Simplify Hardware Fulfilment With the 3PL Technology, Network, and Expertise Your Brand Needs
Deliver tools and fasteners on time while cutting shipping costs through strategic inventory distribution and omnichannel visibility.
Request Fulfilment Pricing
A fulfilment expert will get back to you shortly. Privacy Policy
What hardware brands need from a fulfilment partner
Hardware brands deal with dense SKUs, oversized packaging, and complex catalogues that can drive up shipping costs and create inventory blind spots. Managing DTC, marketplace, and retailer orders across separate systems only amplifies the operational burden and increases the risk of overselling. Partnering with a fulfilment provider built for heavy products and multi-channel workflows ensures faster delivery, more accurate inventory data, and lower per-order costs as you scale.
Lower shipping costs for dense or bulky SKUs
Shipping dense or bulky products from a single warehouse can quickly erode margins. Choose a fulfilment partner that can ship inventory across different countries and regions to help you reduce your average shipping zone and control shipping costs.
Managing multi-channel orders without chaos
Fulfilling DTC, marketplace, and retailer orders via separate systems creates manual work and overselling. Instead, work with an omnichannel fulfilment partner that unifies every channel by supporting EDI-compliant fulfilment for major retailers and marketplace integrations while providing a single inventory count across B2B and DTC platforms.
Keeping real-time visibility across large hardware catalogues
Spare parts, tool attachments, and replacement batteries can balloon your product catalogue , making it difficult to track SKUs and maintain accurate stock levels. Select a technology-driven provider that offers live analytics, inventory tracking, and an optional WMS to provide one source of truth across every location and every SKU and variant.
Navigating HAZMAT rules for lithium-ion batteries
Shipping battery-powered tools requires special handling that can slow down fulfilment queues. Partner with a fulfilment provider that can support dangerous goods (DG/HAZMAT) fulfilment to keep orders moving efficiently.
Syncing freight pallets and small ecommerce orders
Running LTL shipments to distributors alongside ecommerce orders invites errors and inventory gaps. Choose a hybrid solution that combines outsourced fulfilment for small-order shipping with a WMS for your own warehouse to keep every SKU and channel in sync.
ShipBob’s fulfilment solutions that hardware brands care about
ShipBob helps hardware brands streamline logistics with technology that reduces DIM weight, distributes inventory strategically, and unifies every sales channel into one system. With real-time visibility across locations and SKUs, hardware teams can maintain accuracy even with large, variant-rich catalogues. Advanced tools, EDI-compliant workflows, and battery-ready capabilities enable brands to ship faster, stay organised, and control costs as they grow.
Strategic inventory distribution
ShipBob’s Inventory Placement Program uses your historical order data and proprietary algorithm to automatically determine the optimal split of inventory across our dozens of U.S. fulfilment centres. By placing products closer to your customers, ShipBob helps minimise shipping distances, reduce your average shipping zone, and lower overall shipping costs.
Minimise DIM weight for every order
Our box selection algorithm ensures each product combination and order is packed in the most cost-effective packaging, and determines the ideal box or polymailer size to use to minimise shipping costs. This helps you avoid unnecessary dimensional weight charges and keep fulfilment expenses predictable, even for dense or irregularly-shaped SKUs.
Omnichannel order management
ShipBob connects DTC, marketplace, and retail channels in one platform. With real-time inventory tracking and robust integrations, you can manage every order from a single dashboard, eliminating manual work and reducing the risk of overselling.
Our system also supports EDI-compliant fulfilment for major retailers, ensuring your operations stay organised and efficient as you grow.
Unified inventory visibility
ShipBob’s WMS delivers a single source of truth for your inventory, orders, and fulfilment operations across every warehouse and location. Built for real-time, location-specific inventory tracking and robust reporting, ShipBob WMS lets you monitor your hardware catalogue with confidence and accuracy.
Our intuitive dashboard and advanced analytics also empower your team to make smarter decisions, streamline replenishment, and eliminate blind spots as you scale.
Dangerous Goods (DG/HAZMAT) fulfilment
ShipBob’s fulfilment network includes HAZMAT-compliant facilities for eligible products (including many lithium-ion items). Merchants must classify products and provide required safety documentation, and must receive written approval from ShipBob for domestic delivery.
