Many business owners think outsourcing fulfilment costs more than packing orders themselves. That makes sense: you see a fulfilment partner's invoice every month, but what doing it yourself costs isn't written down anywhere. Research by Forrester Consulting puts numbers on it. Webshops that outsourced their fulfilment saw on average a 28% lower cost per order, 29% better on-time delivery and a delivery time that became almost a day shorter.
What is the study?
The study is called "From Click to Delivery: Unleashing the Power of E-Commerce Fulfillment" and was published in April 2024. Forrester Consulting surveyed 300 e-commerce decision-makers in the United States about their delivery, their costs and their plans. The study was commissioned by Amazon.
The key figures
Companies that outsourced their fulfilment saw on average:
- 28% lower cost per order.
- 29% improvement in on-time delivery and in the time between picking an order and shipping it.
- Almost a day shorter delivery time.
- 79% say it freed up time for other business priorities.
The research also shows why that speed matters. More than 80% of the companies surveyed say delivery speed and shipping costs noticeably influence online shoppers' purchases. Nearly 80% say the delivery and returns experience determines whether a customer buys again. And customers are becoming more demanding: in 2019 they expected delivery within 5.7 days on average, in 2024 within 2.5 days.
Why is outsourcing often cheaper?
Packing orders yourself seems free, because the costs are spread across your whole business. Add them up:
- Your time. Every hour you spend packing boxes and printing labels is an hour not spent on your product, your sales or your customers.
- Your space. A garage, office or unit full of stock costs rent, even in quiet months.
- Packaging and shipping. As a small shipper you pay more per box and per parcel than a partner that ships large volumes every day.
- Mistakes. A wrong item or a forgotten order costs a new shipment, a return and sometimes a customer.
- Slow delivery. A customer who waits a day too long might not come back.
A fulfilment partner works with large volumes, fixed processes and sharp carrier agreements every day. That makes every order cheaper and faster. What fulfilment costs exactly and how a quote is built up, you can read in what does fulfilment cost.
When does it pay off for your webshop?
Outsourcing pays off especially when your volumes grow and packing starts to fill your days. Not sure whether the time has come? Check the 5 signs you should outsource your fulfilment. And don't just compare the price per order, but everything you pay yourself today: time, space, materials and mistakes.
At Sendwit we take over your storage, packing and shipping completely. Orders received before 18:00 ship the same working day. You get time back, your customers get their parcel faster. See how we do it for e-commerce fulfilment, or request a no-obligation proposal with your number of parcels per week.