Why You Should Outsource Supply Chain Management for Ecommerce Stores

Let’s face it. As an online business owner, the last thing you want to spend your time and energy on is managing your ecommerce supply chain. 

But how well your supply chain runs impacts how successful your business will be and how quickly it will grow. It’s no doubt that managing and optimising the supply chain is crucial for online business success.  

This can cause a conundrum: as you build your ecommerce business, where should you spend a bulk of your time? Supply chain management is a time-consuming process, but it’s important. However, without the right technology, labour, and expertise — the hours spent on logistics operations can quickly add up. 

Fortunately, outsourcing supply chain management is an option that many fast-growing ecommerce businesses choose to go rather than investing in the infrastructure themselves. There are several benefits to outsourcing supply chain management, including time and cost-savings — not to mention fewer headaches. 

In this article, you will learn the benefits of outsourcing supply chain management (as well as a few risks to consider), so you can spend less time and money on overseeing logistics.

What is outsourced supply chain management?

Outsourced supply chain management refers to hiring a third-party logistics (3PL) company to manage, improve and optimise the supply chain. This allows ecommerce businesses to delegate storage and time-consuming ecommerce fulfilment tasks while saving money and improving their supply chain velocity. 

Which supply chain processes can you outsource?

Outsourcing the supply chain can be done at every stage of the process. While some logistics companies only take care of a few stages or tasks, a tech-enabled 3PL can help streamline the entire supply chain by managing logistics operations on your behalf. 

Here is a list of which supply chain processes can be outsourced to a 3PL: 

• Warehouse receiving
• Inventory storage
• Order management
• Inventory management
• Order fulfilment
• Automated shipping
• Returns management

Benefits and risks of outsourcing supply chain management in ecommerce

The benefits of outsourcing supply chain management are endless, but that’s not to say there isn’t any risk associated with it. The key is to find the right 3PL partner that can provide with what you’re looking for to meet your unique needs.

Fortunately, the good should outweigh the bad, and if you take the time to choose the right 3PL, you will reap the benefits.

Below is a comprehensive overview of the benefits and risks of outsourcing supply chain management.

Benefits of outsourcing supply chain management

1. Reduce overall costs

Supply chain management requires a wide range of processes and labour to run a smooth and lean supply chain. When not done right, logistics costs can add up quickly. 

By outsourcing the supply chain, you can worry less about managing logistics systems yourself while benefiting from lowered fulfilment logistics costs, including warehousing, fulfilment, and shipping fees. 

Running the entire supply chain can be costly for your business if it’s not being done strategically. For instance, renting a warehouse is becoming more costly than in the past with logistics warehouse tenants expecting to see a 10% rate hike starting in 2021.

Logistics issues such as inefficient inventory storage, a poor geographic footprint, and unoptimised labour and operations can also add up over time.

Outsourcing the supply chain to a tech-enabled 3PL can solve many of these logistical challenges, such as offering affordable warehousing, optimising the fulfilment process using automated technology, and offering affordable shipping by negotiating discounted rates with major couriers. 

“We need to deliver quickly and inexpensively. Since switching to ShipBob from our previous 3PL, our fulfilment cost on comparable orders went down by 25%.”

Michael Peters, VP of E-Commerce Operations at TB12

2. Adds time to focus on scaling your business

When you outsource your supply chain, what you are left with is more time to focus on other important business processes such as marketing, product development, and building better customer relationships and support.

As your business grows, a 3PL can offer insights into how to expand your fulfilment strategy and optimise inventory, whether it’s storing inventory in more fulfilment centres, setting up subscription orders, or expanding into new markets and sales channels.

“ShipBob pulls me out of having to deal with the physical labour side of the business, which allows me more time to focus on making and marketing music. It’s an automated flow that lets me spend less time on things that aren’t making money.”

Lee Nania, Founder of SubSubmarine

3. Speeds up shipping times

Outsourcing the supply chain also offers ecommerce businesses the ability to provide affordable and fast shipping to expand their customer reach and meet customer expectations.

This can be done by partnering with a 3PL with a robust and growing fulfilment network, which offers the ability to split inventory across several fulfilment centre locations. 

Storing inventory in more than one strategic locations can drastically cut down on shipping distance and costs, which also makes it possible to offer better shipping incentives for customers, such as 2-day shipping via ground and free shipping. 

“We started in ShipBob’s east coast fulfilment centre, which was local for us. We have since moved to a more central fulfilment centre location in Chicago to improve transit times and shipping costs.”

Manuel de la Cruz, CEO at Boie

4. Increases flexibility

When you work with a 3PL to outsource your supply chain, you will have access to a well-connected logistics network, technology, and expertise, which make it easier for you to make important business decisions moving forward. 

ShipBob makes it easy to grow and expand into new locations in the US and other countries. Other ways we provide flexibility include no monthly order minimum requirements to open up outsourced fulfilment to startups, the option to use standard or branded custom packaging, and the ability to monitor and make changes to inventory or orders all from one dashboard. 

“ShipBob offers the option to customise packaging and tell a story through our products when shipping to our customers, giving us more control over our business and brand.”

Matt Dryfhout, Founder & CEO of BAKblade

5. Increases accuracy in order processing

While smaller ecommerce businesses often have to manually process orders, 3PLs have software that integrates and syncs with your online store and other sales channels to simplify the order processing phase.  

