob’s B2B solution has enabled us to tap into this sales channel effectively… ShipBob’s B2B solution is so valuable – we can rely on ShipBob to get the nitty gritty operations right.”
– Sergio Tache, Founder and CEO of Dossier
Global expansion on the rise
An increasing number of brands are making global shipping and international fulfillment a part of their business.
- 36% of brands plan to ship to new countries in 2025.
- 25% of brands will physically fulfill orders in new markets in 2025.
Taking advantage of ShipBob’s international fulfillment network has allowed Aroma360 to provide a better shipping experience to customers around the world.
“Distributing inventory across the world with ShipBob drastically cut our transit times. When we were only shipping from our Miami, FL warehouse, it would take us 25 days to deliver an order to a customer in the EU, while using ShipBob’s UK fulfillment center, it takes only 3 days. That’s an 88% reduction in shipping time for those international customers!”
– Rachel Tannenholz, President of Aroma360
Strategic inventory placement = major savings
Hundreds of merchants leverage ShipBob’s Inventory Placement Program (IPP) to automate inventory distribution, placement, and rebalancing in the US. By using IPP, brands can place inventory in fulfillment centers closest to end customers, effectively reducing the number of shipping zones an order has to travel to the final destination.
- In 2025, IPP resulted in 45% more in-region orders.
- Brands using IPP saved an average of 6.25% per order on shipping.
As a result of using IPP, supplement brand Semaine Health saves $2.16 on shipping per order.
“Since launching with IPP, we’ve been able to allocate our inventory across 4 of ShipBob’s fulfillment centers in the United States, which cut our shipping times by a third – from 5.2 days down to about 3.6 days. Not only has transit time dropped, but at the same time we reduced fulfillment costs by over $2 per order compared with our old 3PL. This combination has been key to profitable growth this year. It’s a no-brainer.”
– Matt Crane, Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer at Semaine Health
The experience economy: Unboxing & shipping
To stand out in an increasingly competitive market, brands are offering free shipping and unique customization efforts to enhance the customer experience.
- 83% of brands offer free shipping (at least sometimes).
- 45% of brands require customers to spend USD $50+ to unlock free shipping.
- 35% of brands use custom marketing inserts.
- 25% of brands use custom boxes or mailers.
- 25% of brands offer gift notes at checkout.
Shipping speed still matters
Quick shipping is a priority for both customers and brands.
- 52% of brands aim for 2-3 day shipping speeds for DTC orders.
ShipBob has prioritized making large investments in our fulfillment network to provide faster shipping options to our merchants. In 2024, we added new regional sort centers and pivoted from individual fulfillment center pickups to a middle-mile network to streamline our transportation and logistics.
Because of these improvements, we saw:
- 12% faster delivery times YoY.
- 26% of all shipments were able to be picked up late at night for an extended pickup window.
- 71% reduction in shipping times when inventory is distributed across multiple fulfillment centers.
Customer success spotlights
Of the thousands of brands that leverage ShipBob for order fulfillment, here are a few ways ecommerce brands have saved money, improved their operations, and scaled their business with ShipBob.
Our Place saved $1.5M in freight costs and cut fulfillment speeds in half with ShipBob IPP
By expanding from two to four ShipBob fulfillment centers, Our Place reduced average delivery times from five to six days down to just 2.5 days. This strategic shift also generated $1.5 million in freight cost savings, with 98% of parcels now shipping to lower-cost Zones 1 through 6.
“ShipBob has transformed our operations into a key competitive edge. I doubt any of our competitors can match our ability to receive orders and deliver them within two and a half days on average. With ShipBob, misshipments are rare occurrences, enabling us to consistently deliver on our promises to customers, ensuring they receive exactly what they’ve ordered.”
– Ali Shahid, COO of Our Place
Dossier has embraced global omnifulfillment over the course of a 6-year partnership with ShipBob
Dossier has adopted a global omnichannel fulfillment strategy that spans multiple DTC and B2B channels, including Amazon and Walmart, and six international markets. Despite scaling their business to new heights, the well-known brand maintains a 3-person fulfillment team.
