Alternative Logistics Companies to Shipwire and Fulfillment by Amazon

As trade becomes more national and global, shipping is becoming more and more important.  Logisitics companies and shipping and fulfilling goods orders around the country and around the world.  Unfortunately, the industry is being driven more and more by a small group of national, large scale fulfillment companies.  However, there are actually many high quality alternatives to companies like Shipwire logistics and Amazon fulfillment (FBA or FBM).  Those local companies have many outstanding qualities that are hard to determine from the outset.  Finding them requires an independent website or third party that can distinguish the good and the band and offer unbiased advice.

Nowadays, many companies are choosing Shipwire and Amazon by default.  However, these West Coast based companies do not understand all of the local markets that they serve.  Many local companies have better quality, customer service, price and understand the shipping routes much better so they can deliver much quicker.  In all, they provide benefits on virtually every level.

Make Sure Your Online Source For Information is Unbiased

However, it is difficult to find these companies.  A quick Google search yields dozens of paid sites hawking their fulfillment companies.  There are also a number of articles that are anything but objective.  Instead, these articles are thinly disguised advertisements that don’t provide any value and instead only pump up the business that paid to write about them.

Instead, manufacturers, e-commerce companies, end customers and other logistics users should think about using a third party website to vet and provide solid alternative logistics companies.  For example, e-commerce competitors to Amazon such as Gilt Group, eBay, Etsy or Instacart are extremely hesitant to use the Amazon behemoth or even Shipwire.  They prefer to have more control over the distribution network and not give access to big competitors.  For that reason, companies need to find their own fulfillment providers.

Local Knowledge is Critical

The most important consideration for a fulfillment company is local knowledge.  Shipwire and Amazon simply cannot provide the local knowledge that a number of other companies provide in different states or regions.  For that reason, they have a better understanding of shipping lanes and trucking routes.  That helps to reduce shipment times substantially which also reduces cost and delays payment.  Producers trying to get their product to market as fast as possible should be particularly concerned with this factor

Quality is Key

Another important factor is quality.  Does the fulfillment company store the goods in a clean, organized facility?  Are the goods handled with care and shipped with the utmost caution?  For example, are the trucks air-ride equipped?  Otherwise, even if all of the other factors are in line with expectations, the result could be a damaged product.

Don’t Forget About Customer Service

Customer support is also important.  The local fulfillment centers are more likely to know their customers by name and pay extra care.  The big fulfillment centers see you as just one of many customers.

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