5 Best Third-party Logistics (3PL) Companies for Small Businesses in 2022

Third-party logistics (3PL) companies deliver outsourced, end-to-end logistics services—including order fulfillment, shipping, freight distribution, and import/export.

3PLs aren’t reserved only for enterprise-level businesses with large budgets. Many startups and small businesses find it more efficient and economical to outsource fulfillment and freight logistics tasks to 3PL companies.

The best 3PL companies for small businesses are:

If you’re searching for the perfect 3PL company for your operation, we recommend starting with the logistics matchmaker WarehousingAndFulfillment.com. This free service matches your needs to more than 500 prescreened 3PL companies to find the perfect fit for your business. Get free 3PL quotes by visiting their site today.

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Best 3PL Companies Compared

	Visit ShipBob	Visit Red Stag Fulfillment	Visit NTG (Formerly FreightPros)	Visit RedHawk Logistics	Visit Whitebox
Ecommerce Parcel Fulfillment	✓	✓	✕	✕	✓
Freight Management	✓*	✕	✓*	✓	✕
Batch Fulfillment	✓	✕	✕	✕	✕
International Shipping	✓	✓	✓**	✓**	✓
International Warehousing	✓	✕	✕	✕	✕
Amazon Seller-Fulfilled Prime (SFP) Eligible	✕	✓	✕	✕	✓
Freight Discounts	✓	✕	✓	✓	✕
Warehousing and Storage	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Distribution	✓	✓	✕	✓	✓
Import/Export Freight	✓	✕	✓**	✓**	✕
Full-service Marketplace Management	✕	✕	✕	✕	✓

As the table shows, no small-business-friendly 3PL company fills every logistics need. Some focus on ecommerce fulfillment and other related specialties such as Red Stag’s special-handling fulfillment and Whitebox’s marketplace management services. Others offer various freight-focused services.

Of our five top contenders, only NTG (Formerly FreightPros), RedHawk Logistics, and ShipBob cover both distribution and freight logistics arenas.

Which 3PL Company Is Right for You?

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ShipBob: Best 3PL Company for Order Fulfillment & Importing

ShipBob

What We Like

• Two-day discounted ground shipping anywhere within the continental US and options for same-day delivery
• Wide fulfillment network: 23 US and seven international warehouse locations
• End-to-end import freight management services

What's Missing

• High storage fees: Not ideal for slow-moving products or businesses with low sale-to-SKU ratios
• Cannot fulfill Amazon SFP (Seller-Fulfilled Prime) orders
• No refrigeration or frozen warehousing for cold chain compliance

Deciding Factors

• Fulfillment services: Scalable, small business-friendly ecommerce order fulfillment and distribution
• Freight services: End-to-end import freight management and distribution services
• No minimum volume requirements

Standout Features:

• Affordable pricing
• B2B fulfillment with EDI compliance
• 23 US warehouse locations
• Seven international locations
• FDA-certified climate control and handling
• 99.95% accuracy rate
• Works with UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL and smaller regional carriers
• FBA prep services
• Retail dropshipping program

ShipBob is a 3PL company delivering functional and efficient fulfillment services from its global network of 30 facilities. With no monthly order minimum on its small business “Growth Plan,” ShipBob is the most startup-friendly distribution service in its class.

Its fulfillment clients can also opt for end-to-end freight management and distribution services to reduce transit times and increase visibility for freight coming from China.

Plus, the company offers batch fulfillment on a per-project basis for crowdfunding campaigns and product launches—whereas many 3PL fulfillment companies solely focus on daily shippers.

ShipBob Fulfillment 3PL Service Costs

One major advantage ShipBob has over other fulfillment companies is the billing transparency it provides. Clients’ bills are assessed and updated daily, and all charges are visible in a fully-itemized format from your dashboard. In the same tab, shipping details can be toggled to estimate variable order costs.

ShipBob charges a single fulfillment fee for each order, which includes pick and pack (up to four items), basic packaging materials, and shipping costs.

To get pricing for services other than order fulfillment, contact ShipBob.

