Key Takeaways
Fulfillment is now a strategic, always-on capability—not just “shipping”—as brands sell across DTC, subscription, Amazon/marketplaces, and wholesale. Growth in e-commerce has expanded demand for warehouse capacity and raised the stakes for accuracy, visibility, and process discipline. At scale, common challenges include multi-channel inventory visibility, labor consistency, kitting/packaging complexity, returns, seasonal spikes, and maintaining service levels as SKUs and order volume grow.
To scale without losing control, operations need standardized procedures, real-time inventory tracking, traceability, and flexible labor/space. Fulfillment centers differ from warehouses because they’re designed for high-velocity pick/pack/ship workflows, and micro-fulfillment can improve speed by placing inventory closer to customers.
Peoria Production Solutions (PPS) positions itself as a fulfillment partner that supports these needs with integrated services (kitting, packaging, warehousing, shipping), ERP-driven inventory control, lot/serial traceability, and an ISO 9001:2015 quality system—helping businesses stay accurate, accountable, and ready for growth into 2026 and beyond.
Modern Fulfillment Solutions: Scale with Accuracy and Control
Managing order fulfillment in today’s e-commerce-driven marketplace requires strategic fulfillment capabilities as order volumes rise and customer expectations grow. Fulfillment performance directly affects brand perception and overall business resilience.
Today’s organizations serve customers across multiple channels, including e-commerce platforms such as Amazon marketplaces, direct-to-consumer (DTC) shipping, subscription programs, wholesale distribution, and more. Each channel introduces distinct requirements for inventory management, packaging, service levels, and logistics coordination. To remain competitive, fulfillment operations must be flexible enough to support this complexity while maintaining transparency, accuracy, and process discipline.
This guide examines modern fulfillment models, the operational challenges that emerge as businesses grow, and the systems required to sustain performance at scale. Learn how a fulfillment partner like Peoria Production Solutions (PPS) supports organizations with structured, quality-controlled processes, real-time inventory control, and reliable execution.
PPS helps businesses facing all types of fulfillment challenges, from micro and seasonal fulfillment obligations to long-term scaling solutions, enabling operations that are consistent, controlled, and prepared for continued growth.
Fulfillment Industry Growth and Structural Expansion
Fulfillment services have experienced sustained, long-term growth as e-commerce and subscription programs have evolved to meet rising consumer demands. The surge in e-commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic led to lasting changes in how products are fulfilled and delivered from manufacturers and brands directly to end customers.
The global e-commerce fulfillment services market reached $123.7 billion in 2024, according to Capital One Shopping, representing a 12.9% year-over-year growth, up from $109.6 billion in 2023. At current growth rates, the market is projected to exceed $272 billion by 2030, reflecting continued demand for flexible, scalable fulfillment infrastructure as online and hybrid sales channels mature.
This growth has placed sustained pressure on fulfillment capacity and logistics real estate. To meet rising demand, fulfillment providers and brands have significantly expanded physical infrastructure. One industry analysis estimated that the United States would require approximately one billion additional square feet of warehouse and fulfillment space by 2025 to support ongoing e-commerce and distribution needs. Tight capacity has already reshaped the market, with national warehouse vacancy rates dropping to roughly 3%, reinforcing the need for purpose-built fulfillment centers rather than traditional storage facilities.
Together, these trends underscore a critical reality: fulfillment is no longer a reactive capability scaled during temporary demand spikes. It is a permanent, strategic function that requires investment in infrastructure, systems, and operational discipline to support sustained growth across industries and multiple channels.
Fulfillment’s Expanding Role in Modern Operations
Fulfillment has evolved beyond shipping orders to include inventory management, kitting, packaging, returns, and real-time operational visibility. As businesses serve customers across direct-to-consumer, subscription, marketplace, and wholesale channels, fulfillment operations directly affect cost control and the entire customer experience.
The growth of direct-to-consumer commerce has accelerated this shift. DTC sales in the U.S. have more than tripled in recent years and now represent a significant share of overall e-commerce activity, driving higher order volumes and tighter delivery expectations. To meet these demands, organizations must operate fulfillment systems that scale efficiently while maintaining accuracy and transparency. The core functions of a fulfillment center include tight inventory control, pick-and-pack fulfillment, shipping, returns, and more. Fulfillment solutions provide benefits to businesses across many industries, including e-commerce brands such as retail and direct-to-consumer (DTC) models.
As a result, fulfillment is no longer evaluated solely on speed. Modern organizations assess fulfillment performance based on scalability, consistency, and accountability, making it a core operational function rather than an internal, back-end task.
Direct-to-Consumer Fulfillment
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) fulfillment involves shipping a high volume of small, individual orders directly to end customers. DTC has become a core fulfillment model as more brands sell directly through their own websites and digital channels. Unlike bulk B2B distribution, DTC operations depend on streamlined pick-and-pack processes, consistent order accuracy at scale, and rapid turnaround to meet customer expectations.
PPS offers DTC fulfillment solutions, including kitting, assembly, packaging, and logistics solutions. Our DTC lab kit assembly empowers patients to make more informed healthcare decisions, providing convenience, privacy, time savings, and cost savings with accurate results. As businesses scale their DTC fulfillment models, even small inefficiencies can compound quickly, affecting core operations and the bottom line.
PPS offers fulfillment solutions that help companies scale efficiently and accurately, maintaining customer satisfaction and market share. We act as an extension of your team, optimizing your process through production services including kitting, assembly, packaging, retail-ready packaging, auto-bagging, labeling, and a range of fulfillment solutions. This allows companies to focus on their core business processes while we step in to scale deliveries with structured fulfillment models, trained labor, and systems built for speed and accountability.
Subscription Box Fulfillment
Subscription box fulfillment involves sending out regular shipments to repeat customers, although the demand for these services is rarely consistent. While overall order volumes can be predicted, they often change from month to month due to factors such as subscriber growth, cancellations, special promotions, and seasonal campaigns. As a result, the fulfillment process demands both careful planning and the ability to adapt.
Bundling, kitting, and personalization are central to the execution of subscription boxes. Multiple products are typically combined into a single shipment, often with branded inserts, educational materials, or promotional items.
Learn More About Subscription Box Bundling Strategies
Fulfillment operations include coordinating component availability, consistently assembling kits, and ensuring each subscription is packaged accurately before shipping. Streamlined bundling ensures operational efficiency and consistent subscriber experiences, adding value with disciplined processes essential for ongoing fulfillment reliability.
Effective subscription fulfillment relies on systems for repeatable kitting, inventory management, and timely shipping. PPS offers Subscription Box Fulfillment solutions, providing worry-free, precise inventory management and on-time delivery.
Amazon Fulfillment (Hybrid & Alternative Models)
Amazon fulfillment introduces a distinct set of operational requirements shaped by platform rules, service-level expectations, and cost structures. While Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) offers access to Prime eligibility and Amazon’s delivery network, it also places tight controls on inventory handling, packaging, storage duration, and fee schedules. These platform-specific requirements can limit flexibility as product lines expand or demand patterns shift.
As Amazon has scaled its fulfillment network, fulfillment itself has become a significant cost center. Amazon now spends tens of billions of dollars annually on order fulfillment, reflecting the complexity and expense of maintaining speed, coverage, and capacity at scale. For sellers, this reality often translates into rising storage fees, inbound placement costs, and penalties for slow-moving or oversized inventory. Inventory positioning, what stays in FBA versus outside the network, becomes a critical lever for cost control.
As a result, many organizations adopt hybrid or alternative fulfillment models. Fast-moving SKUs may remain in FBA to support Prime delivery, while other products are fulfilled through third-party partners to regain control over inventory, packaging, and costs. These supplemental models help sellers balance Amazon visibility with operational flexibility.
Learn More About Amazon Fulfillment Services
e-commerce Fulfillment at Scale
e-commerce fulfillment at scale introduces challenges that go beyond order volume alone. As product offerings expand, businesses must manage SKU proliferation, fluctuating order velocity, and increasingly complex inventory flows across digital storefronts and sales channels. Demand is rarely uniform; certain products may spike suddenly while others move slowly, placing added pressure on forecasting and inventory accuracy.
This variability requires fulfillment operations that can adapt quickly without creating bottlenecks. High-performing e-commerce fulfillment relies on systems that provide real-time inventory visibility, efficient picking workflows, and the ability to scale labor and space as demand changes. Without these controls, growth can expose inefficiencies that lead to delayed shipments, stock imbalances, or service failures.
As consumer adoption of online shopping continues to rise globally, e-commerce fulfillment must support sustained growth while maintaining consistency and reliability. Organizations increasingly turn to structured fulfillment models to ensure expansion does not compromise performance.
Learn More About eCommerce Fulfillment
Operational Challenges Across Fulfillment Environments
As fulfillment expands across DTC, subscription, marketplace, and wholesale channels, organizations encounter a consistent set of operational challenges. These issues tend to intensify as order volumes, SKU counts, and service expectations increase.
Common fulfillment challenges include:
- Inventory visibility across channels – Managing inventory across multiple platforms requires centralized, real-time visibility. Without it, businesses risk stockouts, overselling, and inefficient replenishment that disrupt service levels and cash flow.
- Labor efficiency and process consistency – Fulfillment is labor-intensive, particularly in pick-and-pack and kitting workflows. Scaling successfully depends on standardized procedures, effective training, and the ability to flex labor without sacrificing accuracy.
- Kitting and packaging complexity – Bundles, kits, inserts, and custom packaging add value but increase operational complexity. Coordinating multiple SKUs and maintaining assembly consistency requires disciplined workflows and tight inventory control.
- Returns and reverse logistics – Returns are built into modern fulfillment models, especially in e-commerce and DTC. Processing inbound products, updating inventory, and managing reshipments add cost and operational pressure when systems are not fully integrated.
- Seasonal demand variability – Promotions and peak periods create sudden volume spikes. Without scalable infrastructure and accurate forecasting, seasonal surges can strain fulfillment operations and impact delivery performance.
- Maintaining service levels during growth – As volumes increase, manual or fragmented fulfillment processes often fail to scale. Sustaining accuracy, speed, and accountability requires intentional systemization rather than reactive fixes.
Together, these challenges reinforce the need for fulfillment operations that are built to scale, supported by standardized processes, visibility, and disciplined execution across channels.
Warehousing vs. Fulfillment Centers: Understand the Difference
Warehousing and fulfillment are closely related functions, but they are designed to support different operational priorities. Warehouses primarily focus on efficient storage and inventory holding, while fulfillment centers are structured to support the rapid movement of goods from inventory to outbound shipment.
Fulfillment operations require systems, workflows, and staffing models optimized for high order velocity, accuracy, and continuous outbound flow. Orders must be picked, packed, and shipped efficiently, often across multiple channels and under tight delivery expectations. This level of execution depends on real-time inventory visibility, standardized work instructions, and layouts designed to minimize handling time.
Modern fulfillment centers act as operational extensions of customer-facing businesses. Rather than serving only as storage locations, they support timely delivery, service consistency, and scalable execution as demand fluctuates.
Learn About Warehouses & Fulfillment Centers
Micro Fulfillment: Designing for Speed, Accuracy, and Proximity
Micro fulfillment strategies are increasingly used to meet higher delivery expectations by positioning inventory closer to end customers. Rather than relying exclusively on large, centralized facilities, micro fulfillment uses smaller, highly organized environments optimized for fast picking, packing, and outbound processing.
These operations are designed to support high-velocity SKUs, regional demand, or time-sensitive orders. By reducing shipping distances and shortening order-to-delivery timelines, micro fulfillment improves accuracy, lowers last-mile complexity, and helps absorb demand spikes without overwhelming primary fulfillment centers.
Micro fulfillment is most effective when deployed as part of a broader fulfillment network. It does not replace traditional fulfillment infrastructure but complements it by improving responsiveness where speed and proximity matter most. Successful implementation depends on disciplined inventory synchronization, real-time visibility, and clearly defined workflows across locations.
Learn More About Micro-Fulfillment Strategies
Scaling Fulfillment Without Losing Control
As organizations grow, fulfillment complexity often increases faster than internal processes can adapt. Rising order volumes, broader distribution channels, and expanding SKU counts expose gaps in manual workflows and disconnected systems, making operational control a strategic priority for mid-market and enterprise organizations.
Scalable fulfillment depends on four core capabilities:
- Standardized processes and quality discipline
Consistent execution requires documented work instructions, training, and quality controls that operate reliably across shifts and locations. Without standardization, errors multiply as volume increases. - Real-time inventory visibility
Accurate, centralized inventory data across all channels and facilities is essential to prevent stockouts, overselling, and fulfillment delays. Visibility enables better planning, faster decisions, and controlled growth. - Product traceability and accountability
Lot- and serial-level traceability supports risk management, recall readiness, and operational accountability—especially as product assortments and fulfillment volume expand. - Flexible labor and space utilization
Scalable fulfillment operations must adjust labor and space efficiently to absorb demand variability without sacrificing accuracy or throughput.
Seasonality adds another layer of complexity. Rather than treating peak periods as temporary exceptions, leading organizations plan for seasonal demand as a structural requirement. Forecasting, capacity planning, and adaptable fulfillment models help maintain service levels during predictable volume spikes, particularly in subscription-based operations where growth and seasonality often intersect.
For a deeper look at these challenges and how they affect subscription operations, see Challenges in Scaling a Subscription Box Business. With the right systems, processes, and fulfillment partner in place, organizations can scale fulfillment while maintaining control.
The Role of Kitting, Bundling, and Value-Added Packaging
Kitting, bundling, and value-added packaging play an important role in improving both fulfillment efficiency and the end-customer experience. By combining multiple components into a single managed unit, kitting reduces SKU complexity and simplifies inventory control across fulfillment operations.
PPS offers a variety of kitting solutions and customizes workflow instructions to meet customer specifications:
Bundling further streamlines execution by consolidating items that are frequently shipped together. This approach supports faster fulfillment by reducing pick steps, simplifies inventory planning by treating bundled items as a single unit, and enhances the customer experience through curated, cohesive shipments. When executed consistently, bundling also reduces handling errors and improves order accuracy at scale.
Value-added packaging extends fulfillment beyond logistics into brand presentation and merchandising alignment. PPS offers secondary packaging solutions that help organizations support promotions, onboarding programs, and point-of-sale readiness while maintaining fulfillment efficiency:
These packaging strategies allow fulfillment operations to support marketing objectives without introducing unnecessary complexity into day-to-day execution.
Technology, Traceability, and Process Discipline
Modern fulfillment operations require disciplined systems, controlled environments, and experienced execution. As fulfillment expands to include kitting, bundling, packaging, and multi-channel distribution, maintaining accountability for customer-supplied materials becomes critical. At PPS, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and operational discipline work together to support accurate, auditable fulfillment.
An ERP-driven environment provides centralized visibility into inventory, order status, and material movement, ensuring all customer-supplied components are tracked throughout receiving, storage, assembly, and outbound fulfillment. This level of control is especially important for kitting and packaging operations where multiple SKUs are combined into finished units.
Fulfillment discipline at PPS is supported by:
- ISO 9001:2015 registered quality system
Documented procedures, standardized work instructions, and ongoing training promote consistent execution across teams, shifts, and fulfillment programs. - Full lot and serial traceability
Materials are tracked throughout the fulfillment lifecycle to support quality control, recall readiness, and compliance requirements, particularly in regulated industries. - Purpose-built fulfillment infrastructure
Multiple receiving and shipping bays, dedicated workstations, and scalable floor space support high-volume kitting, assembly, and outbound logistics with controlled material flow. - Dedicated, experienced teams
PPS brings decades of experience in fulfillment, packaging, and assembly, enabling reliable execution as programs scale in volume and complexity.
By combining system visibility with disciplined processes and physical execution capacity, PPS delivers fulfillment operations built on transparency, accountability, and consistency.
Fulfillment as a Strategic Partnership
Outsourced fulfillment is most effective when it operates as a natural extension of an organization’s internal operations, not as a disconnected service. Because fulfillment plays a crucial role in shaping customer experience, inventory accuracy, and scalability for organizations, the provider-customer partnership becomes strategic and extends beyond a purely transactional relationship.
Strong fulfillment partnerships share a few essential characteristics:
- Transparency through clear visibility into inventory, workflows, and performance metrics
- Process alignment that ensures fulfillment activities follow established standards and integrate with existing systems
- Data access that supports informed planning and decision-making
- Operational accountability with clearly defined roles and consistent execution
When these elements are in place, organizations can confidently scale fulfillment operations, adapt to changing demand, and maintain control without adding operational complexity.
How PPS Supports Modern Fulfillment Operations
Modern fulfillment demands consistency, coordination, and the ability to scale without disrupting service. PPS supports these requirements through integrated fulfillment operations designed to manage complexity across channels while maintaining accuracy and control.
PPS operates under a strict ISO 9001:2015 registered quality system, with documented procedures, trained teams, and standardized workflows that support repeatable performance across fulfillment programs. Customer-supplied materials are managed within a controlled environment that emphasizes accountability throughout receiving, storage, kitting, packaging, and outbound logistics.
Fulfillment services at PPS are structured to support direct-to-consumer shipping, subscription programs, Amazon and marketplace workflows, and high-volume e-commerce fulfillment. By integrating kitting, packaging, warehousing, and shipping within a single operational framework, PPS reduces handoffs, limits variability, and improves execution as volume and complexity increase.
This operational discipline allows organizations to scale fulfillment confidently while maintaining visibility, accuracy, and control.
Learn more about PPS’s complete range of Production Services and Fulfillment Solutions:
For channel-specific fulfillment support, explore:
This integrated approach allows organizations to align fulfillment execution with operational goals while maintaining flexibility as demand and distribution models evolve.
Looking Ahead: Fulfillment Readiness for 2026 and Beyond
Fulfillment will continue to shape how businesses compete as customer expectations rise and sales channels become more interconnected. Reliable delivery and accurate inventory management now play a direct role in customer retention, brand trust, and cost control.
Organizations that adopt scalable fulfillment models are better equipped to manage change as demand patterns shift and new distribution channels emerge. A disciplined fulfillment operation enables growth without disrupting service or losing operational control.
PPS supports fulfillment programs built for consistency and long-term growth. We provide integrated services, including kitting, packaging, warehousing, and outbound logistics, all supported by an ISO 9001:2015-registered quality system. Contact us to explore scalable solutions designed for dependable execution and future-ready fulfillment services.