Best Fulfilment Companies in the UK (2023)

The best order fulfilment services for UK companies

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Are you looking for the best fulfilment companies UK brands can offer?

If you’re thinking of starting your own retail business, but you don’t have the budget to pay for storing and shipping products yourself, then a fulfilment company is a must-have.

Fulfilment companies are the organizations capable of handling things like packing and shipping an item for a business.

With a fulfilment company, you can save a lot of time and money when it comes to serving your clients. Rather than having to deal with the expenses of sending products to consumers, you can focus on growing your organization instead. The question is, which are the best ecommerce fulfilment companies for today’s UK entrepreneurs?

Defining UK Fulfilment Companies

As mentioned above, a fulfilment company is a business responsible for the “fulfilment” of an order. While your business might process a sale and list available items online, a fulfilment company does the hard work of making sure products get to your customer.

If you’re making unique products for your customers, dropshipping won’t be an option. Fortunately, you can consider these fulfilment companies in the UK instead.

What are the Best UK Fulfilment Companies for 2023?

1. ShipBob

shipbob - best fulfillment services uk

Among the most popular fulfilment brands worldwide, ShipBob is a great pick if you’re looking for a solution capable of integrating with a host of tools, like WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Shopify, Magento, and Squarespace. There’s even the option to access shipping solutions if you’re a crowdfunding group too.

With fulfilment centers around the world, ShipBob is a great choice for UK brands. It’s also excellent at helping you to manage your costs, with helpful shipping cost calculators on the back-end. The UK fulfilment center for ShipBob is located in Manchester, and it runs using the ShipBob proprietary warehouse management system, support team, and SLAs.

You’ll only pay import duties on ShipBob when you initially ship your products to the Manchester-based location, if necessary. There’s plenty of guidance to help you get through the process too. ShipBob offers a range of unique benefits to UK brands, like distributed inventory strategies, optimized shipping routes, and international shipping discounts to minimize costs.

One of the best things about working with ShipBob is the fact that you get dedicated customer support. In many fulfilment centers, it’s difficult to get the guidance you need as a beginner. However, ShipBob makes sure you’re fully informed and guided every step of the way.

ShipBob Features ✨

  • Multiple integrations with leading ecommerce tools
  • Distributed inventory management
  • Comprehensive fulfilment network
  • Same day or two-day shipping
  • Return management
  • Wholesale and B2B orders
  • Warehouse kitting
  • Reporting and analytics
  • Discounted shipping rates

Pricing 💰

It can seem a little expensive to get started with ShipBob at first. You’ll be paying around $25 per hour for the first two hours when the company is receiving your order, and $40 per hour for the hours after that. There’s a charge of $5 per bin for storage, $10 per shelf, and $40 per pallet. Plus, pick and pack will cost you $0.20 per pick, though the first four picks are free.

Standard packaging is included in the cost, and shipping fees will vary depending on the location, weight of the item, and other factors.

Pros 👍

  • Excellent selection of features
  • Easy to use for beginners
  • Complete business control
  • No need for storing your own products

Cons 👎

  • Can be expensive

Who is this best for ✅

ShipBob is a fantastic solution for companies in search of ecommerce fulfilment. You’ll pay exclusively for storing your inventory and getting it to your target audience, and the flat rate costs make it easier to budget. Analytics and reporting ensure you can make the right decisions for your business too.

2. Red Stag Fulfillment

red stag fulfillment - best fulfillment services uk

Red Stag Fulfilment is an award-winning solution for fulfilment, chosen as the best fulfilment service for both 2020 and 2021. This solution offers picking, packing and fulfilment solutions all around the world, as well as storage and returns. The Red Stag fulfilment brand is popular because it offers convenient, cloud-based solutions for order fulfilment which maintain speed, accuracy, and quality. You can deliver the kind of amazing service your customers are looking for.

Red Stag works best with retailers looking to ship heavier, bulky packages through a range of sales channels. You’ll need to contact the team to figure out how much fulfilment is going to cost, but you do get a decent month of free support to help you get started.

