Inbound Logistics | January 2026

ECOMMERCE FULFILLMENT: 7 PITFALLS TO AVOID

Building resilience through agile planning, adaptable operations, and strong fulllment partnerships is critical to avoiding the following costly pitfalls. 1. SOURCING WITHOUT STRATEGY As geopolitical tensions and tariff uncertainty continue to reshape global trade, ecommerce brands that fail to adapt face serious challenges. Rising logistics costs, duties, and shifting trade policies are prompting forward-thinking companies to diversify sourcing across multiple suppliers and regions. Many are exploring nearshoring opportunities and in-country sourcing to mitigate risk. “We see a trend where brands are diversifying their sourcing strategy rather than relying on a single one,” says Johannes Panzer, head of industry solutions, ecommerce at Descartes Systems Group. The combination of uctuating tariffs and the rapid rollback of de minimis—the customs threshold below which imported goods are exempt from duties and taxes—has thrown many ecommerce brands for a loop. “Not only are brands expected to pay a higher percentage, but they’re also likely to be expected to pay it on day zero,” says Divey Gulati, chief operating ofcer and co-founder of ShipBob, a logistics service provider in Moreno Valley, California. Changing manufacturing locations or fulllment countries can signicantly impact costs in a post-de minimis world, especially as brands adjust to new cross- border restrictions. ShipBob has helped several nine-gure brands, especially in the apparel and beauty space, navigate this space by leveraging its foreign trade zone (FTZ) facilities. “Companies can pay duties after their orders enter U.S. commerce, which means they already made the sale and are able to pay for the duties with revenue they already generated,” explains Gulati. Moreover, tariff and de minimis policies vary widely across markets such as the UK, Australia, and Canada. ShipBob reports increasing demand from both new and existing customers looking

Third-party logistics providers such as Ryder System o er automated conveyor systems and robotics to streamline ecommerce fulfillment, moving orders from pick to pack in minutes instead of hours. Real-time inventory tracking and intelligent workflows help warehouses process higher volumes with speed, accuracy, and consistency.

to expand into its non-U.S. network. Ecommerce brands cannot afford to overlook these global nuances when developing a resilient sourcing strategy. 2. INVENTORY WITHOUT INSIGHT In the face of rising costs, accurate data and demand forecasting are now non-negotiables. Landed cost calculations are more important than ever in today’s economic climate, according to Panzer. Brands must balance the risk of overstocking, which ties up cash and can lead to deep discounting to clear excess, against the risk of stockouts that can damage customer trust and delay fulllment. To strike that balance, successful brands aren’t shying away from investing in integrated data systems that align real-time sales data with inventory management tools. This enables them to order more of what sells and scale back on what doesn’t, improving both margins and customer satisfaction. It’s a misstep if brands don’t have access to real-time data from all partners, enabling them to see what’s going on

in their fulllment center(s). Brands must require access to every order, scan, and shipment, and have it be tracked in real time with transparent service level agreements (SLAs), dashboards, and analytics showing accuracy, speed, and cost breakdowns per order. The ip side of the coin is collecting data but not making the best use of it. “Brands have access to so much data, and they need to properly leverage it to best distribute all products—or even just their best sellers—to reduce shipping costs and transit times,” says Gulati. 3. SHIPPING WITHOUT SENSE It’s a common mistake for ecommerce brands, especially newer or quickly growing ones, to overpromise on delivery times. “The pressure to go fast within a one- to three-day period is real,” says Albert Silva, senior vice president of operations at Veho, a tech-powered logistics company focused on last- mile delivery. Not everyone is Amazon, however, with fulllment centers scattered across the country and multiple ways to get

130 Inbound Logistics • January 2026