Article

6 reasons to partner with a 3PL company

What third party logistics covers, and the six most important reasons to hand order fulfillment to an experienced partner.

3PL icon: four blue arrows pointing outward
First published
March 4, 2022
Topic
Third party logistics

Third party logistics, defined

General notes

  1. What is 3PL (third party logistics)?

    Third party logistics services include all the steps necessary to get a product from the seller to the customer. Sometimes referred to as corporate fulfillment services or a 3PL center, they receive, process, fulfill and ship the product to its final destination.

    A 3PL company specializes in handling inventory, processing orders, contract packaging, and shipping orders in the most efficient way possible.

  2. Why should I use a 3PL company?

    There are many reasons, but we’ll focus on the six most important ones below.

    At MGA, 3PL fulfillment runs in the same building as contract packaging and direct mail, so the product you store with us can be packed, kitted or mailed without leaving the plant. See To the Doorstep for how we ship to consumers.

Benefits of partnering with a 3PL company

1. Frees you up

Partnering with an experienced 3PL center allows you to devote valuable resources and time to other areas of your business. The process of fulfilling orders is time-consuming, complex, and often challenging. If you want it to be done as efficiently as possible, it will require a huge amount of your time and attention, and it can be overwhelming for many businesses.

By using a 3PL company, you don’t have to worry about the contract packaging, marketing fulfillment, logistics, and everything else that goes into the process of fulfilling orders. Business owners can focus on planning, strengthening, and growing their business while leaving fulfillment to their partner.

2. Cost savings and worry free

Using 3PL services is cost effective, as you don’t need to spend money on a traditional warehouse. Fulfillment centers are designed to be as efficient as possible, with optimized logistics that help make picking and packing orders easy and fast. Also, most fulfillment companies have good relationships with shipping and supply companies, allowing them to pass on the savings that come with purchasing shipping services and packing supplies at a high volume.

In addition, you don’t have to concern yourself with security and other issues that come with owning your own warehouse. At MGA, your products are contained and secured in a climate-controlled, access-controlled facility that is video monitored 24/7/365.

3. Scalability and flexibility

By partnering with a quality contract packaging company, you’ll easily be able to handle all the business that comes your way. Many companies sink when they see a massive amount of growth in sales because they simply can’t handle the volume.

A 3PL fulfillment center allows you to scale services based on your order volume: you pay for only the amount of space required, with the choice to increase or decrease that space with any change in business. The flexibility of a 3PL fulfillment services company is valuable because it can easily allocate the resources needed based on business fluctuations that occur throughout the year. So instead of adjusting space, labor costs, and the other issues that come with the ups and downs of your business yourself, leave those details to the fulfillment company.

4. Use the experience and expertise of your partner

Smart business owners understand they can’t do everything. By partnering with a proven and successful 3PL fulfillment company, businesses can draw on its experience and expertise to ensure a smooth fulfillment operation and process. A full-service, design-to-distribution contract packaging company is your team of experts that will do what they do best while allowing you to focus on business growth.

Order fulfillment is challenging, and any oversight that impacts the customer experience in a negative manner can have a bad effect on a business. By using a corporate fulfillment company with experience, you can rest assured that your orders will be handled quickly, accurately, and efficiently. They have the employees, equipment, facility, and technology required to fulfill any order smoothly and make your customers happy.

5. Satisfy your customers every time

Customer satisfaction is critical in today’s competitive marketplace. Bad reviews on social media from unhappy customers can destroy a business. That’s why it’s important to have the most efficient, dependable fulfillment process around, one that will lead to a return visit and a happy customer. As opposed to unhappy customers, satisfied ones will become brand advocates for a business, and this will attract more customers. For any business that wants to succeed and experience longevity, making sure the customer experience is positive is a priority.

6. Makes managing inventory easy

Most 3PLs use modern technology for inventory tracking and management, making it easy to integrate with any business. A fulfillment center will ensure that your inventory is organized and stored properly, and will also handle any returns. You will always be aware of what is and isn’t in stock.

The fulfillment center you choose to partner with receives your inventory and assigns it to a certain area within the 3PL center. The inventory is assigned a code that allows it to be tracked, and other tools communicate when to reorder new products to help prevent back-orders. Efficient inventory management is a breeze with a quality corporate fulfillment services company; see systems for how ours works.

Bottom line

An experienced company that provides superior corporate fulfillment services will be one of the greatest partners a business can have, helping it to thrive and achieve great business results. It allows a business to focus on what it does best while leaving the fulfillment process to the experts. Managing inventory, processing orders, shipping, and other logistical fulfillment services are all part of the process, and having an experienced team to fulfill your orders smoothly, to the great satisfaction of your customers, is key.

How we can help

At MGA Innovation, we have 60 years of experience providing full-service design-to-distribution contract packaging services. We have a team of experts that will integrate our services with your business operations to produce optimal results. We truly can help your business reach new heights with our 3PL fulfillment services. At MGA, we offer a variety of packaging options that are highly customizable to suit your company’s exact needs and budget.

Contact us today, and we’ll show you how we can propel your business to the next level.

One partner, not three

The case for a 3PL gets stronger when the packaging and the mail happen in the same building as the storage. Here is a three-vendor program against a single-site one.

DimensionThree vendorsOne roof
Inventory recordThree reports, none authoritativeOne record, owner-scoped, lot-level
Freight between stagesTwo inter-vendor moves, each a damage and delay riskNone — product moves across the floor
Contracts & insuranceThree contracts, three COIsOne contract, one COI
AuditsThree supplier audits, three corrective-action loopsOne site, one certificate
Lot traceabilityBreaks at every handoffReceipt to proof of delivery, unbroken
Owner of the dateNobodyYour account manager, by name

Fulfillment at MGA

ZoneProcess
StorageClimate-controlled, controlled-access storage under one owner-scoped inventory record.
StoragePick, pack and parcelSingle orders and kits picked to quantity, packed and shipped to the consumer.
Production areaKittingSeparate items combined into one unit under one SKU: subscription boxes, promotional kits, sample packs.

Every process side by side, in the capability matrix

What our clients say

MGA has been a strategic warehouse and fulfillment partner since 2017. Working together, we have created a more cost effective, efficient process that delivers consistent, high quality service to our subscription box clients.

John Dezio
Vice President, Continuum
Marketing Production Services

We have worked with MGA for over 3 years and they have offered incredible service from the outset. The team at MGA are so incredibly helpful and have been excellent partners.

SoPost
Product sampling

Hand us the fulfillment

Tell us how many orders you ship a month, what system they come from and the cutoff you need.