ShipBob Fulfillment 3PL Features

One standout feature of ShipBob’s fulfillment service is its large, nationwide warehouse network. This puts your stock within a one- to two-day shipping time to most locations throughout the US. The company also has seven international warehouse locations for streamlined global distribution.

ShipBob recently joined forces with freight forwarding company Flexport to launch FreightBob—an end-to-end managed freight and inventory distribution program for importers. Small- to mid-sized businesses that use ShipBob for fulfillment can enlist the help of FreightBob to reduce time-in-transit, lower freight costs, and distribute inventory strategically across ShipBob fulfillment centers.

This program leverages faster ships with priority discharge in Los Angeles and Long Beach ports to shorten transit time to 15 to 30 days. The team books your LCL (less than container-load) freight on 100% guaranteed weekly sailings at highly competitive rates, even for shipments as small as 1 cubic meter. These shipments are able to clear customs during transit as well as skip destination transload and CFS steps—making the journey even faster (and more predictable.)

ShipBob’s 3PL fulfillment services meet every point on our review criteria:

• Range of services: Ecommerce order fulfillment is ShipBob’s focus—with import freight management, FDA-certified handling, batch services, and startup programs to support a range of business needs.
• Cost and value: ShipBob’s quoted pricing includes all-inclusive order fulfillment fees and volume-based storage. This lets you compare costs among other services and against your own in-house fulfillment operation to determine the best value.
• Startup-friendly and scalable: With no order minimums and the resources to support unlimited growth, ShipBob is happy to work with businesses of all sizes.
• Simple onboarding: New ShipBob clients onboard with the help of a dedicated ‘Implementation Engineer’ who stays with you for 30 days. This dedicated rep will devise a startup or migration plan to move stock and order management into its system without downtime.
• Customer service: Ongoing support from staff is available via phone, email, or live chat.
• Integrations: ShipBob integrates with top ecommerce shopping carts, seller marketplaces, and crowdfunding platforms to download orders and upload tracking data.
• Management systems: See everything happening with your stock, sales, and orders, regardless of where they originate, in ShipBob’s centralized client dashboard.

ShipBob excels in serving startups, importers, and batch shippers. But, with its wide range of services, that’s not all ShipBob can do—which is why ShipBob tops our list of best 3PL companies.

What ShipBob Fulfillment Is Missing

Unlike Whitebox and Red Stag, ShipBob does not offer Amazon Seller Fulfilled-Prime (SFP) -eligible shipping. It does integrate with Amazon, but your products won’t qualify for the sales-driving Prime badge.

A workaround for sellers who want the Amazon Prime edge while also cost-effectively servicing their other sales channels is to partner with ShipBob for fulfillment and Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) prep services.

Additionally, ShipBob doesn’t offer export or domestic freight services (other than managing inventory distribution to and from its network of warehouses). We recommend RedHawk Logistics for North American freight needs.

What Users Think About ShipBob

Online user reviews for ShipBob are largely favorable—especially on cornerstone sites like Trustpilot, where 75% of nearly 500 users rated their experience as “excellent.” Many users reported that the service’s two-day express shipping option helped them decrease shopping cart abandonment rates and lower their overall shipping costs. Other reviews commend the company’s software and customer service.

A small percentage of ShipBob’s Trustpilot reviews are negative, although that number is much higher on certain other sites. On G2, 19 out of 43 reviews give a 1-star rating, citing lost inventory, billing disputes, and the use of unreliable couriers.

Red Stag Fulfillment: Best for Special Product Handling

Red Stag Fulfillment

What We Like

• Excellent operational transparency and service guarantees
• Fast turnaround times with affordable shipping and handling for oversize items
• Low order minimums and no long-term contracts

What's Missing

• Only two warehouse locations—not ideal for inventory distribution
• Dashboard and user interface are not user-friendly
• Costly pick and pack fees

Deciding Factors

• Fulfillment services: Scalable, small business-friendly order fulfillment geared towards ecommerce businesses
• Flexible 200 order monthly minimum

Standout Features:

• 30-day risk-free trial
• Specializes in heavy, oversized, high-value, and/or fragile goods
• Two US warehouse locations
• Industry-leading service guarantee with $50 payouts for each error
• 48-hour guaranteed receiving and unloading turnaround time
• 0.02% error rate
• Works with UPS, USPS, FedEx, Amazon, OnTrac

Red Stag Fulfillment is a small-business-friendly 3PL company that focuses on ecommerce fulfillment. It specializes in products that need special handling—including oversized, heavy, bulky, and fragile goods, as well as high-value luxury items. This type of specialty is extremely rare in the 3PL industry, and can help suitable clients save significantly.

