Ecommerce brands often focus on sales, marketing, and customer acquisition—but what if your fulfilment strategy is silently eating into your profits?
Many brands unknowingly lose thousands per month due to hidden fulfilment costs, inefficient processes, and poor logistics planning.
If you’re not regularly auditing your fulfilment expenses, you could be throwing away a significant portion of your revenue without realising it.
At E-PickPack, we work with ecommerce brands to identify and eliminate fulfilment inefficiencies, ensuring you maximise profitability while maintaining top-tier customer service. In this guide, we’ll break down the key areas where brands lose money on fulfilment and how to fix them.
Warehousing costs can skyrocket if your stock levels aren’t optimised. Many businesses:
Store slow-moving stock for months, paying excessive holding fees.
Use fixed storage plans that charge the same rate even during quiet months.
Fail to optimise warehouse space, leading to wasted costs.
✅ Use a 3PL with flexible storage—E-PickPack offers pay-as-you-use storage, so you’re only charged for the space you actually need.
✅ Identify slow-moving inventory—Track stock turnover rates and clear out non-selling items to free up space.
✅ Consolidate SKUs—If you have multiple variations of a product, bundle or optimise stock to reduce unnecessary storage fees.
Example:
A UK-based beauty brand reduced warehouse costs by 25% after switching to E-PickPack’s scalable storage model, eliminating fees on excess inventory.
If your fulfilment team is spending too much time picking, packing, and shipping, it directly affects your profit margins. Common inefficiencies include:
Manually picking orders, leading to errors and slow processing.
Poor warehouse layout, causing staff to take longer routes to pick items.
Incorrect packaging choices, increasing costs and shipping delays.
✅ Use an optimised pick-and-pack system—E-PickPack’s fulfilment centres use picking optimisation for faster, error-free fulfilment.
✅ Switch to packaging that reduces weight and size—We help brands select cost-effective, protective packaging that minimises dimensional weight charges.
✅ Automate order processing—Integrate with E-PickPack’s real-time fulfilment dashboard for instant order updates and tracking.
Example:
An online pet supplies brand using E-PickPack reduced order processing time by 40% after optimising warehouse workflows and adopting batch picking.
Shipping is one of the biggest fulfilment expenses, yet many brands unknowingly:
Use the wrong carriers—Paying for express shipping when economy options are just as effective.
Miss out on bulk shipping discounts due to fragmented order volumes.
Get hit with hidden courier fees for failed deliveries and returns.
✅ Multi-carrier solutions—E-PickPack partners with multiple couriers to compare rates and select the most cost-effective option per order.
✅ Negotiate better shipping rates—We leverage our high shipping volume to secure bulk discounts for our clients.
✅ Use data-driven shipping decisions—Our fulfilment platform provides real-time insights into carrier performance, costs, and efficiency.
Example:
A UK fashion retailer saved 18% on shipping costs after switching to E-PickPack’s carrier-optimised shipping model, ensuring they only paid for the best-value service per region.
Returns can be expensive, especially when brands:
Don’t have a streamlined returns process, leading to refunds taking weeks.
Pay for return shipping unnecessarily, instead of offering in-store or drop-off options.
Fail to restock returned products efficiently, leading to stock waste.
✅ Use an automated returns portal—E-PickPack offers a hassle-free returns that allows customers to self-initiate returns with pre-approved shipping labels.
✅ Restock returned items quickly—We process returns within 24 hours, ensuring stock is resold rather than sitting in a warehouse.
✅ Offer store credit instead of refunds—Encourage exchanges to retain revenue instead of issuing cash refunds.
Example:
A UK footwear brand using E-PickPack’s returns automation system reduced refund processing time by 60%, improving customer satisfaction and reducing lost revenue.
Many ecommerce brands outgrow their fulfilment provider, leading to:
Delays in peak seasons due to lack of warehouse capacity.
Limited international shipping options, restricting global expansion.
Lack of integrations with key platforms, causing inefficiencies.
✅ Choose a scalable 3PL—E-PickPack supports brands from 100 to 10,000+ orders per month, ensuring you never outgrow your fulfilment solution.
✅ Enable international shipping—We offer customs-friendly fulfilment and global carrier partnerships for seamless worldwide delivery.
✅ Integrate with your ecommerce stack—Our system connects with Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon, and more, automating fulfilment from sale to delivery.
Example:
An electronics brand using E-PickPack scaled from 500 to 8,000 monthly orders seamlessly, without changing fulfilment providers.
If your ecommerce brand is losing money on fulfilment, it’s time to audit your logistics strategy and partner with a 3PL that helps you scale profitably. At E-PickPack, we specialise in cost-optimised, scalable fulfilment solutions that help brands cut unnecessary expenses while improving efficiency.
Want to stop losing money on fulfilment? Get in touch today and discover how we can maximise your profit margins while delivering an unbeatable customer experience.