How a B2B 3PL Built a $2M+ DTC Fulfillment Business and Scaled to 1,000+ Orders a Day
An established third-party logistics provider used Skupreme to turn a manual, email-driven DTC fulfillment process into a scalable operation — without replacing its existing warehouse management system on day one.
1,000+ orders per day
Up from fewer than 100 DTC orders per month
5× warehouse throughput
Without a proportional increase in headcount or floor space
$2M+ annual DTC revenue
Net-new from a service the warehouse previously could not offer at scale
Billing disputes eliminated
Automated activity-based billing with full traceability
And it started with a simple strategy: Create the new revenue stream first. Replace the infrastructure only after the volume proves the case.
The Challenge: Clients Wanted DTC Fulfillment. The 3PL Couldn't Scale It.
The 3PL had built a successful business around B2B freight and Amazon FBA prep.
Its warehouse operation was already experienced at receiving containers, managing inventory and preparing shipments for Amazon fulfillment centers.
But its clients were changing.
Amazon sellers were expanding into Shopify, Walmart, TikTok Shop and other direct-to-consumer sales channels — and they wanted their existing 3PL to fulfill those orders too.
That created a significant new revenue opportunity.
The problem was that the warehouse's existing systems were not built for high-volume ecommerce fulfillment.
DTC orders were arriving by email
Clients emailed orders to the warehouse for manual processing.
There was no automated marketplace integration, no centralized order management layer and no self-service client portal.
That might work for a handful of orders.
It could not work for thousands.
The existing WMS was built for traditional warehouse operations
The warehouse management system could manage inventory, but it wasn't designed to ingest and orchestrate high-velocity orders across multiple ecommerce channels.
Amazon FBA inbound shipments were manual
Clients created FBA shipment plans inside Amazon Seller Central, downloaded labels and sent shipment information to the warehouse by email.
The warehouse then coordinated the inbound shipment manually.
A routine process could turn into days of back-and-forth communication.
3PL billing required manual reconciliation
Storage, handling and fulfillment charges were calculated manually.
When clients questioned overages, the finance team had to reconstruct what happened and explain each charge.
The warehouse wasn't suffering from a lack of demand.
It lacked the infrastructure to monetize that demand at scale.
The Skupreme Strategy: Add DTC Revenue Before Replacing the WMS
Most warehouse software projects begin with a major technology decision:
Do we replace the WMS?
For an operating 3PL, that can mean migrations, retraining, implementation risk and potential disruption to the warehouse floor.
Skupreme took the opposite approach.
Instead of replacing the existing WMS first, the initial goal was to solve the problem directly blocking revenue:
Give the 3PL a scalable way to onboard clients and receive DTC orders.
The rollout happened in five stages.
1. Launch a White-Label 3PL Client Portal
Skupreme first deployed a white-labeled client portal on the 3PL's own domain.
The experience remained branded as the warehouse's own technology.
Clients could log in and connect ecommerce sales channels including:
- Amazon
- Shopify
- Walmart
- TikTok Shop
- Other supported marketplaces
Once connected, marketplace orders automatically flowed to the warehouse.
No emailed order files.
No manual re-keying.
No asking clients to change the way they sold online.
The biggest change wasn't technological.
It was commercial.
DTC fulfillment went from a manual accommodation for a few clients to a service the 3PL could actively sell.
2. Integrate With the Existing Warehouse Management System
The next step was not replacing the WMS.
It was connecting to it.
Skupreme integrated the new order flow directly into the warehouse's incumbent WMS so the operations team could continue working inside the systems and processes they already knew.
That allowed the 3PL to begin scaling DTC fulfillment without forcing a disruptive warehouse migration.
Integrate first. Prove the demand. Migrate when the economics justify it.
3. Scale to an End-to-End 3PL WMS
As DTC order volume increased, the limitations of the legacy warehouse system became more apparent.
Eventually, the volume flowing through Skupreme outgrew what the incumbent WMS could efficiently handle.
At that point, migrating was no longer a speculative technology investment.
The business case had already been proven by real customer volume.
The warehouse moved to Skupreme end to end.
That added operational capabilities including:
Mobile pick, pack and scan
Warehouse employees could use directed mobile workflows instead of paper-driven picking and manual location searches.
Automated order routing
Orders could be routed across clients, sales channels and warehouse workflows automatically.
Real-time inventory visibility
The warehouse and its clients could see inventory information through the same connected platform.
Multi-channel ecommerce fulfillment
The operation could support the high-volume DTC orders its original warehouse technology was never designed to manage.
The warehouse team compared the operational change to moving from a paper map to GPS.
What once required physically locating and processing a few hundred orders could now support more than a thousand orders per day.
4. Automate Amazon FBA Inbound Shipments
The same 3PL client portal that enabled DTC fulfillment also improved the warehouse's original Amazon FBA workflow.
