In today’s competitive e-commerce environment, how to simplify your Shopify fulfillment strategy with 3PLs is a question many direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands are asking. Choosing the right fulfillment approach can significantly impact your shipping efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and overall customer satisfaction. Whether you’re deciding between one or two fulfillment locations, the key is finding a strategy that maximizes both speed and cost savings.
Understanding Your 3PL’s Capabilities
The first thing to consider is how sophisticated your 3PL partner is when it comes to fulfillment and inventory management. At Flowspace, we simplify fulfillment for our merchants by using intelligent routing logic. This means we only set up one location in Shopify for our merchants. Here’s why this approach works best:
When an order comes into our system, Flowspace automatically determines which warehouse is closest to the customer and has the available inventory to fulfill the order. Our system takes care of the routing without needing to configure any complex logic inside Shopify. Once we’ve fulfilled the order, we seamlessly notify Shopify with all the fulfillment details.
This ensures two key things:
1. Efficiency: You don’t need to worry about manually selecting or setting up different locations in Shopify for different warehouses.
2. Scalability: As your business grows, and you potentially expand to other sales channels (such as retail), you won’t have to go back and reconfigure your entire fulfillment logic from scratch.
When Multiple Locations Make Sense
That being said, not every 3PL offers this level of integration. If your 3PL partner’s warehouses are independent of each other, meaning they don’t communicate or share inventory levels, you might be better off configuring multiple locations in Shopify. This gives you control over which warehouse will fulfill which order, helping you avoid issues like stockouts or shipping delays.
For example, if you have inventory in both Pennsylvania and Nevada but your 3PL isn’t able to automatically route the order to the best location, you’ll need to manage this directly in Shopify by setting up two distinct locations. This way, Shopify’s own algorithms can route the order based on proximity and available stock. However, this approach requires more hands-on management and oversight.
Long-Term Growth and Flexibility
At Flowspace, we think beyond the immediate needs of Shopify-only sellers. Many merchants eventually expand beyond online-only sales, integrating retail channels, or managing complex fulfillment requirements through EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) connections. If you rely solely on Shopify’s routing logic, you may face challenges in scaling up your operations later.
That’s why we recommend setting up Flowspace as a single location within Shopify. Our platform not only handles your current e-commerce needs but is designed to grow with your business. Whether you’re expanding to new channels or opening additional warehouses, you can count on our system to handle it all without requiring additional development or custom logic.
The Bottom Line
In conclusion, understanding how to simplify your Shopify fulfillment strategy with 3PLs is essential for scaling your business efficiently. By choosing the right number of fulfillment locations and leveraging a 3PL partner, you can streamline your shipping process, reduce costs, and improve your customer experience. With the right strategy in place, you’ll be positioned to meet customer expectations while keeping your operations running smoothly.
At Flowspace, we’re always thinking about long-term growth and simplifying logistics so you can focus on what you do best—growing your brand. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to scale, we’ve got the tools to make your fulfillment operations seamless.
We also encourage you to explore our other features that make Flowspace unique like Managed Freight, Inventory Management and Network Optimization technology, to further streamline your operations.
Contact Flowspace today to learn more about our fulfillment services and how we can help you win the race against time!
Written By:
Norma Kwee
Product Team, Principle Product Manager
