6 Reasons to Outsource Your Logistics to a UK-Based 3PL Partner

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

So, 3PL – what is it?

3PL stands for third-party logistics, a service which allows a business to outsource their supply chain management to a partner. That may sound complicated on the surface, but it’s really not.

What it boils down to is partnering with a provider so that they can do the majority of the heavy lifting for you in terms of logistics.

Instead of doing it all yourself, a 3PL partner can take care of warehousing, packaging, transportation and order fulfillment on your behalf. As you might expect, there are a number of advantages to doing this; it takes a lot of work off your plate, so that you can focus on what really matters to you and your business.

There are lots of reasons why you may want to work with a 3PL partner, and this article will take you through six of them. So, here are 6 good reasons to outsource your logistics to a 3PL partner.

1. Reduced costs

Especially in smaller businesses, we all know that cash flow is just about the only thing that matters! Making a product-level profit can be relatively straightforward, but controlling costs, invoices and cash flow is anything but! So first and foremost, let’s talk about costs.

It’s always nice to maximise your profits by minimising your costs – and working with a 3PL partner like Warehow is one of the many ways to do that.

Specialising in logistics, we have an extensive network that stretches well beyond most in-house capabilities, particularly if you are a smaller brand looking to grow. By working with a 3PL like Warehow, you can benefit from our volume-based efficiencies and our relationships with logistics partners, meaning we can offer cheaper pricing than managing logistics in house.

Warehow’s all-in warehousing, fulfilment and delivery costs to your end customer are often cheaper than the cost of retail courier pricing alone, meaning you save by working with us.

2. Prioritising your core goals

Whilst talking about costs, we all know that in business, time is often your most valuable asset… and when you’re saving time, you’ll be saving money, too.

That’s the next big benefit of outsourcing your logistics: the time you save in not managing and worrying about logistics, will mean you have more opportunities to focus your time and energy on what really matters to your business and utilise your core skills in the way you intended. (We’re assuming that’s not trying to run a warehouse and logistics operation.)

Whether your expertise is sourcing, product development, advertising and marketing, or good old fashioned sales, working with a 3PL partner like Warehow will help give you time to focus on your key strengths and prioritise your business’ core goals. All whilst reaping the benefits of a 3PL’s logistical expertise, without the need to deploy costly and valuable internal resources.

3. Flexible scaling

Most businesses will have peaks and troughs in their sales at some point. Even Apple and Amazon have bad days! With peaks, comes the need to quickly build capacity and allocate extra resources to manage the influx of orders (and you never really know how long for!), and with the inevitable troughs, comes the need to save on costs as quickly as you can.

For many businesses, it’s just not that easy to quickly flex resources up or down, or find additional, suitable space in a hurry with affordable flexible terms; and investing to grow is always a calculated risk, with up-front capital being very hard to find. Equally, in the slow times, having underutilised resources on your books, or expensive space not fully earning its money, can be very challenging.

Working with a 3PL partner such as Warehow can help your business grow at low risk and at low cost. Whether you’re a fledgling company or an already established brand, you can build scale with Warehow without the need to commit to extra people, your own space or capital investment.

Warehow’s flexible, subscription-based pricing model allows you to adapt your fulfilment requirements in line with changing business needs, without the need for multi year commitments or big up front capital expense. For example: when there is a surge in your demand, Warehow is able to scale up to meet the new supply and distribution requirements – taking the burden off your shoulders. On the flip side, if your sales are down, there won’t be any unused resources in your own warehouse, or underutilised and costly supply chain investments.

This helps eliminate your risk of over-investing into short-term resources that you don’t really need, or being overwhelmed by a surge in sales that you don’t have the capacity to fulfil.

4. Speed-to-market and operating through more complicated sales channels

When you have great products, you often want to get them on sale very quickly. Sometimes it’s ‘first to market advantage’, other times it’s just seasonality, and occasionally it’s a short-lived trend. Working with a 3PL like Warehow can simplify the process and help you take weeks or months off a launch date. This may even sometimes be the difference between make and break!

Additionally, not all sales channels are straightforward to sell through. Some will have specific technical requirements that for your in-house team and even the bigger 3PL’s with their ‘one size fits all’ approach will struggle to accommodate. Warehow specialise in being able to flex our approach to our clients needs, and this can pay massive dividends.

For example, The Very Group recently saw their plus size sales grow by 75%, fuelled largely by partnering with Evans, City Chic and Avenue, who utilised Warehow to manage their Very logistics, when a well-known 3PL partner couldn’t manage the complicated technical integration to the required pre-Christmas timelines.

“Digital retailer Very.co.uk, operated by The Very Group, has announced plans to further expand its plus size fashion offer after retail sales for the category rose 75% year-on-year since July 2021, boosted by the additions of Yours, Evans, City Chic and Avenue.”

You can find out more about The Very Group and how Warehow was able to facilitate this growth in the following article: https://www.theverygroup.com/media/news/2021/very-plans-plus-size-fashion-expansion-as-new-brand-launches-drive-75-sales-growth/

5. Growth and expansion into the UK markets

Since Brexit, one of the key challenges in expanding into the UK for EU based or other non-UK based businesses, is understanding the ever changing UK compliance requirements, regulations and the logistical nuances of the UK market.

With the challenge of varying rules by country, it can be very time consuming and difficult to learn all of the UK regulations and stay abreast of any changes when based outside of the UK. To remove this burden, trust Warehow to be your UK expert and we can take care of all of this for you, so that you can focus on other business priorities.

We enable your business to grow and expand into the UK market with minimal investment, complexity or risk. Our sister companies can even provide preferential rates for acting as UK merchant of record. You just deliver stock into Warehow, and Warehow and our partners can do the rest.

6. Improved customer experience

Finally, when you add up all of the benefits mentioned previously, you end up being able to offer your customers an altogether greater level of customer experience.

Your services will improve alongside a better response time and faster deliveries – all of which will positively impact the reputation of your brand, which will become known for its reliability.

Now that you understand the 6 key reasons to outsource your logistics to a 3PL partner – why not read our 5 considerations when choosing the right 3PL partner?

Partner with Warehow
In summary, you should now understand what a 3PL (third-party logistics) partner is and how they can help your business. We have taken a look into 6 key reasons to outsource your logistics, and there are undoubtedly many more. So, what are you waiting for? Why not facilitate the growth of your business by partnering with Warehow?

At Warehow, we can:

• Integrate directly with 80+ marketplace channels and retailers
• Help expand the scale of your business with low complexity
• Provide an all-inclusive package based on your requirements, whether you need to ship 50 orders a week to 1000+ orders per day
• Use our digital expertise to provide seamless store integration
• Take care of the heavy lifting so that you can focus on what really matters – driving sales and growth!

If you’d like to find out more about how we can support the expansion of your business, get in touch with us at https://www.warehow.com/ to book a free consultation.