The company also offers excellent customer service with dedicated customer support and a $50 payout for any error, including lost or damaged items. Plus, clients benefit from Red Stag’s incredible order accuracy (99.98%) and zero-shrink guarantees.

Red Stag has just three warehouses in two locations, but can still ship to 96% of US addresses in two days or less. With over 6 million square feet of warehouse space, the service is highly scalable.

Red Stag Fulfillment 3PL Service Costs

Red Stag Fulfillment is transparent with its pricing. Storage, order, and per-item fees are all clearly outlined in its fee schedule, and add-on fees are figured hourly or per project. The only unknown fees when you start with Red Stag are your shipping costs, though clients benefit from Red Stag’s low, discounted rates.

Red Stag Fulfillment 3PL Features

Red Stag Fulfillment focuses its 3PL services on clients with high-value, heavy, oversized, and/or fragile merchandise. This makes it a great match for retailers dealing in luxury goods, delicate electronics such as computer monitors, and products like ammunition that require special handling.

From video-tracked facilities to extensive training and high packaging standards, Red Stag strives to deliver zero-loss services. It even offers a zero-shrink guarantee, plus a $50 payment to the client for any mistake made on Red Stag’s part (in addition to standard reimbursement).

Red Stag Fulfillment is another 3PL company that hits every point of our review criteria:

• Range of services: Specialty ecommerce fulfillment is Red Stag’s focus, and this is where it passes the rest with zero-loss practices and guaranteed on-time shipping. It also offers assistance with occasional freight needs.
• Customer service: Red Stag offers exceptional client services and specialized stock storage and tracking procedures for its specialty sellers. Assistance is just a phone call away—seven days a week.
• Cost and value: Compared to ShipBob, Red Stag can be a more expensive fulfillment solution since it delivers specialized services. It may be overkill for simple storage and shipping needs.
• Startup-friendly and scalable: Red Stag Fulfillment is another 3PL company that works with startups and companies shipping hundreds of orders daily.
• Simple onboarding: Red Stag plans your startup or migration to its systems—plus, it offers a 30-day free trial (excluding shipping costs) to ensure it’s the right fit.
• Integrations: Red Stag integrates with top ecommerce shopping carts, seller marketplaces, and order management for order processing and shipment tracking.
• Management systems: Red Stag Fulfillment’s client portal lets you monitor stock levels, order status, and fulfillment success rates based on Red Stag’s 100% on-time fulfillment guarantee.

What Red Stag Fulfillment Is Missing

Red Stag is not optimal for shipping small or standard-sized, easy-to-ship goods; you’ll spend more than you need to on non-specialty items with this company. For those types of goods, ShipBob is the more economical option.

However, Red Stag has fewer warehouse locations than ShipBob—just two nationwide. This was previously an obstacle to efficient distribution, but they’ve now dialed in their network and processes to achieve two-day shipping to almost all of the continental US. Additional US warehouses are expected to launch next year.

Red Stag doesn’t offer standardized freight or LTL shipping solutions like RedHawk Logistics or NTG.

A map of Red Stag’s warehouse locations and shipping speeds. (Source: Red Stag)

What Users Think About Red Stag Fulfillment

User reviews for Red Stag Fulfillment make it clear that customers really enjoy working with this fulfillment provider. Online reviews show that Red Stag delivers on its zero-shrink, 100% on-time fulfillment as well as its proper packaging guarantees.

The company has a 4.2-star rating on Google, with the only less-than-perfect reviews coming from previous employees rather than clients.

