[ INSIGHT ] ECOMMERCE
by Sam Coiro North America Head of E‑Commerce, Commercial Business Development, A.P. Moller-Maersk sam.coiro@maersk.com | 437-553-4208
Ecommerce Networks: An Insider’s View A few years ago, I sat with a midmarket retailer who admitted something I hear more often than most people might expect: “We built our network for a world that doesn’t exist anymore.”
protecting conversion rates at checkout. We see this in network design conversations with brands asking which SKUs truly need to be forward deployed, which nodes offer the right balance of volume and velocity, and how to avoid the overdistribution trap. Proximity is power, but only when paired with disciplined SKU forecasting and real-time inventory visibility. Commerce now happens everywhere— on social media, marketplaces, brand sites, influencer drops, live shopping, even voice commands. Each channel comes with its own expectations and its own operational fingerprints. 3PLs are adapting by offering more modular services and channel-aware compliance. Brands don’t just need warehouses and shippers, they need partners that can quickly adapt to ever- changing shopping methods and consumer expectations. They need partners that can meet their customers 24/7/365 through any channel, for any product in any geography. They need packaging that meets marketplace standards, kitting for influencer campaigns, and reverse logistics flows that protect margin. The 3PL’s role is shifting from “fulfillment provider” to “orchestrator of distributed demand.” The retailer who told me their network didn’t match their world was right. But we now have the tools to build something dynamic enough to keep pace with the consumer, the market, and the moment.
At Maersk we’ve watched this shift reshape everything from procurement strategies to warehouse processes. The companies leaning into multi-carrier aren’t chasing complexity, they’re chasing resilience. They’re starting to treat carrier selection the way financial teams treat portfolios by distributing exposure, managing risk, and continuously rebalancing. BLENDED NETWORKS DRIVE GROWTH The rapid growth of regionals, postal consolidators, and alternative last-mile partners reflects a market no longer satisfied with one-size-fits-all solutions. The strongest growth doesn’t come from any single provider but from blended networks that allow shippers to match service level and cost to each order’s needs. Solution providers that can orchestrate a blend of regional and national capabilities are quickly addressing shippers’ immediate needs. The next frontier of speed is geography. You get faster not by upgrading every shipment to premium service, but by starting closer to the customer. Retailers and brands increasingly position inventory within one or two zones of their primary demand clusters. This local-to-local approach reduces cost while
They relied on a single national carrier, shipped mostly from one coastal hub, and assumed the future would look like a predictable extension of the past. When demand patterns fractured, surcharges climbed, and delivery promises tightened, that strategy suddenly felt ancient. That conversation was early in my time working on ecommerce solutions at Maersk and it has stayed with me because it captured an inflection point the entire industry is now living through. The parcel world we inherited is centralized, linear, and carrier constrained and giving way to one that is flexible and data/tech driven. My work in ecommerce made it clear early on that we were entering a true inflection point, one that the entire industry is now trying to navigate. The parcel network we inherited was built for a different era and the discussions happening today show how fast that reality is shifting. For years, the idea of diversifying carriers was treated as a contingency plan. Today, it’s a core design principle. Shippers want optionality on transit time, cost, and capacity especially as service expectations tighten. The mindset has moved from “Can we handle multiple carriers?” to “Can we afford not to?”
32 Inbound Logistics • April 2026
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