Clients no longer needed to manually create FBA inbound shipments in Seller Central and coordinate them with the warehouse through email.
Instead, they could initiate Amazon inbound shipments directly from the portal.
Skupreme could use sales-velocity data to help determine what inventory should be sent and in what quantities.
Shipment plans could then be created with a few keystrokes.
Labels generated automatically and flowed directly to the WMS alongside the expected inbound shipment.
Before
Create shipment in Seller Central → generate labels → email warehouse → confirm details → resolve errors → process inbound
After
Create shipment in portal → generate labels → send automatically to warehouse workflow
A process that previously required days of communication became near-instant.
5. Automate 3PL Billing
The final layer was billing.
Rather than calculating warehouse charges manually, Skupreme captured billable activities as they occurred.
That included items such as:
- Storage
- Handling
- Shipment activity
- Other applicable warehouse charges
Those charges could then be rolled into invoices with line-by-line traceability.
Clients could understand what they were being charged and why.
As billing became automated and transparent, the recurring overage disputes that had consumed the finance team's time were effectively eliminated.
The Results: From Fewer Than 100 DTC Orders a Month to 1,000+ a Day
Over approximately 24 months, the warehouse transformed both its technology stack and its business model.
| Metric | Before Skupreme | After |
|---|---|---|
| DTC order volume | Under 100 orders/month | 1,000+ orders/day |
| Warehouse throughput | Baseline | 5× increase |
| Annual DTC revenue | $0 — no DTC division | $2M+ annually |
| Order intake | Automated marketplace integrations | |
| Amazon FBA inbounds | Manual, multi-day process | Automated and near-instant |
| 3PL billing | Manual with frequent disputes | Automated with full traceability |
The new DTC fulfillment division represented an entirely new revenue stream from a service the warehouse previously could not offer at scale.
And the business didn't simply process more orders.
It increased warehouse throughput 5× without a proportional increase in headcount or floor space.
Why This 3PL Fulfillment Strategy Worked
The important part of this case study isn't simply that the warehouse implemented new software.
It's the order in which the transformation happened.
Solve the revenue problem first
The 3PL already had customers asking for DTC fulfillment.
Skupreme gave the warehouse a way to say yes.
The client portal and marketplace integrations allowed the warehouse to begin capturing that demand before taking on a large WMS migration.
Integrate before you replace
Instead of forcing an all-or-nothing implementation, Skupreme initially worked alongside the warehouse's existing WMS.
The incumbent system remained operational while the new DTC business grew.
Let volume prove the investment
Eventually the existing WMS became the bottleneck.
But by then, the warehouse wasn't replacing software because of a sales presentation or theoretical ROI calculation.
It was replacing software because real order volume had already demonstrated the need.
A 3PL Client Portal Can Be More Than a Customer Dashboard
Many 3PLs think of a client portal primarily as a visibility tool.
Clients log in.
They check inventory.
They look at orders.
But for this warehouse, the portal became something much more important:
the commercial layer that allowed the 3PL to offer entirely new fulfillment services.
It connected clients to their marketplaces.
It automated order intake.
It gave the warehouse visibility into demand.
It improved Amazon FBA inbound workflows.
It connected warehouse activity to billing.
And ultimately, it helped transform the relationship between the warehouse and its clients.
Instead of being a vendor clients emailed when they needed something done, the warehouse became infrastructure its clients could operate on.
When Does a B2B 3PL Need DTC Fulfillment Software?
A portal-first approach may make sense if your warehouse is experiencing any of the following:
- Clients are asking you to fulfill Shopify or marketplace orders
- DTC orders are still arriving through email or spreadsheets
- Your WMS works well for B2B but struggles with high-volume parcel fulfillment
- Staff manually create or coordinate Amazon FBA inbound shipments
- Client onboarding requires significant manual configuration
- Marketplace integrations are fragmented or missing
- Warehouse billing requires spreadsheets and manual reconciliation
- Clients frequently question storage, handling or fulfillment charges
- You want to offer DTC fulfillment without immediately replacing your current WMS
You may not need to begin with a warehouse-wide migration.
You can begin with the revenue opportunity.
Your Clients Are Already Asking for More. Can Your Technology Support It?
The 3PL in this case study didn't build a $2M+ DTC business by abandoning what it already did well.
It expanded what it could offer its existing customers.
Under 100 DTC orders per month became 1,000+ per day.
A nonexistent DTC service line became more than $2 million in annual revenue.
Warehouse throughput increased 5×.
And the transformation started without replacing the existing WMS.
If your clients are asking for DTC fulfillment, multi-channel ecommerce fulfillment or better technology — and your current stack is holding you back — we'd be happy to show you what a portal-first rollout could look like.