The only criticisms on other review sites revolve around outdated issues that Red Stag has now improved on—such as shipping carrier restrictions and customer service limitations. They have since expanded to working with four carrier partners and offering dedicated client-support representatives.

NTG (Formerly FreightPros): Best 3PL Company for Small Business Freight

NTG (Formerly FreightPros)

What We Like

• Provides a range of discounted quotes for multiple freight-shipping carriers
• Helpful and responsive account managers
• Informative, cloud-based transportation management system (TMS)
• Access to a large multimodal carrier network

What's Missing

• No third-party order fulfillment or distribution services
• Reported overcharges
• Difficult dispute process

Deciding Factors

• Freight services: LTL, strategic full truckload (FTL), final mile, dry van, flatbed, refrigerated, and drayage shipping
• Warehousing: short- and long-term storage in 5,000+ vetted warehouses

Standout Features:

• Competitive pricing with discounted rates
• Easy and fast quotes
• Best-in-class customer support from 13 US office locations
• Vast carrier network of 80,000+ providers
• No minimum shipment frequency
• Advanced proprietary digital logistics platform and transportation management system app
• Easy-to-use online payment portal
• Educational online resources

Nolan Transportation Group or NTG (formerly FreightPros) is a freight-focused 3PL service that saves you money and time on inbound, outbound, and point-to-point freight shipments. Using NTG, you get access to discounted rates for over 100 freight carriers—along with a suite of tools to manage shipments yourself. If you prefer a more hands-off approach, NTG experts can schedule, book, and track shipments on your behalf.

The company’s multimodal services include less-than-truckload (LTL) freight shipping and strategic full truckload (FTL) shipping, as well as refrigerated, expedited, drayage, and intermodal solutions. Warehousing is also available through NTG’s network of over 5,000 vetted facilities with on-site drop trailer solutions, container transloading, cross-docking, palletizing, and labeling services.

NTG 3PL Service Costs

NTG fees are built into your freight rates. You select the freight carrier and shipping rate, and that’s what you pay—no added service fees or upcharges. Plus, there’s no cost to open an NTG account. Added services, such as freight spend analysis, are available and generally free for regular clients too.

Most rates for similar providers are also customized. However, estimated freight fees range from $6.55 to $21.98 per pound.

NTG 3PL Features

NTG is an enterprise-level logistics provider that recently acquired FreightPros, a small freight broker that delivers impressive industry expertise in a small-business-friendly package. The combined staff simply know the business—they’re skilled at classifying freight for the best pricing with no audit surprises and can manage as little or as much of the process as you wish.

This provider meets every point of our 3PL company review criteria:

• Range of services: Schedule LTL, partial, and full-truck freight for standard or specialty loads needing time-critical delivery or temperature-controlled transit and storage. Or, check out the savings that intermodal rail freight offers.
• Customer service: You’ll have a dedicated account rep who will set up your account, train you on the online rate and booking tools, or handle freight management on your behalf.
• Cost and value: You always know what you’re paying when you ship with NTG. With experts who understand the intricacies of freight classes and load insurance, all of your bases are covered and there are no billing surprises.
• Startup-friendly and scalability: If you’ve never shipped before, ship freight just once or twice a month, or ship regularly, NTG can handle your volume.
• Simple onboarding: Your NTG account rep will walk you through your dashboard features, cover classification, and other key designations, along with scheduling, booking, and bill-of-lading (BOL) creation tools.
• Integrations: NTG ecommerce platform integrations show real-time freight rates in your checkout if you sell in bulk and ship orders via freight.
• Management systems: Manage freight rate shopping, booking, and tracking yourself in the NTG management dashboard or let account pros handle some or all of the booking and tracking for you—it’s up to you.

A major benefit of using a freight 3PL service is the expertise working on your behalf. NTG’s reps know how to spot savings opportunities through flat-rate freight classification and negotiated dimensional rates to reduce your freight spend. They also know how freight insurance works and ensure your loads are properly covered.

