Shiphero Blog

The Fulfillment Innovation Wheel

It’s no secret that today’s world of ecommerce is changing rapidly. Third party logistics (3PL) and fulfillment providers that don’t find a way to keep up with, if not surpass, the pace of growth during this ecommerce boom is at serious risk of getting left behind. That’s why we invented The Fulfillment

Graphic titled The Fulfillment Innovation Wheel with segments labeled Experience, Operation, and Growth.

In this article
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Infographic wheel showing 12 types of fulfillment innovation divided into Experience, Operation, and Growth sectors.

It’s no secret that today’s world of ecommerce is changing rapidly. Third party logistics (3PL) and fulfillment providers that don’t find a way to keep up with, if not surpass, the pace of growth during this ecommerce boom is at serious risk of getting left behind.

That’s why we invented The Fulfillment Innovation Wheel: to help 3PLs understand what capabilities and service offerings they need to implement in order to be successful, and to help online retailers and brands choose which 3PL is right for them by allowing them to ‘check the boxes’.

We studied the most successful 3PLs and fulfillment providers in the industry to understand what sets them apart. The answer was that they understood their mission, and they used this set of 12 capabilities as a flywheel to continually delight their customers and push themselves towards greater success and innovation.

Each and every 3PL we observed invested heavily in certain capabilities like personalization, delivery speed or frictionless returns, but always satisfied their client’s basic requirements for every capability on the flywheel. And always, the main focus was on Customer Experience, Growth and Scalability, and Operational Excellence.

Without further ado, we present The Fulfillment Innovation Wheel!

To view all blogs in this series, click the links below:

  1. 2-Day Delivery
  2. Same Day Shipping
  3. At the Box Personalization
  4. Designed for Returns
  5. Sustainable Fulfillment
  6. Resilient Shipping
  7. Distributed Fulfillment
  8. Data Now
  9. Automation
  10. Scale Up and Out
  11. Integration Stack
  12. Professional Services

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