April 11, 2025
LAS VEGAS – Christine Warren has spent her career directing management strategies for international e-commerce 3PLs (third-party logistics). Two weeks ago, Warren took her considerable experience to Prosper Show 2025, speaking with attendees about what to do when the business outgrows fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).
What are the key questions? Do customers really care if they get product in two days? The following is an edited excerpt from Warren’s talk to a packed house at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
“If you’re not going to fulfill with Amazon, you’re probably going to fulfill with 3PL (third-party logistics). There’s a million different reasons why, such as customer expectations; What do they expect? Do they expect a prime delivery experience for all of your products? Do they expect free shipping? What about the quality of your product and the quality of your delivery? Do they trust your brand? Do they value your price point, and do they want a box opening experience?
“Today, more than 81% of my customers expect free shipping. Half of our customers expect two-day delivery, right? I saw a post on Linked-In saying that we as an industry have spent billions of dollars getting our product to customers in two days when they don’t really care. But two days is the gold standard, right? Two things can be true at the same time. It’s your job to understand if they care.
“My son wears size 17 sneakers. I don’t care if they [shoes] get there in two days. I care if they get there, but it doesn’t matter, right? Do I need a candle in two days? Probably not. So we’re going to assume right now that we’ve all determined we’ve outgrown FBA. We know what our customers expect, and we know that we can’t achieve these expectations without moving away from FBA.
“Hybrid model: You do not have to move all your SKUs out of Amazon. You can move some, alright? Amazon seller? No FBA? You can move all of your inventory to a 3PL…Maintain the majority of your inventory with FBA and you’ve targeted SKUs to a 3PL. What do we need to do this? In this case, we believe that customers need to receive your product within two to three days. This is true SFP [seller fulfilled Prime].
“Our customers don’t need fancy packaging. Amazon boxes are not fancy, nor do our 3PLs need to be. For certain SKUs and storage fees, size restrictions are too costly…There are 3PLs out there and you can give them your data and they will tell you exactly how much you can save. I have seen tens of thousands of dollars saved by moving certain SKUs.
“What do we need to do if we want to do this hybrid? Data, data, data. You need to understand your data. What are your fast movers? What are ordered once and which are recurring? Which are critical to have in stock, but slow to move—and which do you sell with prime because you can turn it off and there are different reasons to do that.”
Christine Warren is a consultant and recipient of the 2024 Women in Supply Chain Award from Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive in the Trailblazers Category, honoring female leaders who continue to pave the way for future females in logistics. She has extensive experience in managing client experience, sales, and account management, particularly within supply chain SaaS and international eCommerce 3PLs. She can be reached at [email protected]
The next chance to immerse yourself in the networking and knowledge of Prosper Show will be March 10-12, 2026 at the The Wynn Las Vegas.
Recent Comments