What NTG Freight Is Missing

NTG is not an order fulfillment or parcel shipping service like ShipBob, Red Stag Fulfillment, and Whitebox. Its freight-focused services include warehousing, but it doesn’t offer inventory management, parcel shipping, distribution, or order fulfillment services.

What Users Think About NTG

NTG’s online reputation is largely negative, with many user ratings containing 1-star reviews. FreightPros, on the other hand, has a much healthier reputation—including a 4-star rating on Trustpilot from 240+ reviews.

NTG’s acquisition of FreightPros kept the original staff and infrastructure intact, so it’s hopeful that this recent change will lead to an improved NTG customer experience.

RedHawk Logistics: Best 3PL Company for Freight Distribution

RedHawk Logistics

What We Like

• Access to discounted quotes from 70+ carriers
• Helpful and responsive account managers
• Asset-based warehousing and distribution services
• Highly rated in user reviews

What's Missing

• No parcel order fulfillment
• Support platform designed for enterprise-level clientele
• Limited network of carriers

Deciding Factors

• Freight services: LTL, FTL, specialized heavy haul, intermodal, drayage, break-bulk, dry van, flatbed, and refrigerated shipping
• Warehousing: Short- and long-term storage in four warehouses strategically located in Ohio—with distribution and sort-store-repack services

Standout Features:

• Competitive pricing, discounted rates
• Easy and fast quotes
• Efficient customer services from personal account managers
• Vetted network of 70+ recommended carriers
• Proprietary web-based Transportation Management System (TMS)
• Custom inbound routing and optimization software
• Educational online resources
• No minimum shipment frequency

RedHawk Logistics (formerly RedHawk Global) is a small-business-friendly 3PL company that provides freight shipping, warehousing, and distribution services across the US, Canada, and Mexico.

In point-to-point freight shipping, it competes closely with NTG. However, RedHawk Logistics pulls ahead with added 3PL bulk freight storage and distribution services that appeal to manufacturers, wholesalers, and importers.

RedHawk Logistics 3PL Service Costs

For shipments, RedHawk Logistics’ fees are built into the fees you pay per shipment. When you select a bid on a shipment, that’s what you pay.

In comparing LTL freight costs across top broker services, RedHawk Logistics is extremely competitive and generally delivers low rates, even for occasional and low-volume shippers.

Larger accounts can receive volume freight or class-based discounts too. RedHawk Logistics also offers expanded 3PL freight project oversight, ongoing account logistics management, and warehousing and distribution services. For advanced management services—often called 4PL services—RedHawk Logistics provides quotes based on your specific needs.

RedHawk Logistics 3PL Features

RedHawk Logistics offers an array of freight shipping services—from moving a single pallet to multiple containers—anywhere within North America. As usual in the freight industry, RedHawk Logistics taps nationwide and regional carriers to move shipments. But, it neatly ties oversight of all of your freight logistics within a single streamlined management system.

Its complete freight 3PL services meet all of our review criteria:

• Range of services: RedHawk Logistics moves all types of freight, including LTL, intermodal rail containers, climate-controlled, flatbed, and cross-border import and export. It also offers managed 3PL services like freight storage, distribution, and sort-store-repack services.
• Customer service: Small accounts can self-manage freight or use an account rep to assist as needed. Turnkey 3PL management services are also available with dedicated reps.
• Cost and value: Like NTG, most of RedHawk Logistics’ fees are built into freight shipping and service rates. Advanced needs, such as distribution, are quoted.
• Startup-friendly and scalability: If you ship just a few LTL pallets each month, you can use RedHawk Logistics, and it can meet all of your freight needs as you grow.
• Simple onboarding: RedHawk Logistics’ eFreightLine freight booking portal is free to use and intuitive, and account reps will walk you through the portal’s booking and tracking system when you set up your free account.
• Integrations: Like NTG, RedHawk Logistics offers ecommerce platform integrations to show real-time freight rates in your checkout for online order shipping via freight.
• Management systems: Its eFreightLine portal lets small shippers rate shop, book, and track shipments, or oversee freight movement if account reps handle the day-to-day booking and scheduling tasks.

