3PL Central, the leader in cloud-based warehouse management systems (WMS) built to meet the unique needs of third-party logistics (3PL) warehouses, today released a Special Ecommerce Edition of its annual State of the Third-Party Logistics Industry Report to address tremendous acceleration of ecommerce adoption. Since January, ecommerce order volume through 3PL Warehouse Manager has accelerated 59%, demonstrating the effect COVID-19 stay-at-home orders and closures of non-essential businesses have had on consumer buying habits. Top 3PLs have seen growth in excess of 329%. Further, the ecommerce trends show little signs of slowing even as communities open back up, prompting 3PL warehouses to look for additional operational efficiencies to better address the influx of ecommerce orders.
Although long expected to drive continued expansion, ecommerce exceeded growth expectations in March through May 2020. Order volume in May increased 65% versus the prior year and exceeded historic holiday peak season order volumes. In fact, in a recent 3PL Central poll, 67% of 3PLs reported growth this year and 24% of 3PLs reported seeing growth in excess of 25%. While this has provided an opportunity for many 3PLs to win new ecommerce and omnichannel customers hoping to offer additional buying experiences for their consumers, many 3PLs have sought additional ways to build scalability for their business to address the unprecedented order volume. The Special Edition: Ecommerce State of the Third-Party Logistics Industry Report serves as a resource for logistics businesses to understand buying trends, consumer expectations, and share best practices for 3PL warehouses hoping to harness this opportunity.
“When we polled 3PLs about their biggest challenges related to ecommerce scalability, 58% shared technology implementation and 50% shared operational efficiency as the greatest challenges they faced,” said Andy Lloyd, chief executive officer at 3PL Central. “That’s why we wanted to create a resource and a roadmap to help 3PL warehouses address the changing market and the better prepare for the onslaught of ecommerce orders.”
“Even as communities have started opening, we still see highly elevated volumes through ecommerce channels. COVID-19 forced buyers to change the way they shop and made novice online shoppers more comfortable with the online buying experience. Compound that with the number of retailers closing storefronts and not having fulfillment expertise, increasing demand for 3PLs to offer inventory management, pick, pack, and ship services will only continue. Our job is to help these 3PLs implement technology solutions like warehouse management systems (WMS) that offer shopping cart integrations, mobile barcode scanning, and rate shopping to allow them to drive operational efficiencies so they can scale their businesses,” Lloyd continued.
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