With automated product routing and clear dashboard management, your orders move efficiently through HAZMAT-certified facilities, helping you maintain fast, reliable fulfilment for all your products.
Global hybrid fulfilment
With dozens of fulfilment centres across the U.S., UK, Europe, Canada, and Australia, ShipBob enables you to scale internationally and deliver a consistent experience for every order – no matter the size or destination.
Types of hardware products that companies fulfil with ShipBob
- Hand tools and accessories
- Screwdrivers
- Pliers
- Wrenches
- Drill bits
- Driver bits
- Tool sets and kits
- Fasteners and hardware
- Screws
- Nails
- Bolts
- Nuts
- Washers
- Hooks
- Wall anchors
- Safety and protective equipment
- Safety goggles and gloves
- Work aprons
- Tool belts
- Electrical supplies
- Extension cords
- Power strips
- Light bulbs
- LED strips
- Replacement parts and consumables
- Adhesives (glue, epoxy, tape)
- Lubricants
- Cleaning sprays
- Batteries (AA, AAA, 9V, coin cell)
Success story: Canvas saved on landed costs by outsourcing to ShipBob
Canvas, a specialty artistic equipment brand, outsourced fulfilment to ShipBob and leveraged strategic logistics to reduce shipping zones and expedite delivery, immediately reducing landed costs and improving delivery speed.
Before ShipBob, inconsistent invoices made costs unpredictable; moving to ShipBob brought transparent, line-item billing and faster inventory processing so inventory was available for sale sooner. The partnership simplified DTC operations and scaled smoothly as volume grew, maintaining fast and cost-effective shipping.
Success story: AutoGeek improves margins and throughput by moving DTC fulfilment to ShipBob
AutoGeek, a car-care retailer, found in-house DTC fulfilment was slowing down operations and squeezing margins. They shifted their DTC orders from their own warehouse to ShipBob’s outsourced fulfilment network to streamline processes and gain scalability.
With ShipBob handling pick, pack, and ground delivery, AutoGeek reduced operational bottlenecks tied to bulky SKUs and increased overall throughput. The transition also helped stabilize costs and improve margin performance, enabling the team to focus on growth rather than warehouse firefighting. In short, outsourcing to ShipBob aligned their heavy, complex catalogue with a fulfilment partner built to ship dense goods efficiently across regions.
ShipBob services all customers benefit from
- Connectivity & integrations: ShipBob’s 50+ turnkey integrations with all major ecommerce channels and tools – including Shopify, Gorgias, Klaviyo, NetSuite, Loop, AfterShip, and more – enable you to grow your business smarter, faster, and stronger than ever before. In addition to the ShipBob App Store that lets you instantly connect your tech stack, you can also leverage ShipBob’s Develop API for custom builds.
- Transparent, cost-effective pricing: Unlike many 3PLs, ShipBob has easy-to-predict billing that makes it easy to plan for spend, without too many line items. ShipBob also negotiates rates with couriers and passes those savings on to you.
- Real-time visibility: Track shipments, orders, and inventory across locations from one dashboard. Manage one pool of inventory across sales channels and push stock levels back to your store so you don’t oversell.
- Full-stack fulfilment platform: With ShipBob, you get an all-in-one OMS, IMS, WMS, RMS, TMS, and analytics for a consolidated tech stack. ShipBob’s platform acts as a mini-ERP, being a single source of truth for your orders and inventory.
- Easy, comprehensive onboarding: We’ve onboarded thousands of ecommerce merchants and helped some of the fastest-growing brands scale effortlessly. Our implementation team sets you up for success with everything from configuring your ship options, to syncing your online store.
- Support for growth: ShipBob aims to be the last fulfilment partner you’ll need. Whether you’re shipping 1,000 orders per month or 200,000, we have you covered. With a large fulfilment network to scale into, new channels to expand into, and additional capabilities to tap into, you won’t outgrow ShipBob.
Request a quote for hardware fulfilment
How it works
How ShipBob goes from your online store to your customer’s door
1. Connect
Connect your store, import your products, then send us your inventory.
