Logentic
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3PL or in-house

Bring fulfillment in-house. With people who ran a 3PL.

Our founders ran Spaceful, a shopper-centric 3PL, from 2021 to 2024 and shipped 1M+ orders for 60+ Shopify brands. Here is our honest take on when a 3PL makes sense, when your own warehouse wins, and what it takes to run one.

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An honest comparison

3PL or your own warehouse?

Both are good answers, for different brands at different stages. Here is how the trade-offs look from both sides of the dock.

  • Getting started

    With a 3PLUsually the edge
    Little to set up. Their space, staff and equipment are ready.
    In-house
    Space, shelving, hardware and hiring before your first order.

  • Ongoing costs

    With a 3PL
    Fees per order, pick, packaging and storage that grow with every sale.
    In-house
    Rent, payroll, hardware and software you control, plus your carrier rates.

  • Packing and unboxing

    With a 3PL
    Their standard process. Custom packing has to be specified and agreed.
    In-houseUsually the edge
    Packed your way, with your inserts, gifting and kits.

  • Launches and peaks

    With a 3PL
    Capacity and cutoffs shared with the 3PL's other clients.
    In-houseUsually the edge
    Your priorities and your schedule. Peak staffing is yours to plan.

  • Inventory visibility

    With a 3PL
    Through the 3PL's portal and reports.
    In-houseUsually the edge
    Live in your own system, down to the bin.

  • When something goes wrong

    With a 3PL
    Open a ticket and wait for the investigation.
    In-houseUsually the edge
    See who picked it and from which bin, and fix it on the spot.

  • Space as volume swings

    With a 3PLUsually the edge
    Theirs to find.
    In-house
    Yours to plan, from slow months to peak season.

  • Day-to-day management

    With a 3PLUsually the edge
    A vendor relationship to manage.
    In-house
    A team and a floor to run, with software and SOPs to guide them.

A 3PL makes sense when

  • You don't have the space yet, or don't want a lease and a team to manage.
  • Your volume is small, or swings in ways you can't staff for.
  • You need stock close to customers in regions far from your base.
  • Your products are simple to pick and a standard unboxing is enough.

In-house wins when

  • You want control over how orders are prepared and the care customers receive. RICARDO
  • Your catalogue is demanding: size and color variants, or lots and expiry dates. Rose Boreal Bonne Maman
  • Launches and drops have to go out on your schedule. norda
  • You sell online, wholesale and at pop-ups or in stores from the same stock. Rachel
  • The unboxing is part of your brand, and you want live data on every order.

Or run both

You don't have to move everything at once. norda and Bonne Maman run in-house and 3PL fulfillment side by side, and Logentic tracks stock across warehouses, retail locations and 3PL partners in one view.

Explore multi-location inventory
Spaceful

Why we can say this

We ran the 3PL before we built the software.

We started Spaceful, a shopper-centric 3PL, in 2021. Until we exited operations in 2024, we received shipments, labeled bins, picked orders, packed boxes and dealt with the 4pm carrier cutoff every day, for 60+ Shopify brands.

We managed warehouses across Quebec and Ontario, from 50 orders a day to 5,000+ during peak season. We built Logentic because no off-the-shelf tool covered the gaps we saw, and our ops consulting team still visits client warehouses regularly.

So we know what a good 3PL does well. We also know what it takes to run your own floor, because we ran one.

Read the ops playbookMeet the team

  1. 2021

    Started Spaceful, a shopper-centric 3PL for Shopify brands

  2. 2024

    Exited operations after shipping 1M+ orders for 60+ brands

  3. Today

    Logentic, the platform we wish we had, built from that floor

Orders fulfilled
1M+
Orders fulfilled
GMV processed
$250M+
GMV processed
On-time, in-full
99.95%
On-time, in-full
Brands served
60+
Brands served

What it takes

What you need to run your own warehouse

A space, a team, the hardware and the software. Here is what each one involves.

  • Space

    Room for shelving, a receiving area, pack stations and a spot to stage carrier pickups. Every storage location gets a unique name (zone, aisle, shelf, bin) and a label, so the system can direct picks to it.

    • Shelving, bins and barcode location labels
    • A receiving area to check purchase orders in
    • Fast movers in the most accessible spots
    See the 7 operational changes

  • People

    Clear roles instead of everyone doing everything: receiver, putaway, picker, packer, shipper. Each person logs in and the system guides them through every step, so new hires can be productive on day 1.

    • A team lead for each warehouse function
    • Training sessions for each role
    • No ops manager? Our consulting tiers act as your fractional ops team during the transition
    See professional services

  • Hardware

    Devices to pick with, a station to pack and verify at, and storage to keep it all in. Everything we recommend is available on Amazon and Uline.

