From 2018 to 2022, a tidal wave of new brands flooded the market. Shopify made it simple to launch. Instagram made it easy to advertise. Dropshipping, private labeling, Amazon FBA—it all looked like a fast track to success. The barriers to entry in eCommerce were lower than ever, and thousands of new founders rushed in to try their luck.

But as the market matured and competition tightened, many of these DTC dreams didn’t pan out. Some founders, rather than exiting the space entirely, pivoted to something more stable: order fulfillment. The thinking was simple—“I know how to run a brand. I know what founders need. I can turn my old warehouse into a 3PL.”

And for a while, it worked. But the cracks in this model are becoming harder to ignore.

Low Entry, High Noise

Shopify democratized eCommerce. That’s the good news—and the problem.

Starting a brand no longer required logistics experience, deep inventory planning, or even much capital. All you needed was a product, a decent website, and a few hundred bucks for ads. This gave rise to countless one-person brands, weekend hustlers, and influencer-backed product lines.

Inevitably, many of these founders found themselves overwhelmed by fulfillment. They were too small for enterprise-level providers, too busy to pack boxes themselves, and too green to build internal systems. Enter a new wave of fulfillment shops—run by people just like them.

  • Built from the ashes: Some were founded by ex-brand owners whose businesses had failed. Their warehouse lease remained, so they pivoted to service others.
  • Fueled by eComm culture: Others came from course communities preaching passive income and automation. Fulfillment was just another “recurring revenue” play.
  • No background required: Operations expertise wasn’t a prerequisite. If you could lease a space and print labels, you were in business.

It was the perfect storm—low capital requirements, high demand, and a peer-to-peer pitch that resonated with young DTC brands.

Recurring Revenue by Any Means

The shift from brand owner to 3PL operator wasn’t always strategic. In many cases, it was a survival move. When product sales dried up, turning a warehouse into a fulfillment business looked like a lifeline.

But unlike SaaS, where recurring revenue is built on sticky software and scalable systems, fulfillment is operationally intensive. It requires process design, labor management, inventory controls, tech integrations, client service, and physical infrastructure. Many of these early operators underestimated what it would take.

Instead of building for longevity, they optimized for speed:

  • Manual processes: SOPs, if they existed, were loose. Much of the work depended on tribal knowledge or the founder’s direct involvement.
  • Limited capacity: Space and staffing were fine-tuned for 2–3 DTC clients, not 20. Scale quickly exposed the operational limits.
  • No margin for error: Without redundancy or systems, any issue—illness, staffing change, surge in orders—created chaos.

They weren’t wrong to chase stability. But what they built was rarely designed to handle sustained, multi-brand volume.

Pitch-First, Ops-Second

What many of these shops excelled at was marketing. Their founders had lived the DTC experience. They knew the lingo. They could talk about unboxing, CAC, influencer marketing, and conversion rates. For early-stage brands, this felt like a breath of fresh air compared to traditional warehouses.

But that founder empathy masked deeper weaknesses.

  • Strong pitch, weak backend: They knew how to land the deal—but not how to handle SKU complexity, wholesale orders, or shifting demand across seasons.
  • Underpriced services: In an effort to compete, they offered razor-thin pricing that didn’t reflect the real labor or systems required. When volume spiked, quality dropped.
  • Operational immaturity: Few had warehouse management systems, robust client reporting, or clean workflows. They were building the plane midair—and it showed.

Clients stuck around as long as things worked. But as brands matured and orders increased, the strain started to show.

The Market Has Moved On

What worked in the Shopify boom doesn’t necessarily work now. DTC has cooled. Capital is tighter. Brands are focused on profitability, efficiency, and long-term growth. They’re looking for partners who bring real infrastructure to the table—not just a leased space and a founder with good vibes.

The fulfillment providers that survive this next chapter won’t be the ones who talk the loudest. They’ll be the ones who built real systems. Who show up every day. Who scale with intention. Who understand that fulfillment isn’t about boxes—it’s about trust, timing, and operational excellence.

Built for Longevity, Not Just the Moment

We don’t pitch order fulfillment as a stepping stone or a quick win. We’ve built our operation to last—through market cycles, channel shifts, and product pivots. That means:

  • Systematized onboarding so your brand gets a clean, consistent start.
  • Cross-trained teams so we can absorb changes in volume or product mix.
  • Thoughtful infrastructure built not just for today, but for what’s next.

The Shopify boom may have lowered the bar—but we’ve chosen to raise it. Because what your brand needs isn’t hype. It’s follow-through.

Ready for a change? Let’s talk.