RedHawk Logistics’ experts are also helpful in spotting savings opportunities. They’ll identify the correct National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) numbers to help lower your freight class and look for carriers that negotiate volume rates, waive dimensional weights, or ship under a flat class to help reduce your freight spend.

What RedHawk Logistics Is Missing

Like NTG, RedHawk Logistics isn’t an ecommerce parcel fulfillment service—its focus is on freight. However, with freight storage, distribution, sort, store, and repack services, it can help with bulk order fulfillment.

This is a useful 3PL service for business-to-business (B2B) enterprises like manufacturers, wholesalers, and importers who don’t want to manage their own distribution.

What Users Think About RedHawk Logistics

Online reviews of any large, multi-tier 3PL logistics provider are hard to pinpoint. Most users are on an enterprise scale and, unlike smaller entrepreneurs, are not inclined to review services online. However, the eFreightLine portal, which is RedHawk Logistics’ small business tool, has largely positive online reviews on aggregate sites like Uship and Google reviews.

Whitebox: Best 3PL Company for Hands-off Amazon & Multichannel Management

Whitebox

What We Like

• Two-day shipping for 99% of the continental US
• Full-service marketplace management platform handles your listings for you
• Advanced reporting, forecasting, and analytics

What's Missing

• Prohibitive order minimums
• Monthly platform fee charged for software
• Lack of pricing transparency

Deciding Factors

• Order fulfillment: Scalable ecommerce fulfillment through FBA and three asset-based warehouses
• Growth agency services: Full-service marketplace management including listing creation/optimization, stock maintenance, marketing, and sales servicing
• 1,000 order monthly minimum

Standout Features:

• Turnkey service manages entire Amazon listing including photos and copy
• FBA prep
• 0.10% error rate
• Advanced reporting and analytics
• Works with FedEx, UPS, USPS, and DHL

Whitebox is the easiest, most hassle-free way for small manufacturers and private-label brands to sell Prime-eligible items on Amazon. This turnkey 3PL company lists items on Amazon and other sales channels for you, manages order processing and fulfillment on your behalf, then pays you profits (minus fees) for products sold each month.

Its growth agency services manage your entire online sales process—covering everything from professional product photography and SEO-informed copywriting to quality assurance and profitability studies.

Whitebox 3PL Service Costs

Whitebox’s pricing structure is different from other 3PL companies, and it has two components—fulfillment and marketplace management (also called their “growth agency” services).

Rather than charging for each fulfillment process individually, clients pay a monthly “all-in fulfillment fee” that covers all related charges—except storage and software, which are billed additionally. Whitebox’s fulfillment costs are custom-quoted. Its growth agency service is charged on a commission basis, assessed as a fixed percentage of the client’s sales.

With this full-service platform, you’ll also be paying marketplace and FBA fees, so the total impact on your bottom line can be substantial. Because of this, we recommend Whitebox for product manufacturers and sellers with substantial markups. Whitebox can be the ideal full-service partner due to its extensive and well-developed turnkey services.

Here are things to consider when you look at Whitebox’s price tag:

• Whitebox markets your products: Whitebox markets your goods via listings on Amazon and other sales channels—like eBay and your own shopping site. This includes profitability studies, professional product photography, and SEO-targeted descriptions.
• Whitebox manages Amazon FBA: Whitebox sets up Amazon FBA logistics and oversees the day-to-day tasks like tracking sales, assessing restock needs, and tracking costs.
• Whitebox pays you: Once your products start to sell, Whitebox pays you. Whitebox tracks sales, receives payments, and deposits revenues into your account each month—less your fees.