One of the most exciting things about Red Stag is you’re getting a fantastic management system as part of your purchase. You can easily keep track of orders and inventory, and the software integrates with a range of ecommerce tools too. Red Stag fulfilment is also one of the more reliable tools on the market, promising a 100% guarantee when it comes to inventory accuracy and orders.

Red Stag fulfilment has no long-term contracts or set-up fees to worry about. Account management fees and SKU management fees aren’t a concern either.

Red Stag Fulfillment Features ✨

  • No set-up or SKU management fees
  • Service guarantees for reliability
  • Transparent service and support
  • Excellent for UK companies
  • Ecommerce integrations with leading tools
  • Affordable, fast shipping
  • 2-day product fulfilment network
  • Reliable and simple back-end management
  • No long-term contracts required

Pricing 💰

As mentioned above, Red Stag’s services and pricing will vary depending on your business needs. This means you’re going to need to contact the customer service team for a more comprehensive insight into what you can expect to pay. Usually, your price will be based on things like inventory levels, custom packaging prices, fulfilment operations and similar factors.

Pros 👍

  • Well suited to companies with high order volumes
  • Excellent for bulky products
  • Easy-to-use environment
  • No contract lock-in
  • Lots of automated features

Cons 👎

  • Complex pricing structure

Who is this best for ✅

If you’re looking for something to offer absolute peace of mind when you’re shipping products throughout the UK, then Red Stag pricing is a great choice. The solution will fill all kinds of needs, ensuring you’re protected regardless of what happens in your company. There’s plenty of great customer support too.

3. Huboo

huboo - best fulfillment services uk

Located within the UK, Huboo is an award-winning order fulfilment solution for ecommerce brands. The business helps companies to grow at incredible speed, by taking card of all their shipping and processing needs. Huboo empowers all kinds of companies to achieve their goals, with worldwide fulfilment, or dedicated UK fulfilment, depending on your needs. The company will take your stock, store it safely, pick, pack and deliver your items for you.

The Huboo experience is very easy for beginners, with just a few steps to follow to get you started. You’ll be selling and growing in no time, with a fantastic 99.99% accuracy rate to give you absolute peace of mind. The Huboo service is also bespoke to your company needs, so you don’t have to worry about a one-size-fits-all experience stopping you from reaching your goals.

As an extra benefit, Huboo comes with fast and free integrations for a range of ecommerce sales channels, marketplaces and similar systems. This means whether you’re selling through a single channel or multiple, you’ll still be able to get the connections you need. There’s also an open API and an in-house dev team to help you out.

The best feature of Huboo is it’s free goods in offer, which includes keeping you updated about the products you sell.

Huboo Features ✨

  • Free goods in
  • Free storage for two months
  • Pick, packing, and posting
  • API and developer access
  • Integrations
  • Global courier service
  • Returns and cover
  • Tracking and fulfilment

Pricing 💰

Huboo’s pricing will depend on your specific needs as a retailer. You can contact the team for a quote to learn a little more. UK fulfilment prices are based on the weight and distribution of your products. The costs are all-inclusive, and there are no hidden fees to worry about, so you can rest assured you’re budgeting correctly for your company’s future.

Pros 👍

  • Excellent transparent pricing
  • Fantastic developer access
  • Instant signup support
  • Great customer service

Cons 👎

  •  Limitations on heavy items

Who is this best for ✅

If you’re looking for a solution to offer exceptional integrations and connectivity with your existing business tools, Huboo is a great choice. You’ll also get fantastic reliability and state-of-the-art support from the team.

4. Bezos

bezos - best fulfillment services uk

A full-package solution designed to improve ecommerce fulfilment; Bezos can tackle every part of getting your products to customers. You can use the technology to check inventory and make sure it’s packed and ready to be shipped within 48 hours or less. There’s last mile shipment, customizable returns, and a host of other useful features too.

The Bezos fulfilment service will automatically integrate with leading website builders like Shopify and WooCommerce, as well as marketplaces like Amazon and Ebay. As well as direct-to-customer, FBA, and B2B preparation tools, Bezos also has an ultra-fast delivery strategy. You’ll be able to give your customers their products next-day in some cases.