With ShipBob, orders are automatically sent to a fulfilment centre to be picked, packed, and shipped as soon as possible. Our customers can view order status and track inventory levels in real time all in one place.  

“An hour after an influencer ordered from me, he had already received an email saying his order had shipped. If I was fulfiling orders myself, it would have taken me much longer. This was the perfect example of ShipBob working how it should, automatically sending tracking info and giving my customers everything they needed.”

Tracey Wallace, Founder of Doris Sleep

6. Boosts customer satisfaction

Although customers don’t have direct visibility into how an order is processed, fulfiled, and shipped, when your supply chain is efficient and effective, your customers can benefit.

By outsourcing your supply chain, you’re able to leave logistics up to the experts, who can help you save on costs and provide a better experience for your customers with improved order accuracy and faster delivery.

“Over Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we release many new products sell two months of unit volume in that weekend alone. I am confident that ShipBob makes this a success for us, helping us live up to our customers’ expectations and deliver on time.”

Carl Protsch, Co-Founder of FLEO

Risks of outsourcing supply chain management

1. Choosing the wrong 3PL company

Outsourcing supply chain management is a big step. The key is to take the time and choose the right 3PL partner for your business. It’s important to find a 3PL that offers a consistent and reliable service across their entire distribution network. 

When sourcing a 3PL, make sure to ask about their tech stack, their pricing model, where their fulfilment centre locations are (and if they will continue to expand), and how hands on their support team is. For more tips on how to choose the right 3PL company, check out this free guide. 

“I felt like I couldn’t grow until I moved to ShipBob. Our old 3PL was slowing us down. Now I am encouraged to sell more with them. My CPA even said to me, ‘Thank God you switched to ShipBob.’”

Courtney Lee, founder of Prymal

2. Unplanned costs

When ecommerce businesses first start out, there’s a common belief that outsourcing logistics and fulfilment will increase costs. The truth is, there are hidden costs to self-fulfilment and leasing warehouse space.

Outsourcing supply chain management should not only save you time, but it should also provide cost-savings. Since you won’t have to put money towards rent, labour, and equipment, outsourcing saves you money in the long run. When looking into a 3PL, make sure to ask about their pricing model and if there’s any other charges or fees. 

“While many 3PLs utilise a complex pricing model that makes forecasting expenses nearly impossible, ShipBob has a clear pricing model so we know exactly what we’re going to be billed.”

Gerard Ecker, Founder & CEO of Ocean & Co.

3. Long onboarding processes

Every 3PL will have a different onboarding process, but you should expect the process to be smooth and easy to get started. It’s important to ask the 3PL questions like what information they will need from you upfront, if there’s a direct integration with your online store, and how easy it is to set up and configure your account.

If there are signs that the process will be too tedious, you might be better off finding a 3PL that offers a simpler onboarding process, so you can ship your inventory as soon as possible and have them start fulfiling and shipping orders quickly.

“Nine days after we got started with ShipBob’s implementation team, we were shipping orders.”

Tim Fink, Co-Founder of EnduroSport

Supply chain management outsourcing with ShipBob

Tackling the entire supply chain alone can be a challenge. It can take up time and energy that is better spent somewhere else. 

Many direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands choose to partner with a logistics company that offers a global fulfilment network, best-in-class technology, and supply chain expertise. ShipBob can help you better manage your supply chain by taking time-consuming logistics tasks off your plate.

When you outsource fulfilment to ShipBob, you get your time back and you save money in the long run:

• Store inventory in one or more strategic fulfilment centre locations (with international fulfilment capabilities).
• Gain full visibility into inventory and order management.
• Get real-time insights into shipping costs, fulfilment performance, demand forecasting.
• And much more.

Conclusion

Outsourcing supply chain management can require taking a leap of faith, but it is worth it in the long run. There are several benefits to outsourcing, but to minimise risk, be sure to take your time in choosing the right 3PL that fits your needs.

ShipBob offers a growing global fulfilment network, best-in-class technology, responsive customer support, and expertise to help you feel at ease and provide you with more control and visibility into the entire fulfilment process.

With ShipBob, you’re given warehousing, built-in inventory management tools, access to advanced data and analytics, fast fulfilment, and affordable shipping.

To learn more about ShipBob and to request custom pricing, click the button below.

Outsourced supply chain FAQs

Here are some answers to common questions related to outsourcing supply chain management:

What are the benefits of outsourcing?

There are several benefits of outsourcing to a 3PL provider, including cost savings, more flexibility, access to a robust logistics network, and ultimately more time and energy to focus on your business.

How does globalisation affect outsourcing?

Globalisation has opened up international shipping capabilities and ecommerce in genreal. In terms of outsourcing the supply chain, outsourcing can help businesses expand their ecommerce sales worldwide. By outsourcing supply chain management to a global fulfilment provider, you can easily compete with international brands by fulfiling and shipping orders closer to your customers across the globe and expanding international sales.

What is outsourcing the supply chain?

Outsourced supply chain refers to hiring a third-party logistics company to manage, improve, and optimise ecommerce the supply chain, starting at receiving and warehousing, to inventory and order management, to fulfilment and shipping, and even ecommerce returns.

What are the risks of outsourcing?

The biggest risk is outsourcing is partnering with the wrong 3PL. When outsourcing your supply chain, be aware of hidden logistics costs, lack of technology, and poor customer support. If you take the time to find the right 3PL to partner with, the benefits outweigh the risks.