    Picking
    iPad + Protective CaseMobile Barcode ScannerPicking Bins (5 colors)
    Packing station
    Mini PC (Windows)Desktop Barcode ScannerThermal Label Printer
    Storage
    Chrome Mobile ShelvingStorage BinsLocation Labels
    Per packing station
    $1,000 - $1,800
    Per picking device
    $500 - $750
    Total estimated setup
    $2,000 - $5,000

    Estimates from our ops playbook. Logentic is not affiliated with any of the products it recommends.

    See the full hardware list

  • Software

    One platform for inventory, orders, picking and packing, shipping and returns. One plan, everything included.

    $359 USD/mo($499 CAD)

    Growth plan, billed annually, for up to 10,000 orders a month

    • Unlimited users and unlimited stores
    • Multi-warehouse
    • Up to 88% off shipping
    • Guided onboarding and a dedicated account manager
    • Free migration from your current tools
    See pricing

What Logentic does for your team

Every step on your floor, in one platform

From the dock to the doorstep and back. Pick a step to see it.

Receive stock and put it away fast.

Guided receiving walks the dock through every purchase order on a handheld: scan a carton, count it in, flag what is short, then follow the putaway route.

  • Guided receiving
  • Lot and expiry capture
  • Putaway routes
Explore suppliers & POs

Also included

Going live

Live in a few days or weeks, depending on your volume.

Our team connects your store, carriers and warehouse, migrates your data and trains your team, then stays close for 30 days after launch.

  1. 1

    Setup

    We connect Shopify, your carriers and your warehouse.
  2. 2

    Migration

    Our team handles the data migration for you.
  3. 3

    Training

    We train your team so the switch is smooth.
  4. 4

    Go live

    Ship real orders, with 24/7 support in English and French.

Coming from a 3PL?

See the first 30 days
  1. 1Label every storage location before your stock comes back, so each item has a home.
  2. 2Receive the transfer against the system: scan each item and assign it a location, so your counts start clean.
  3. 3Run your first cycle count within the first month and compare it to expected counts.
$0
Migration fees
100%
Data migrated
30
Days post-launch hypercare

Customer proof

Brands that run their own floors

RICARDO left its 3PL to bring fulfillment home. norda, Bonne Maman, Rachel and Rose Boreal run their own fulfillment on Logentic, some alongside a 3PL.

A RICARDO boutique adviser helping customers choose kitchen products
RICARDOMoved from a 3PL

RICARDO brought ecommerce fulfillment in-house.

After a disappointing experience with its third-party logistics provider, RICARDO decided to bring ecommerce fulfillment in-house. The team wanted to regain control over how orders were prepared and deliver the level of care customers expected from the brand.

Moving away from a 3PL meant taking responsibility for the whole fulfillment experience. RICARDO considered Descartes Finale Inventory and chose Logentic: one platform from suppliers to returns, and a local team with bilingual support and in-person onboarding.

“There’s so much in here that it will take some of the load off—and at least we have everything in the platform.”
Anicée GessnerDirector, Retail & Restaurants, RICARDO
Read the RICARDO story

The money side

Run the numbers on your own operation

Every warehouse is different, so we won't quote you a savings figure here. These tools work from your own inputs.

Questions about going in-house

What brands ask us before they bring fulfillment home.

View all FAQs

It depends on your volume, your products and your space. A 3PL turns fulfillment into fees per order, pick and storage. In-house turns it into rent, payroll, hardware and software you control, plus the carrier rates you get. Run your own numbers in the ROI and Cost of Chaos calculators, and compare our negotiated shipping rates. Open the ROI calculator

A space with shelving and labeled locations, the hardware for picking and packing (our ops playbook estimates $2,000 - $5,000 for a total setup), a team with clear roles, and your Shopify store. We help with the rest. See the hardware list

Most brands are live in a few days or weeks, depending on their volume. Our onboarding team handles the Shopify integration, warehouse setup and carrier connections, and trains your team.

Yes. That's exactly what our Guided and Full-Service consulting tiers are designed for. We act as your fractional ops team during the transition and help you build the processes that can run without us. See implementation support

Yes. norda and Bonne Maman run in-house and 3PL fulfillment side by side. Logentic tracks stock across warehouses, retail locations and 3PL partners in one view, and routes orders to the right warehouse based on inventory and proximity.

One plan, everything included. Growth is $359 USD/mo ($499 CAD) billed annually for up to 10,000 orders a month, with unlimited users, free migration and up to 88% off shipping. See pricing

No. We launched, scaled and sold Spaceful, and exited operations in 2024. Today we build Logentic for brands that run their own warehouses, and our ops consulting team still visits client warehouses regularly. Meet the team

Bring your fulfillment home

Talk to a team that has run a warehouse. We'll review your current setup and show you how we'd get you live.

Start for freeSee a demo