2. Store
We store your inventory in any combination of our fulfilment centers.
3. Ship
As soon as a customer places an order, we ship it from the nearest fulfilment centre.
FAQs about hardware fulfilment
How does ShipBob help hardware brands reduce shipping costs for dense or awkwardly sized items?
Through the Inventory Placement Program, ShipBob strategically distributes your inventory across its network of dozens of fulfilment centres in the U.S., placing products closer to customers to reduce average shipping zones and costs. Our box selection algorithm also ensures each order is packed efficiently using the most optimal package size for every combination of products, helping you avoid unnecessary dimensional weight charges.
Can ShipBob handle the unique packaging needs of hardware products?
ShipBob uses standard protective packaging materials (such as Geami paper or kraft paper) for all shipments and can store branded packaging (boxes, poly mailers, and inserts) as a SKU if you provide it.
We also offer product bundling capabilities to combine multiple items digitally into single SKUs for hardware sets and collections, streamlining picking and speeding up fulfilment.
How does ShipBob manage large or complex hardware inventories?
ShipBob’s fulfilment platform provides real-time inventory tracking, centralised inventory visibility across all fulfilment locations and channels, and robust reporting, making it easy to manage your entire hardware catalogue .
Our platform includes inventory management tools such as automatic reorder notifications and replenishment recommendations to help you maintain accurate stock levels and prevent stockouts.
Does ShipBob support both DTC and B2B hardware fulfilment, including big-box retailers?
Yes. ShipBob is an omnichannel fulfilment partner supporting DTC, marketplace, and B2B orders, including EDI-compliant fulfilment for major retailers like Target and Walmart. You can manage inventory and fulfilment across all channels from a single dashboard, maintaining a shared pool of inventory and enabling streamlined operations.
Can ShipBob integrate with my ecommerce platform or ERP system?
Yes, ShipBob integrates with dozens of major ecommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and more, and works with ERPs and EDI providers to ensure seamless order processing and real-time inventory updates across all your sales channels.
How does ShipBob handle shipping hardware products with lithium-ion batteries or other dangerous goods (DG/HAZMAT) items?
ShipBob operates HAZMAT-compliant facilities, and requires merchants to classify and submit required Safety Data Sheets (SDS) for battery-powered products to uphold safety standards. ShipBob reviews this documentation, and after receiving written approval from ShipBob, products containing batteries can be sent for storage and domestic delivery within the contiguous U.S.
What international shipping solutions does ShipBob offer for hardware brands?
ShipBob’s global fulfilment network spans the U.S., UK, Europe, Canada, and Australia, allowing you to store inventory closer to international customers and reduce shipping times and costs. ShipBob can also ship to over 250 destinations with DDP shipping options.
How does ShipBob help hardware brands meet retailer requirements?
ShipBob supports EDI-automated B2B fulfilment and customisable workflows to meet retailer requirements, including retail dropshipping and distribution for major retailers. Our experience with major retailers like Target and Walmart ensures your products arrive on time and as expected.
What kind of support and visibility does ShipBob provide to hardware brands?
ShipBob provides reliable support from fulfilment experts, real-time analytics, and a full-stack platform (OMS, IMS, WMS, TMS) that acts as a single source of truth for all your inventory, orders, and shipments. Our billing and invoice transparency and robust reporting (including replenishment recommendations) also empower hardware brands to make informed decisions and scale confidently.
Shipping costs are variable in nature, based on weight, dimensions, destination, service, and more. Request your custom quote here: https://www.shipbob.com/quote/.
INTEGRATE ALL OF YOUR TOOLS
Connect to 50+ few-click integrations from our App Store, or build directly with our developer-friendly API
Ship from 60+ global locations
We use our network of fulfilment centres to help you strategically split and manage your inventory to reduce shipping costs and transit times.
FEATURED REPORT
What are hardware brands’ top priorities for shipping and fulfilment this year? Find out
There’s no question that the last several years have thrown a multitude of challenges at ecommerce brands. Despite this, brands are navigating the ever-changing landscape with plans to expand this year.
