With Quivo the process runs in five clear steps:

1. Connect: your shop system links to our warehouse through the Quivo Connector, so orders and product data sync automatically with no manual entry.
2. Store: you send your products to one of our self-run warehouses, where they are booked in and stored ready to ship.
3. Pick and pack: the moment an order comes in, it is picked and packed to your specifications, including any custom or branded packaging.
4. Shipping: the finished parcel is handed to the right carrier through our multi-carrier network, with tracking attached.
5. Returns: anything that comes back is processed with ABC classification and photo documentation.

The whole chain is automated, but nothing is a black box. You follow every order and stock level in real time in the Connector, so you always know what has shipped, what is in progress and what is in stock across your channels.

These two terms get mixed up constantly, but they describe different things:

• Shipping is only the physical transport of a parcel from the warehouse to your customer's door, the leg handled by a carrier such as Royal Mail or DPD.
• Fulfilment is the entire process around it: goods-in, storage, stock management, picking, packing, the handover to the carrier and the returns handling afterwards.

So shipping is just one building block inside fulfilment. This matters when you compare providers, because a cheap shipping rate means little if the picking is slow, the packing is inconsistent or stock counts drift out of sync. A strong fulfilment operation optimises every step together, so the whole delivery experience is fast and reliable, not just the final carrier leg. When your fulfilment works end to end, your customers simply see accurate orders arriving on time, which is exactly what drives repeat purchases.

The two overlap, which is why they are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same:

• Fulfilment is the online-retail specialisation. It is built for fast, automated B2C dispatch, smooth shop integration and easy returns, exactly what D2C brands and online shops need.
• 3PL (third-party logistics) is the broader umbrella term. Alongside fulfilment it also covers freight forwarding, bulk warehouse logistics and the transport of large or palletised goods, and it is often B2B-focused and contract-based.

Put simply: fulfilment is the e-commerce corner of the wider 3PL world. Every e-commerce fulfilment operation is a form of 3PL, but plenty of 3PL services have nothing to do with shipping single parcels to consumers. For an online brand, what matters is that your provider specialises in the e-commerce side rather than treating your orders as an afterthought to freight. If you want the criteria for choosing one, see our e-commerce fulfilment services page.

The real difference comes down to control and brand experience:

• Amazon FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon): your stock sits with Amazon and ships through its system. You gain reach and Prime delivery, but you give up control over packaging, you get limited customer data and you play by Amazon's rules and fee changes.
• Fulfilment through an independent provider like Quivo, also known as Fulfilment by Merchant, FBM: you keep full control over branded packaging, the unboxing experience and your customer data, and you stay independent of any single marketplace.

Neither is automatically better, they solve different problems. Many brands run both at once: FBA for Amazon marketplace orders where reach matters, and an independent provider for their own Shopify or WooCommerce store where brand experience and data ownership matter. That split lets you capture Amazon's audience without handing your entire logistics and customer relationship to one platform.

There are four common models, each with a different trade-off:

• In-house fulfilment: you store, pack and ship yourself. Full control, but high effort and hard to scale as you grow.
• Outsourced fulfilment (3PL): an external provider runs the whole operation. Scalable and low-effort, with some setup to connect your systems.
• Marketplace fulfilment (e.g. Amazon FBA): the marketplace stores and ships for you. Wide reach and fast delivery, but less brand control and thinner customer data.
• Hybrid fulfilment: a mix, for example in-house for one channel and a provider for another. Maximum flexibility, but more moving parts to manage.

Which one fits depends on your order volume, how much control you want to keep and how fast you are growing. A common path is to start in-house, then move to an outsourced or hybrid model once packing orders starts eating into the time you should be spending on the business. You will find a full comparison with pros and cons further up this page.

A widely used rule of thumb is around 100 to 150 orders per month. Below that, many founders still pack themselves without too much pain. Above it, the manual work usually starts to compound: packing eats whole evenings, mistakes creep in, and shipping admin crowds out product and marketing.

Volume is not the only trigger, though. It often makes sense to switch earlier if:

• Your products are fiddly to pick and pack or need special handling
• You have sharp seasonal peaks like Black Friday or Christmas that overwhelm a manual setup
• Returns are becoming a job in their own right
• Storage is spilling out of your home, garage or first small unit

The honest deciding point is less a magic number and more a question: is fulfilment starting to block the work that actually grows your business? When the answer is yes, outsourcing usually pays for itself in time and fewer errors.

Pricing is usually built from two parts:

• A monthly base fee for using the warehouse and system infrastructure
• Variable costs per order for storage, pick and pack, shipping and returns

As an industry guide, fulfilment costs excluding shipping often sit between £2 and £5 per order, depending on how many items are in the order, product size and any extras such as branded packaging or express dispatch. Storage is typically billed by the space you actually use, and shipping is passed through at carrier rates.

The number that matters most is not the headline rate but whether the pricing is transparent. Hidden surcharges, vague handling fees and unclear storage bands are what make outsourcing hard to budget. At Quivo we work with 100% price transparency and no surprise fees, so what you see is what you are billed. You will find the full breakdown on our prices page.

Fast dispatch is one of the biggest reasons brands outsource, so it is built into our standard process. Every order that reaches us before midday is picked and made ready to ship the same day. Our warehouses are collected daily, so parcels leave without sitting around.

In numbers, that currently means:

• 99.8% same-day fulfilment
• 98% next-day delivery
• 99.6% fulfilment accuracy

As your volume grows, we agree individual cut-off arrangements with you rather than forcing everyone into one rigid deadline. During peak periods such as Black Friday and the Christmas run-up, we plan capacity with you in advance using demand forecasts, so speed holds up when order numbers spike instead of slipping at the worst possible moment. The result your customers see is simple: orders that arrive quickly and predictably, which is exactly what keeps them coming back.

Over 40 systems, covering the platforms most UK brands actually use:

• Shop systems such as Shopify, WooCommerce and Shopware
• Marketplaces such as Amazon FBM, Otto and TikTok Shop

Each integration syncs orders, products and stock levels automatically, so you are not copying data between systems by hand. And if you run something custom or niche, our open API lets you build your own connection, with you deciding exactly which data is shared. That keeps the setup flexible whether you sell on one channel or across several at once. You will find every available connection in the integration overview.

Returns are a normal part of e-commerce, especially in categories like fashion, so we treat them as a core part of the service rather than an add-on. We take over the complete returns process, and every returned item is handled with:

• ABC classification, so items are sorted by condition and either put straight back into sellable stock or set aside
• Photo documentation, giving you a clear record of what came back and in what state

You track the status of every return in the Connector, which speeds up processing and shortens the time to refund your customer, a big factor in whether they buy again. Depending on your product type, we set up tailored return workflows rather than a one-size-fits-all process, which matters for higher-value or more delicate goods. You will find more detail on our returns management page.

Yes, and this is one of the clearest advantages of working with Quivo. Alongside our UK warehouse, we run our own warehouses in Germany, Austria, France and the US. That means you can hold stock inside those markets and have orders shipped locally, so:

• Customers are not hit with a customs charge on every parcel
• Delivery stays fast and domestic rather than crossing a border each time
• You avoid the paperwork and delays that come with shipping every order internationally from the UK

Through our partner hubs with GWC in the Gulf region, we also reach markets such as Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The point is that expanding no longer means rebuilding logistics from scratch in every new country. You grow into new markets through one partner and one connection. See the full network on our locations page, or talk to our team about a specific market.