Most growing eCommerce brands are paying more for fulfilment than they need to. Whether you're self-fulfilling or already using a 3PL, there's a good chance your cost per order is 20-34% higher than it could be. Here's exactly where the savings come from — and what they look like in real numbers.
Why eCommerce brands are overpaying for fulfilment right now
Most growing eCommerce brands are losing money on fulfilment — they just don't know it yet. Whether you're self-fulfilling from home or a unit, or paying a 3PL that's charging hidden fees, there's a very good chance your cost per order is significantly higher than it needs to be.
The brands that get fulfilment costs under control aren't necessarily doing higher volumes. They've made smarter choices about how their fulfilment is structured — and the result is typically a reduction in total fulfilment cost of 20-34% compared to what they were paying before.
Here's where the savings actually come from.
1. Carrier rates — the biggest single saving
If you're booking DHL, DPD or Royal Mail directly as an individual business, you're paying retail or near-retail rates. A 3PL like Reilly's despatches hundreds of parcels every week — which gives us significantly negotiated carrier rates that individual brands simply can't access.
For a typical eCommerce brand sending 200 orders a month, the difference between retail carrier rates and negotiated 3PL rates is often £1.50-£3.00 per parcel. At 200 orders, that's £300-£600 a month in carrier savings alone — before you've even looked at picking, packing or storage costs.
This is the single biggest reason why switching to a professional 3PL often reduces total fulfilment cost even after the 3PL's fees are factored in.
2. Packaging costs — buying at scale
When you're self-fulfilling, you're buying boxes, poly bags, bubble wrap, tape and labels in small quantities at retail prices. A 3PL buys these in bulk — thousands of units at a time — at a fraction of the per-unit cost.
If you're currently spending £0.40-£0.80 per order on packaging materials bought from Amazon or Staples, a 3PL typically brings this down to £0.15-£0.30 per order for standard packaging. On 200 orders a month, that's another £50-£100 saved.
If you have branded packaging requirements — custom boxes, tissue paper, branded tape — a 3PL can often source these at better rates too through their supplier relationships.
3. Labour costs — pick and pack vs your time
This is the cost most self-fulfilling brands fail to account for properly. Your time has value — and if you're spending 2-3 hours a day packing orders, that's 2-3 hours not spent on marketing, product development, customer acquisition or the parts of your business that actually grow revenue.
For brands with employed staff doing the packing, the real cost is even clearer: warehouse labour, employer NI, holiday pay and management time. A 3PL's per-order pick and pack fee typically works out significantly cheaper than the fully-loaded cost of in-house labour once all these factors are included.
A typical Reilly's pick and pack fee for a standard single-item order is competitive with what most brands are paying their own staff to do the same thing — but without the employment obligations, the management overhead or the need to scale headcount during peak periods.
4. Space costs — warehouse vs your garage
If you're storing stock in your home, spare room or rented unit, you're paying for space that has to be maintained, insured, heated and secured. As you scale, you need more space — and the jump from a spare room to a commercial unit is a significant fixed cost increase that happens whether you're fulfilling 100 orders a month or 1,000.
3PL storage is variable — you pay for the space you use, when you use it. Scale up for peak season, scale back in quieter months. No long-term lease, no business rates, no building insurance. For most growing brands, flexible 3PL storage is substantially cheaper than the equivalent fixed commercial space.
5. Returns costs — the hidden drain
Every return that isn't processed quickly is stock that can't be resold. If you're managing returns yourself, items sit unprocessed, inventory is inaccurate and you risk overselling. A professional 3PL processes returns immediately — inspecting, restocking and updating your inventory in real time.
Faster returns processing means faster restocking, which means fewer lost sales from out-of-stock items. For brands with return rates above 10% — common in fashion and homeware — this alone can make a meaningful difference to the bottom line.
6. Multi-channel efficiency — one stock pool
If you're selling on Shopify, Amazon and TikTok Shop with stock split across different locations or being managed manually across systems, you're paying the price in time, errors and overselling. A 3PL with proper platform integrations — like Reilly's DespatchLab — consolidates everything: one stock pool, one pick queue, one invoice.
Eliminating manual order entry alone saves significant admin time. Eliminating overselling saves customer service costs, refunds and the reputational damage of disappointing customers.
What does 34% actually look like?
Let's look at a real example. A Midlands eCommerce brand self-fulfilling 300 orders a month before switching to Reilly's:
The breakdown: £1.20 saved per order on carrier rates, £0.25 on packaging, £0.20 on labour efficiency — totalling £1.65 per order, or 34% of the previous cost. At higher volumes, the per-order savings are even more pronounced.
How to find out what you could save
The easiest way is to get a tailored quote from Reilly's and compare it against what you're currently spending. We break our pricing down clearly — pick and pack, storage, carrier and returns — so you can see exactly where the savings come from.
Call 0116 444 0444 or visit our fulfilment services page to get a quote within 24 hours. No minimum volumes, no long-term contracts — just a clear comparison of what professional 3PL fulfilment could save your business.