Bezos is extremely scalable for growing companies, and you can even use the technology to sell products which might not be suitable for other fulfilment companies. For instance, the centres can handle alcohol, organic products, and bulky or otherwise difficult items. Bezos even goes above and beyond for customer service, to ensure you’re supported every step of the way.

Bezos Features ✨

  • Multi-warehouse stock splitting
  • Next day delivery
  • Integration with leading tools
  • Pay-as-you-go pricing
  • Constant customer service
  • Shipping for difficult and risky items

Pricing 💰

Bezos isn’t quite as straightforward with its pricing as some of the other companies on this list, but that’s because there are so many different factors that can impact your fees. You’ll need to contact the customer service team to get a quote based on what you’re actually going to be doing. Prices vary depending on how quickly you want to ship goods, and what kind of products you’re shipping.

Pros 👍

  • Highly scalable solution in the UK
  • No minimum order volumes or long-term commitments
  • Excellent for risky or difficult-to-move items
  • Next-day delivery
  • Great customer support

Cons 👎

  • No pricing information available to the public
  • May not be ideal for global shipping

Who is this best for ✅

If you’re looking for a highly scalable way to ship all kinds of products, Bezos is a great choice. It ships and fulfils orders other companies wouldn’t, as well as giving you access to excellent customer support and next-day delivery.

5. Amazon FBA

amazon fba - best fulfillment services uk

When it comes to managing real-time orders, warehousing, and helping to grow your ecommerce business, there are few outsourcing solutions better-known than Amazon FBA. One of the most popular options for outsourcing ecommerce fulfilment services, Amazon FBA gives you access to a host of tools to grow. Not only do you get a reliable fulfilment centre, but you get access to the Amazon marketplace too.

While Amazon can give you an excellent way to boost your sales outside of standard ecommerce platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce, it won’t be right for everyone. The solution can require hefty storage fees for your online store, making your third-party logistics more expensive.

Amazon FBA Features ✨

  • Excellent tools for fulfilment automation
  • Fast shipping including next-day delivery
  • Access to the world’s leading fulfilment service
  • Professional picking and packaging
  • Excellent delivery around the world
  • Customer service and returns support

Pricing 💰

To ensure Amazon FBA is a cost-effective fulfilment provider for you, it’s worth considering how much you’re going to be selling carefully. Fulfilment costs can quickly add up with Amazon. You’ll need a selling plan to begin with. Online retailers can choose the professional plan at $39.99 per month, or pay $0.99 per item for order management and fulfilment.

Amazon also charges a referral fee, between 8% and 15% of the total cost of your item, fulfilment fees for shipping and sending items around the world, and more. Depending on your business, you may need to pay for long-term order management too.

Pros 👍

  • Great for multi-channel selling
  • Professional pick and pack service
  • Access to next-day shipping
  • Looks good when customers add products to their shopping cart
  • Easy to streamline your supply chain
  • Shipping worldwide

Cons 👎

  • Can be hard to get in touch with Amazon
  • Can get quite expensive

Who is this best for ✅

If you’re looking for a fulfilment partner in the United Kingdom that gives you more opportunities to reach your audience through different channels, Amazon is a great choice. The way the company handles the fulfilment process is very professional. Plus you get to list your items on Amazon’s marketplace, and offer shipping options like Prime.

Choosing the Best UK fulfilment Companies

There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to choosing the right fulfilment and shipping services for your business. Today’s small businesses have a huge range of options available to them, depending on the areas they want to serve. If you’re planning on shipping products to customers around the UK and you want to reduce some of the work involved, the UK options mentioned above can be an excellent choice.

Make sure you take your time to test the fulfilment software, and interact with customer service about things like order processing times before you make your decision. Choosing the right fulfilment company can make or break your startup, because success today often depends on offering a great customer experience.

Bogdan Rancea

Bogdan is a founding member of Inspired Mag, having accumulated almost 6 years of experience over this period. In his spare time he likes to study classical music and explore visual arts. He’s quite obsessed with fixies as well. He owns 5 already.

Comments 2 Responses

  1. B Renda says:

    Your research really sis narrow mine, Thank you Mr. Bogdan!

    1. Bogdan Rancea says:

      👍👍👍

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