Setting up an online store requires a lot of work and sometimes investment, which is why some startups try to save money by shipping products. It seems simple until you start having 50 orders a day or more. Imagine that your living room becomes a makeshift warehouse. Boxes pile up, products get mixed up, and you waste half the morning sticking labels. The logistics for e-commerce It eats up time that you should be spending recruiting customers, improving your products, or just sleeping.
For years I have helped small businesses launch into Internet sales. Some of them did their homework well and began to grow until sales have resulted in a mountain of packages to be prepared every morning. The problem was not just the physical work, they also had to respond to their customers, and any shipping error could translate into a negative review, something that no e-commerce can afford. Those clients soon learned that delegating logistics is not a luxury, it is common sense.
What exactly does a third-party logistics company do?
When people listen “logistics operator” The “3PL” Think of large industrial warehouses with robots like the ones Amazon has. It's actually simpler. Basically, you hire someone who is in charge of everything that happens from the moment a customer clicks “comprar” until the package arrives at your door. And also what happens if you return it.
Core services typically include:
Storage. Your inventory is stored in their facilities, you do not need to rent a location or have products at home. Most offer a real-time inventory management system, so from your laptop you can see how many units you have left of each reference.
Packaging and preparation of orders (what in the sector they call picking and packing). Every time an order comes in, the warehouse team locates the product, packs it, and leaves it ready to ship. Some operators even allow you to personalize the packaging with your brand, which in the end is a detail that makes a difference.
Shipping. One of the biggest advantages of working with a logistics operator. They have agreements with multiple carriers and get rates that you, as a startup, would hardly get on your own. In addition, they are responsible for coordinating pickups and give you a tracking number so that your client knows where their package is at all times.
Returns management. The customer returns the product, the operator receives it, checks the condition it arrives in, decides whether it is back in stock or tare, and updates your inventory. You don't touch anything. You just have to be careful that they do it right because this aspect is one of the biggest sources of complaints against online stores.
When does it make sense to outsource?
There is no magic number, only clear signs that you notice in your daily life. If preparing orders takes you more than two hours a day, if you have made shipping mistakes that cost you negative reviews, if your house looks like a storage room or if you are thinking of renting a place just to store stock, you probably should have already taken the step.
There is also a financial argument that many people don't see at first. Renting your own space has fixed costs: monthly rent, insurance, retail packaging materials. A logistics operator usually charges by volume stored and by order processed. If one month you sell less, you pay less, it's that flexible. For a startup that does not yet have stable income, that flexibility is gold.
Sell on Amazon with external logistics
If your main channel is Amazon, you surely know the main options to sell in that marketplace, the FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) y el FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant).
With FBA, Amazon stores and ships for you, you just have to buy your products from any supplier and ship it to their facility. It's very good if you don't want to create your own online store and focus only on buying and selling. There are many advantages, as you can imagine, but also disadvantages such as:
Rates can consume a good part of your profit.
They charge you for long-term storage if the product takes a while to sell.
You lose control over the unboxing experience.
Sometimes it is not economically worthwhile to recover the rest of the stock you have there, and you end up losing it.
On the other hand, with FBM you continue selling on Amazon, but the shipment leaves your warehouse or your operator. Many logistics operators in Spain already connect directly with Seller Central, Shopify, WooCommerce and other platforms, so the process is quite automatic.
How to choose a logistics operator?
There are quite a few options in the Spanish and European market and most of them offer very similar services. The difference is in the quality.
Some tips to keep in mind before signing with any of them.
Let their technology integrate with your store. If you have to load each order by hand, you will lose more time than you save. The integration should be automatic with your sales platform.
The delivery times announced must be real and guaranteed by contract. A decent operator in mainland Spain usually moves orders in 24-48 hours. If that promise is not in writing, be suspicious.
Understand well how they manage returns. A product that returns in good condition and takes a week to be available for sale again is dead money.
Ask for a clear cost breakdown. There are no surprises with charges for handling, per extra cubic meter or for services that you thought were included.
Less boxes, more business
Logistics for e-commerce startups is not a glamorous topic, I know. Nobody sets up an online store dreaming of packing tape and delivery notes. But it is precisely that inconspicuous part that determines whether your client repeats or goes to the competition. Fast shipping, well-presented packaging, and frictionless returns are worth more than any marketing campaign.
If you are at that point where orders are growing and operations are suffocating you, look for a logistics operator that fits your current volume and can scale with you. Because the last thing you want is for the success of your store to be the very thing holding it back.
