3 Signs Your Fulfillment Service is Holding You Back

When you signed with your fulfilment provider, orders left on time and problems got answered the same day. A year later, you are fielding customer complaints about late parcels and wrong items, and you are not sure whether it is a bad month or a provider that has fallen behind.

Three signs separate the two: orders that miss the dispatch cut-off, errors you hear about from customers before your provider tells you, and simple requests that take a week. One sign is worth raising with your provider, with numbers. Two or more is the point to start comparing.

1. Same-day orders keep missing their cut-offs

Your agreement says orders received by 2pm ship the same day. In practice, an order placed at 11am leaves the next afternoon, and your marketplace dashboard starts to notice.

Shopee Malaysia's seller guide to penalty points, for example, counts a ready-stock order as late if it ships after two days, and adds penalty points once a store's late shipment rate goes above 15%. At three points, a store can be barred from marketing campaigns.

Missed cut-offs can come from a warehouse staffed for an average day, picking waves scheduled too late in the afternoon, or a courier collection time that falls before the warehouse has finished packing. None of these fix themselves when volume grows.

Measure it before you raise it. Take four weeks of orders, and for every order placed before the cut-off, compare the order time with the dispatch scan time.

The share that left the same day is the number to take to your provider, along with one question: what changes, and by which date?

2. Order errors reach you before your provider notices

A customer orders a dress in navy and receives it in black. You find out from a one-star review, three days later, and your provider cannot say how it happened.

Picture the same complaint with a provider that scans each item at pick and again at pack. You send the order number, and within minutes the scan record shows which item went into the parcel and at which station. It turns out the navy and black dresses share a shelf location. The provider moves one of them, and the error stops repeating.

Watch for a provider that cannot show you what went into a parcel, and does not report an accuracy figure unless you ask. Ask for last month's order accuracy, how it is measured, and the scan record for one disputed order. A provider that runs on scans can answer all three quickly.

3. Minor requests disappear into a support queue

You want a thank-you card in every order for your Raya campaign, starting next Monday. The request goes into a queue, an answer comes back on Thursday, and the inserts start halfway through the campaign.

Requests like inserts, gift wrap, bundle kits and campaign packaging are ordinary for a lifestyle brand. A provider that treats each one as an exception has either no spare capacity or no one who owns your account, and both get worse in peak season.

Look back at your last three special requests. Note how long each took to get a yes, and how long until it was live on the packing bench. Then ask your provider who your day-to-day contact is, and what turnaround it will commit to for requests like these.

How many of these apply?

If one sign applies, take the numbers to your provider and agree a fix with a date. Each of these can be fixed with your current provider if it is willing, and the numbers make the conversation short.

If two or more apply, start comparing providers now, before your next peak, using our guide to choosing an ecommerce fulfilment partner. And if the cheapest quote you receive looks far below the rest, our post on the signs a cheap 3PL quote won't last covers what to check.

If you’d rather skip all that and just talk to us, you can as well.

Frequently asked questions

How do I measure my 3PL's dispatch performance?

Export your orders with their order times, and ask your provider for the dispatch scan time of each one. Count how many orders placed before the agreed cut-off left the same day, week by week. A falling share is the trend to raise.

How long does it take to switch fulfilment providers?

It depends on how much stock you hold, how many SKUs you carry and how your sales channels connect, so no single figure holds. Plan the move well clear of your peak season, and run both providers side by side briefly if you can.

Should I tell my current provider before I start comparing?

Raise the problems first, with your numbers, and give them a date to fix them. That is fair to them and protects you. If the date passes without change, comparing quotes is the next step, and your notice period decides when you can move.