When does moving to a 3PL make sense?

Are you running out of space, spending too much time packing or trying to serve a new market? Start with the problem you need a warehouse to solve. If the new market is the EU and you ship from the UK, ask whether the provider can hold stock inside the EU, so those orders do not cross a customs border on the way to your customer.

Bring recent examples: a backlog of orders, shelves occupied by slow-selling products or trade orders that need extra preparation. These tell a provider more than an order-volume figure on its own.

Keeping fulfilment in-house may still fit if your team and space handle demand reliably, products need daily hands-on work from you, or a provider’s minimum commitments outweigh the work you want to outsource. Compare those constraints before treating growth alone as a reason to move.

List what your current operation costs: storage, people’s time, packing materials, dispatch and the work involved in returns. Then ask a provider to quote against the same products, stock levels and order mix.

Include moving stock and setting up systems, then compare a normal month and a busy one. Outsourcing may free your team’s time without reducing every individual cost.

A price per order is difficult to compare if one quote covers a single item and another covers all items in a parcel. Ask each provider to state its charging units and work through the same sample month.

For example, a sample month of 1,000 orders containing 1,600 units in total has 600 units beyond the first item in each order. If a provider charges separately for additional items, ask it to show how those 600 units enter the quotation. The numbers are illustrative.

Keep one-off moving and setup costs separate from recurring costs. Ask providers to show the following on the same basis, then compare the totals and assumptions rather than the headline pick charge:

• Receiving: what is charged per pallet, carton, unit or hour, and which checks are included.
• Storage: the measurement used, the charging period and any minimum commitment.
• Order preparation: first item, additional items, trade packing and extra handling.
• Materials and dispatch: packaging, inserts, delivery service and applicable surcharges.
• Returns and exceptions: inspection, repacking, rework and how extra work is authorised.

Review product handling, destinations, sales channels and the information you need to run the business. Ask what happens when an order changes, stock arrives unexpectedly or a customer returns a product.

Distinguish warehouse dispatch targets from carrier delivery estimates. Agree how order errors, stock differences and delays will be reported, which records you will use to review them and who can resolve an exception. Include the order volumes and peak forecasts those arrangements depend on.

Questions to settle with each provider:

• Which services and systems are available at the location you would use?
• How would you see stock, order progress and charges?
• Who would handle your questions and agree changes to the service?
• What information and instructions would they need from you?

Check minimum commitments, notice periods and how rate changes are handled. Ask which costs remain if your order volume falls or your stock takes longer to sell. Include any setup or account charges in the comparison.

Ask how loss or damage concerns are handled and what records are needed to investigate them. Also agree how remaining stock, open orders, returns and the records you need would be handed over if the arrangement ends. An exit plan is easier to assess before your goods are in storage.

Agree how stock will be counted, moved and received. Identify the product records, packaging instructions and system connections that need to be ready. Be clear about which operation handles orders while the move is in progress.

Our own process starts with your products and orders; the work and costs are then agreed in a written quote. Once those are clear, we plan the stock transfer, system setup and first orders with you. Customers in the UK and Poland speak directly to the warehouse team.