TL;DR
When evaluating a third-party logistics partner (3PL), your #1 question should be: Have they worked with brands operationally similar to yours? It’s not about industry labels — it’s about order volume, SKU complexity, sales models, and fulfillment fit. This guide walks through how to assess operational alignment and avoid 3PLs who promise to "figure it out."
By Nish George · CEO, Fetch Fulfillment · Published April 2025
A 3PL’s ability to serve your brand isn’t based on surface-level industry familiarity (like “health & beauty” or “supplements”). What truly matters is operational similarity. These are the core traits that 3PLs — including Fetch — use to assess brand fit:
3PLs thrive on operational clarity. Fit depends on the reality of your fulfillment needs — not general categories.
Profile:
Result: Not a fit for Fetch. We don’t specialize in low-volume retail-heavy fulfillment. This brand would thrive with a 3PL built for retail compliance and seasonal surge capacity.
Profile:
Result: Strong fit for Fetch. We serve brands with this exact profile — high-volume, lightweight DTC shipping with streamlined SKUs.
Know your profile. Find your match. Don’t assume all 3PLs handle every model equally.
If a 3PL is covering only 70% of your needs and says, “We’ll figure out the rest,” it’s usually a red flag.
Why?
Unless the 3PL is:
...you’re likely setting yourself up for friction.
“We’ll figure it out” is code for “you’ll bear the cost of our learning curve.”
The best outcomes come from choosing a 3PL with proven experience matching your fulfillment profile. Not just someone enthusiastic about learning it.
Look for:
Avoid:
A great 3PL won’t just say “yes.” They’ll say: “We’ve done this before.”
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At Fetch Fulfillment, we support high-volume DTC brands with precision, speed, and clarity. We’ve done this before — and we’re built to scale it.
Let’s talk. Book a call today.
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Fetch Fulfillment is a New Jersey-based 3PL for brand owners who want direct-to-consumer fulfillment to be the least stressful part of their business. Most 3PLs are good at one thing, like shipping on-time, or having modern tech, or picking up the phone. What makes Fetch unique is that it's stellar at all 3: it provides high-end boutique-grade customer service -- as seen in its glowing reviews and +92 net promoter score -- combined with its real-time cutting-edge tech and well-managed operation, with 99.2% same-day shipping and 99.95% order fill-rate. The Fetch team lives by its motto: they are Your Brand's Best Friend.