“Growing so fast has really underscored for us the importance of having a partner that can scale as fast as you do. Scaling is great, but it also comes with certain headaches – and while it’s a good problem to have, you need a partner that can handle your volume, even as it’s skyrocketing to over a million orders. With ShipBob, that capacity was never in doubt – and that was huge for us.”
– Sergio Tache, Founder and CEO of Dossier
Fulfillment strategies & recommendations for 2025
Based on the findings from our 2025 State of Ecommerce Fulfillment report, here are four key recommendations to optimize operations and increase profitability this year:
1. Bundle products to increase average order value (AOV)
Product bundling encourages shoppers to buy more while saving on shipping costs. Create kits with best sellers or offer “frequently bought together” suggestions to raise AOV and streamline fulfillment by reducing the number of individual shipments.
2. Use shipping threshold banners and progress bars
Display free shipping thresholds across your site to entice shoppers and use progress bars at checkout to show how close they are to qualifying for free shipping. This can not only boost conversion rates, but it also encourages higher AOV.
3. Split inventory across fulfillment centers to lower shipping zones
By strategically storing inventory across multiple fulfillment centers in the US, you can reduce the number of shipping zones an order has to travel. This leads to faster, more cost-effective shipping and a better customer experience.
4. Evaluate centralized vs. distributed warehouse strategies
A centralized warehouse model may work for smaller catalogs or early-stage brands, but fast-growing businesses often benefit from a distributed inventory approach. Using a network of fulfillment centers can improve delivery speeds, lower last-mile costs, and provide greater flexibility during peak seasons.
Fulfillment trends resources & downloads
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FAQs about ecommerce and fulfillment trends
Here are answers to commonly asked questions about ecommerce and fulfillment trends.
Which countries does ShipBob ship to in 2025?
ShipBob can ship to over 250 destinations across the world from any of its fulfillment centers. ShipBob has a global fulfillment network of over 60 fulfillment centers in the US, Canada, the UK, the EU, and Australia.
What should small and medium ecommerce businesses focus on first?
At ShipBob, we recommend that small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) start by mastering domestic order fulfillment. By building a strong foundation in your primary market, you can reduce shipping costs, improve delivery speeds, and boost customer trust.
Once you’ve mastered domestic fulfillment, you can focus on expanding to new sales channels (like Amazon, TikTok Shop, and more) and adding value through customization like kitting or branded packaging. When demand picks up, ShipBob can help you seamlessly expand into global markets with our international network of 60+ fulfillment centers and start B2B order fulfillment with big box retailers like Target, Walmart, and more.
How is social commerce changing fulfillment requirements?
Social commerce platforms like TikTok Shop are accelerating the need for faster, more flexible fulfillment. At ShipBob, we’re seeing brands prioritize shorter delivery windows, lightweight packaging, and distributing inventory across multiple fulfillment centers to be closer to customers, effectively minimizing shipping costs and transit times.
As social commerce encourages impulse buys, fulfillment needs to be seamless and fast. That means ecommerce brands need real-time inventory visibility, direct integrations with social channels, and the ability to fulfill smaller, more frequent orders across regions. ShipBob’s tech-enabled platform and global fulfillment network is built to support this shift, helping brands stay agile as social commerce continues to grow.
How can brands balance sustainability with fast shipping expectations?
Ecommerce brands don’t have to choose between speed and sustainability. A fulfillment partner like ShipBob helps brands achieve both through smart infrastructure and technology.
Distributing inventory across multiple fulfillment centers places products closer to end customers, allowing brands to reduce shipping distances, emissions, and delivery times. ShipBob’s global fulfillment network and Inventory Placement Program helps brands achieve this.
Efficient fulfillment and zone skipping lower fuel use and reduce carbon impact. ShipBob’s regional hub-and-spoke model and direct truckload routes cut carrier miles by up to 30%, speeding up delivery while reducing emissions.
