3PL Warehouse Consulting

Straightforward Warehousing and Local Fulfillment in Any Country

Local fulfillment is an effective strategy to break into an international market with fast, easy, and inexpensive shipping to local customers. Finding the right 3PL to warehouse your inventory and help with fulfillment, on the other hand, can be a challenge, especially if you’re looking for the best pricing without sacrificing on the quality of service provided.

Hifida knows how to find the perfect 3PL for our clients at costs that fit their budget. We can find 3PLs that specialize in specific product types and in the specific services our clients may need. Whether you want to offer expedited shipping to local customers in an international market, or you just want more cost-effective warehousing storage, Hifida can help.

How Hifida’s 3PL Consulting Works

Hifida’s 3PL consulting services are catered to each client, but here is a general process of what you can expect when you partner with us:

3PL Warehouse Research

Our experts will research 3PL warehouses that may be a good fit for our client. We’ll solicit price quotes directly from providers, and we’ll review those quotes with clients. Our cost comparison analysis makes the pros and cons of each 3PL clear, so you can make a confident choice.

3PL Price Negotiations and Communication

When you think there may be a good 3PL fit, Hifida will negotiate directly with the 3PL on your behalf. Once an agreement is made, Hifida will continue to act as a liaison between our clients and their chosen 3PLs.

3PL Warehouse Inventory Management

After you’ve made your 3PL choice, Hifida oversees warehousing activities. Our specific services will vary depending on the client, but some examples of what we can do include:

Planning where inventory is sent and stored (for example, how much will stay in the preferred warehouse, and how much is sent to Amazon FBA)
Creating shipment trackers to assist with purchase and shipment planning
Inventory receiving

3PL Warehouse Quality Control

Quality issues can arise from how a 3PL handles your product, and Hifida will be positioned to identify and resolve quality problems quickly. For example, if your products are damaged in transit because a 3PL uses low-quality boxes, we may ask them to double-box inventory or provide other protective measures to insure your products remain damage-free.

Hifida and Amazon FBA

Hifida specializes in helping clients make the most of Amazon FBA while avoiding Amazon’s high warehousing prices. We know how to make use of Amazon FBA services without incurring unreasonable warehousing fees, and we can find you cost-effective 3PL warehouses for general inventory storage.

Hifida’s 3PL Consulting Fees

Our consulting fees are calculated at an hourly rate, and our clients have the freedom to choose how much, or how little, of our consulting services they want to use. For example, a client may only need help with negotiating prices with a 3PL provider, while other clients may need the full-suite of services that we offer. Just let Hifida know what you need, and we’ll get it done.

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3PL Services FAQ

Can Hifida help manage Amazon FBA and warehousing?

Yes! Hifida can help Amazon FBA inventory and warehousing to reduce Amazon’s fees as much as possible. For example, we can help you plan Amazon FBA shipments in advance, which means Amazon will treat the shipment as a trans-loaded shipment. This will prevent being charged inbound and outbound warehousing fees.

Why should I consider a 3PL and local fulfillment?

Using 3PL warehousing services to provide local fulfillment to customers in a new market (like in different countries) has a lot of benefits for your business and your brand. Some of those benefits include:

Expedited shipping: Instead of international customers having to wait weeks to get products being shipped from a fulfillment center outside of their home country, they’ll have access to their order within just a few days. If you want to offer 2-day shipping, using a local warehouse is essentially the only way this is possible.
Lower shipping costs: You won’t be faced with having to charge customers a high international shipping rate or eating the shipping cost to try to support conversions. Shipping rates to local customers will remain at normal levels, which will support conversions without struggling with high shipping rates.

Are there alternatives to using a warehouse and local fulfillment?

Businesses have other choices they can use to reach international customers without needing to invest in a local warehouse. Depending on your product and customer base, the following fulfillment strategies may be a good option:

China Fulfillment

Low inventory risk: Lead times between China factories and China warehouses is sometimes 24 hours or less, which means businesses don’t need to buy months of inventory at a time. Instead, they can buy weeks of inventory, which reduces the need to invest in a large amount of inventory upfront.
Adaptable to demand: Since you only need to buy weeks of inventory at a time, it allows businesses to scale up or scale down production based on varying demand. This makes China fulfillment ideal for short-term product campaigns, or testing new products where demand is unknown.
Fast and inexpensive international shipping: While China fulfillment can’t offer 2-day shipping, it does provide an option for businesses who want to break into international markets with acceptable shipping times (usually 5-8 days) and low shipping costs without needing to invest in a new warehouse.

China fulfillment does have some potential drawbacks that businesses should consider before committing, which include:

Lack of 2-day shipping: It just isn’t possible to offer 2-day shipping to customers when using China fulfillment.
Potentially lower profit margins: It’s possible to end up paying more per-unit with China fulfillment than you would with stocking a domestic warehouse via bulk ordering and sea freight shipping. This isn’t always the case, but businesses should take care to compare costs before committing to a fulfillment strategy.

Hybrid Fulfillment

Another alternative to using local warehouses to break into international markets is a hybrid fulfillment strategy. Hybrid fulfillment will combine local warehousing with China fulfillment to offer businesses the best of both worlds.

When both are used, businesses can still ship from a local warehouse to offer expedited shipping, and they can take advantage of the potentially better price-per-unit of bulk ordering. They can then decide to either use China fulfillment for countries where no local warehousing has been established, or they can leverage China fulfillment to adapt to unexpected spikes in demand (where orders are fulfilled from China until local warehouses are restocked).

The primary drawback to hybrid fulfillment is that backend systems will be complex, and it will be easy to miss customer orders (or double-fulfill orders) if you don’t have a clear system in place that determines what warehouses should fulfill what orders and when.

China fulfillment involves fulfilling customer orders directly from China instead of a local warehouse. China factories ship products to a China fulfillment center, where they are packaged and sent directly to customers. China fulfillment is particularly popular among e-commerce businesses, since it offers the following advantages:

Do all 3PLs offer the same service?

No, not all 3PLs offer the same service. In fact, 3PLs often have a niche focus that allows them to capitalize on their expertise. For example, Deliverr has services that are more catered to startups, while EcommOps specializes in China fulfillment (and they are also our preferred fulfillment partner).

Some 3PLs will specialize in specific product types. For example, Simpl Fulfillment offers a specialty in handling hazardous products, while Red Stag is uniquely equipped to handle large, oversized, or bulky products.

The experts at Hifida are well-versed in what 3PLs specialize in what areas, and we make it easy to connect with a 3PL that’s a great fit for your unique business needs.

How much do 3PL services cost?

The cost of 3PL services will vary widely and are dependent on a number of factors. Some factors businesses should keep in mind when considering pricing with 3PLs includes:

Product weight: The heavier the product, the more you’ll pay in fees to the 3PL.
Product dimension: If a product is unusually shaped or bulky, you’ll likely pay more in fees to a 3PL, even if the product is light-weight.
Shipping speeds: Most 3PLs will offer several options of shipping speeds you can offer to your customers. The faster the shipping speed, the more you’ll pay in fees.

Clients that partner with Hifida get access to supply chain experts that will negotiate with 3PLs on their behalf. We’ll help you get the services you need, at the best rates, without sacrificing quality.

What rates are negotiable with a 3PL?

What fees a 3PL is willing to negotiate will be specific to the 3PL, but Hifida has had success negotiating a number of fees on behalf of clients. Some of those fees have been: