In the beauty industry, business leaders have a lot of decisions to make about everything from formulas, packaging, marketing strategies, bundles, and partnerships. One of the most important considerations? How you’re going to handle cosmetic fulfillment.
The best products in the world won’t help your business grow if they’re not reaching customers in great condition, and in packaging that enhances their unboxing experience. But beauty fulfillment isn’t the same as standard “ecommerce fulfillment” – there are a lot of challenges to overcome, from managing fragile products, to navigating compliance.
So, as your business grows, how do you decide whether you should be taking the “in-house shipping” route, or joining forwards with a dedicated 3PL for beauty brands?
The Pros and Cons of In-House Shipping
For smaller cosmetics companies, in-house shipping usually feels like the obvious choice. You know everything there is to know about your products and SKUs, and you know exactly how certain items need to be packaged to both protect the product, and impress your customer.
In-house shipping means you can handle everything your way. You can choose every component of your packaging with care, perfect the little extras like hand-written “thank you notes”, and make sure nothing is poorly handled, or shipped broken.
You also have the freedom to tweak as you go, rolling out new promotional cards or gifts with purchases to VIPs, or adjusting the tissue paper design. This gives you a lot of scope to create a highly personalized and branded experience that customers love.
Plus, you’ll be able maintain instant visibility into everything from your inventory (and expiry dates), to your order preparation processes.
The Downsides of In-house Shipping
But there are downsides too. With great control comes a lot of responsibility and overhead – more than some cosmetics companies can reasonably handle. As your order volume grows, you’ll need to invest in space (warehouses), staff members, and systems to manage inventory, returns, and more.
That all adds up to much higher costs overall. Dealing with fulfillment costs alone can consume up to 20% of your overall operational costs. Beyond that, you’ll be naturally limited on how much you can reasonably scale. Based on the number of people you can hire, and the resources you have, you might be able to handle 100 orders a day on a good week.
But, when major sales events happen, like Black Friday, or the holiday period, you’ll start falling behind fast. In-house solutions often struggle to adapt to changing demand, leading to cosmetic fulfillment nightmares like missed orders, or slow deliveries.
You may even find your team ends up making more mistakes, shipping the wrong shade of lipstick, missing a sample, or sending two serums when they only ordered one. These small errors can chip away at customer trust, and harm your bottom line.
The Benefits of Outsourced Fulfillment for Cosmetics
There are potential downsides to outsourced fulfillment for cosmetic companies. You might think you’ll need to spend more, or give up more control. Although the reality is, if you work with the right partner – that doesn’t necessarily need to be the case.
The truth is that outsourced fulfillment delivers a lot of benefits over in-house alternatives:
- Specialist Support: Cosmetics fulfillment companies actually understand the unique challenges that beauty companies face, and how to counteract them. They know how to safely handle and package fragile, regulated products. They can offer temperature-regulated storage and shipping options, follow crucial packaging protocols, and even ensure you follow labelling instructions from major regulators carefully.
- Speed and Efficiency: Companies like Relentless Fulfillment operate out of strategically located fulfillment centers designed to speed up delivery times. They give you access to faster shipping through pre-established carrier relationships, and make sure your products reach customers on-time, so you spend less time dealing with questions about order status, or navigating negative reviews.
- Scalability: One of the biggest benefits of working with outsourced fulfillment companies is scalability. You don’t have to hire more staff or rent additional space when sales volumes spike. A 3PL for beauty brands will easily scale with your company, without compromising on product safety and overall customer care.
Working with a beauty e-commerce shipping company basically gives you the ability to take your business to the next level, and achieve genuinely sustainable growth.
The Key Differences in Cost and Efficiency
Obviously, cost is always going to be a factor when you’re choosing a cosmetic fulfillment strategy. Sometimes, in-house fulfillment seems like the most affordable option. You don’t have to deal with monthly invoices or manage other people responsible for your product.
However, the hidden costs quickly add up. You’re not just paying for boxes and postage. You’re also covering warehouse rent, utilities, staffing, training, packing stations, software systems, shrinkage, insurance – and don’t forget your own time managing it all.
A great way to really compare the models is by calculating your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). For in-house fulfillment, TCO includes:
- Labor (pickers, packers, warehouse managers)
- Facility costs (rent, security, climate control)
- Equipment and supplies
- Software for inventory and order management
- Shipping (often at retail rates)
Now compare that to the cost of outsourcing. While 3PLs might charge for storage, picking and packaging, kitting, and bundling strategies, they also deliver savings in other areas. For instance, with a 3PL for beauty brands, you’ll usually spend less on shipping rates, because of pre-existing carrier relationships. Plus, you benefit from efficiency savings.
Beauty e-commerce shipping brands design their warehouses and workflows for speed, accuracy, and automation. That means faster processing, fewer errors, and fewer returns.
Plus, most 3PLs operate on flexible pricing – so you’re not overpaying during slower months, and you can scale seamlessly during busy seasons.
Packaging and Presentation: Who Does it Best?
Packaging isn’t just about protecting products in cosmetic fulfillment – it’s something that has a direct impact on your band’s growth. The Instagram-worthy unboxing experience a specialist 3PL provider can deliver gives you an incredible opportunity to build loyalty. Plus, it could lead to free marketing – encouraging customers to share their experience online.
Notably, when you fulfil orders in-house, you can control the look and feel of the unboxing experience to achieve the same results. You can hand-tie bows, slide in handwritten notes, test out different box sizes. But as you grow, keeping that level of detail consistent becomes a serious challenge. You might not have access to professional-grade materials, and your team- however passionate – might not have the time or training to execute every package perfectly during a rush.
Cosmetic fulfillment companies can follow your instructions – and they can do it with consistency. Many offer custom kitting, branded packaging, bundling, and even seasonal campaign support. It’s a more sustainable way to deliver an incredible experience that influences your growth.
After all, around 40% of online shoppers say that branded packaging makes them more likely to recommend companies to friends, and 61% say that premium or custom packaging positively affects their perception of a company.
Technology and Integration Considerations
For today’s beauty companies, fulfilment isn’t just a matter of moving boxes. There’s a lot of data and technology that comes into the mix. You need technology to track expiry dates, monitor order progress, and keep on top of inventory details.
When you manage fulfillment in-house, you’re also managing the tech stack that goes with it. Inventory software, order management systems, shipping label tools. Unless you’ve got a dedicated ops team or some serious IT support, it’s easy for things to fall through the cracks. The occasional missed order or problematic inventory sync can cause serious problems.
Manual processes are especially risky. Updating inventory by hand, juggling spreadsheets, or printing packing slips one at a time may work early on – but as you grow, those little inefficiencies turn into big problems: overselling, stockouts, and shipping delays that frustrate your customers.
Effective cosmetic fulfillment companies bring their own enterprise-level tech to the table. At Relentless Fulfillment, we offer a warehouse management system that integrates directly with all of your ecommerce platforms or sales channels, and simplifies data insights.
We ensure you always have access to real-time inventory tracking, automated order routing, and live shipping updates that keep your customers in the loop.
You also get access to dashboards and reporting tools that give you real insights into where delays happen, where patterns are emerging and more, so you can make intelligent decisions for growth.
When to Make the Switch to a Cosmetic Fulfillment Partner
There comes a point in every growing beauty brand’s journey when fulfillment starts to feel less like a fun part of the journey, and more like a burden. If your team is staying late to pack orders, your shelves are overflowing, or customer emails are piling up about missing products or slow shipping, it might be time to ask: is in-house fulfillment still serving your brand – or holding it back?
Here are some telltale signs it’s time to consider a 3PL partner:
- You’re consistently missing ship-by dates, especially during promotions or peak seasons.
- Returns are increasing, not because of product issues, but due to fulfillment errors—wrong items, damaged goods, or missing samples.
- You can’t scale smoothly, and every order spike feels like a crisis instead of a celebration.
Outsourcing can be particularly valuable when you’re thinking about expanding your product line, exploring multichannel sales, wholesale accounts, subscription boxes, or new bundles. A cosmetic fulfillment partner can handle all of this complexity with ease, share insights to help you grow, and make sure you maintain your brand’s personality over time.
Many of our clients at Relentless Fulfillment say that our approach hasn’t just helped them to overcome common challenges – it’s also given them the tools they need to scale sales, attract more customers, increase loyalty, and reduce return rates.
Ultimately, if you’re dealing with chaos and complexity in your fulfillment journey, or you just want to take things up a notch, working with a partner is the best choice.
Upgrade Your Fulfillment Strategy with the Right Partner
Overall, the choice between in-house shipping and outsourcing cosmetic fulfillment for beauty brands comes down to what you value most right now. Do you really need comprehensive control, or do you need the power to scale, improve efficiency, and reduce costs?
In the early stages of your brand’s growth, an in-house approach might be perfect – but as your business evolves and the cracks start to show, you need to be ready to evolve. If you’re still dealing with overly complex fulfillment strategies, and they’re having a negative impact on your brand’s reputation and customer experience, it might be time to upgrade.
At Relentless Fulfillment, we offer specialized 3PL services tailor-made for beauty brands. Whether you’re looking for cutting-edge tech to streamline skincare product logistics, or personalized kitting and bundling options, we’re here to help.
Think it might be time to level up your fulfillment processes? Reach out to Relentless Fulfillment today and discover how we can help.