Whitebox 3PL Features

Since Whitebox differs from the other services on our list, we adjusted our criteria review to clearly examine the unique 3PL fulfillment services that Whitebox provides:

• Sales forecasting: During onboarding, Whitebox forecasts product demand and uses these numbers to determine the initial stock needed to launch.
• Stock maintenance: Reviews stock needs regularly to maintain proper inventory levels.
• Creates and manages sales channel listings: Professionally photographs your goods and creates SEO-targeted product listings on Amazon, eBay, your website, or other specified sales channels.
• Market products and improve listings: Monitors listing search results on sales channels and organic search, and improves listings to optimize rankings and brand exposure.
• Sales servicing: Deals with all customer service questions and returns across all channels.
• Amazon FBA stock preparation: Receives, counts, and examines your stock for any damage or quality issues before sending it to Amazon FBA, and correctly packages and distributes it into Amazon’s warehouse system per FBA requirements.
• Lets you focus on your business: In a nutshell, Whitebox is a 3PL company that lets business owners focus on development, production, and other profitable areas instead of dealing with direct-sales headaches.
• Provides transparency: Whitebox provides payout statements and sales channel and inventory reporting via a client portal.

When you boil it all down, Whitebox is simply an Amazon seller that optimizes FBA to sell and fulfill goods on your behalf. This is illustrated in the Whitebox client listing below, showing an item “sold by” Whitebox Inc. and Fulfilled by Amazon.

What Whitebox Is Missing

Whitebox’s high minimum requirement of 1,000 orders per month makes it incompatible with many young businesses and startups. It also doesn’t offer batch fulfillment services for crowdfunding ventures, which is a convenient option offered by ShipBob.

Whitebox isn’t geared for business-to-business (B2B) distribution. You’ll have to manage wholesale freight shipments to your resellers in-house or via a freight storage and distribution 3PL company like RedHawk Logistics.

What Users Think About Whitebox

Amazon seller ratings are the best place to judge the success of Whitebox. Its 5-star seller rating proves it delivers on its promises to buyers—and it can’t do that without handling FBA efficiently. The company’s well-established seller account boasts 98% positivity on 28,000+ reviews, which not only speaks to its functionality, but also increases listing visibility and buyer confidence.

Alternatives: 7 More 3PL Companies

We’ve already told you all about the five best 3PL companies, but there are plenty more options on the market. Here are additional solutions for more specific needs.

How We Evaluated the Best 3PL Companies for 2022

Most small businesses need a 3PL company to handle logistics in specific operational areas, such as ecommerce order fulfillment, freight shipping, or import and export logistics. There are large 3PL companies that deliver all of these services. However, the 3PL companies that focus on a few core logistics services generally deliver the best value for small businesses.

Based on the range of logistics services that small businesses need, we evaluated 3PL companies on the following criteria:

• Range of services: Most small-business-friendly 3PL providers focus on fulfillment, freight, or some combination of the two.
• Customer service: Logistics is a time-sensitive business, and the top 3PL companies assign clients dedicated account representatives for instant support.
• Cost and value: Costs for 3PL services vary based on many factors, so we focused on services that deliver price transparency and no hidden fees.
• Startup-friendliness and scalability: Low order minimums and a ramp-up period are crucial for young small businesses, and scalability ensures a 3PL can efficiently meet demand.
• Simple onboarding: Free account startup and a well-planned onboarding process are key factors for any small business moving to the 3PL outsourcing model.
• Integrations: Connectivity between your website, order management, accounting, and other mission-critical systems ensures accuracy and timeliness.
• Management systems: Top 3PL companies provide clients with intuitive account management dashboards to oversee operations, check statuses, and pull reports.

Overall, we recommend ShipBob as the best ecommerce fulfillment 3PL company. ShipBob offers affordable fulfillment and import services with the flexibility that many small businesses need to thrive. Clear pricing, functional special features, discounted fast shipping, and a large warehouse network put ShipBob ahead of the pack for small business 3PL needs.

Bottom Line

There are thousands of 3PL companies that can take the burden of managing supply chain and order fulfillment off your shoulders. Whether you need ecommerce fulfillment, freight solutions, or both, finding the perfect fit takes time. It’s always best to review many options as you make this important decision.

We recommend starting your search for the ideal 3PL partner with WarehousingAndFulfillment.com. This free matchmaking service assesses your needs against more than 600 prescreened 3PL companies to find you the perfect fit. Click here to get started.

Visit WarehousingAndFulfillment.com

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