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Webshop logistics: do it yourself or outsource?

Storage, stock management, order processing, shipping and returns. How to organise the logistics of your webshop, what it costs and when to hand it over to a fulfilment company.

Webshop logistics (or e-commerce logistics) is everything that physically happens to your products: arrival, storage, stock, packing, shipping and returns. At the start you usually do it yourself, from the kitchen table or a lock-up garage. As your webshop grows, logistics soon becomes the work that takes most of your hours.

The five parts of webshop logistics

1. Purchasing and inbound

Stock arrives from your supplier, often on pallets or in boxes. Someone has to count it, check it for damage and give it a fixed location. A barcode per product (EAN) prevents mistakes later when packing.

2. Storage and stock management

How much do you have left, and when do you need to reorder? If you sell on several channels (your own webshop, bol, Amazon), stock has to be right everywhere. Otherwise you sell something that is no longer there. For that you use stock software or a WMS (warehouse management system) connected to all your channels.

3. Order processing: pick and pack

An order comes in, you take the products (pick), check them and pack them (pack). The packaging determines your shipping costs: if it fits through the letterbox, it is much cheaper than a parcel.

4. Shipping

You choose one or more carriers: PostNL, DHL, DPD, bpost for Belgium or Ampère for bol orders. What matters is your cut-off time: until what time does an order still ship today? In the Netherlands, customers almost always expect next-day delivery.

5. Returns

With clothing and shoes, sometimes a quarter of orders come back. A return has to be checked, put back in stock and refunded. The faster that happens, the happier your customer.

Doing it yourself: what do you need?

  • Space: a shelf per product and a packing table. Plan for a lock-up garage or business unit once your home gets too small.
  • Shipping software (for example Sendcloud or MyParcel) that creates labels for your orders.
  • A contract with a carrier, or standard rates through your shipping software.
  • Time: allow 3 to 5 minutes per order, plus inbound, returns and collections.

At 300 orders a month you easily spend 20 to 25 hours a month on packing alone. Those hours count towards your costs, even if you don't pay them to yourself.

Outsourcing logistics to a fulfilment company

A fulfilment company takes over all five parts. Your stock is kept in their fulfilment centre, your webshop is connected and orders go out the door automatically. What you gain:

  • Time: no packing, no collections, no pile of returns.
  • Lower shipping rates: fulfilment companies combine the volume of all their clients.
  • A later cut-off: many companies process orders until 22:00 or even midnight.
  • Room to grow: they absorb peak demand around Black Friday and the holidays.

What you give up: you have less direct control, and you pay per order and per month for storage. Read what fulfilment costs for typical rates, or compare the "from" prices of fulfilment companies.

When is it time to outsource?

A few signs:

  1. You spend more time packing than selling.
  2. You consistently ship more than 50 to 100 orders a month.
  3. Your home, shed or unit is full and you want to offer more products.
  4. You want to sell on bol or Amazon with fast delivery.
  5. You want orders placed later in the day to still ship the same day.

Not sure? Use the checklist of 12 questions when you ask for quotes.

Which company suits your webshop?

Our directory lists all fulfilment companies in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, with their integrations, carriers and cut-off times. Prefer direct advice? Connect your webshop and see, based on your own orders, which companies fit and roughly what it costs. Start your match.

Further reading