TPS x fulfilment.com: €24,000 ad spend saved, 80% of new clients signed

Case study highlights

• 80% of new clients now sourced through fulfilment.com

• €24,000/year in untraceable ad spend eliminated

• Expanded into international markets that were previously inaccessible

€24,000 in wasted advertising spend

Like many 3PL operators, The Postal Store didn't have a dedicated sales or marketing team, so finding new brand clients meant buying ads on Facebook and Instagram, then waiting to see who responded.

Founder and CEO, Doug Mawditt, was spending €1,000-€2,000 a month on social media advertising. Some leads came through, but none of them matched his Ideal Client Profile (ICP), and none of the spend could be traced back to signed clients. Costing up to €24,000 a year, this was a significant budget to run with no measurable return.

"It's like finding a needle in a haystack. We used to spend €1,000 to €2,000 on social media marketing, but it was very hard to prove if the marketing was working. We did get some leads, but they weren't targeted." — Doug Mawditt, Founder and CEO, The Postal Store

The fulfilment.com effect

Here at fulfilment.com, ecommerce brands come to our platform, tell us what they need, and then get matched with providers based on their exact requirements. The 3PL partner then receives an inbound lead (a revenue opportunity) from a brand that's already in the market for a fulfilment partner. There's absolutely zero cold outreach, and no hard sell. Most importantly, there’s no spend wasted on people who aren't looking. For Doug, that distinction makes things straightforward:

"Fulfilment.com has done the heavy lifting for me. Ecommerce brands go to [the platform] and state what they require. [Fulfilment.com] then provides targeted leads directly to us."

Partnership outcomes

1) Conversion-ready opportunities

Because the brand makes the first move, Doug no longer starts from scratch on every call. Instead, the conversation moves straight to fit and capability.

"They all want to engage. As always, it's up to the business to take ownership of the lead, reach out to the brand, and follow through. We haven't won all of them, and that's okay, but remember the ecommerce brand has reached out in the first instance; they're looking for a 3PL. Fulfilment.com does the heavy lifting, and I bring the sale home."

2) 80% of all-new client acquisitions

Since joining the network as a partner, 80% of The Postal Store's new client acquisitions have come through the fulfilment.com platform.

3) Entering new markets, without new spend

Depending on the available budget, social media targeting has its limits. Fulfilment.com, however, doesn't. As a result, The Postal Store is now working with brands from international markets that they wouldn't have otherwise been able to reach through a Facebook ad.

"Fulfilment.com reaches worldwide, so we have a much more varied portfolio, which would have been very hard to do on my own."

4) Capacity planning, with a predictable pipeline

As we all know, empty warehouse space is one of a 3PL's biggest costs. Before joining the platform, Doug had no reliable way to forecast new business, but now he has a consistent volume of inbound leads to plan against, meaning he can make capacity decisions with confidence.

With the help of fulfilment.com, he plans to fill his current warehouses to capacity, and then use that scale to attract higher-volume clients and to justify expanding his business further.

"Targeted leads vs social media hit-and-hope"

Doug is measured about ROI, as you'd expect from someone who spent years watching ad spend disappear without a trace. He's partway through onboarding more clients from fulfilment.com and expects the full picture within six months.

The direction, however, is already clear. For 3PLs still relying on broad, untargeted campaigns, his advice is this:

"This is targeted leads vs social media hit-and-hope. Your job still remains the same. If you can't sell your services, the platform won't help. But if you can sell your services, they help with targeted leads, which is everything to a business."