How to Choose the Right B2B Warehousing and Fulfillment Partner

B2B supply chains typically experience one or more annual peaks, followed by a slowdown in orders and shipments in Q4. It’s as close to an off-season as you’ll get, when the most critical decisions for the upcoming year are made.

During this Q4 “offseason,” whether you’re a manufacturer, distributor, or retailer, you can prepare your supply chains to reach new levels of strength and resilience. This won’t come from a single, heavy logistical lift. Like an athlete in training, your B2B supply chain will be strengthened through assessment, planning, and repetition to drive continuous improvement.

During this final stretch of Q4, what can best prepare you to meet the challenges ahead? Before hiring a new 3PL as your supply chain’s personal trainer, you will begin with a stress test—which, in this case, is an RFP — to determine which 3PL can help you make the most gains.

This article highlights four key qualities to consider when evaluating 3PLs to identify the best warehousing and fulfillment partner for your goals.

The “Off-Season” Opportunity for Supply Chain Optimization

The scale and scope of RFPs vary from one year to another. For instance, this year you might be planning for a regional expansion, new SKUs, freight lanes, and network optimization. You may need a 3PL partner to step in immediately and help with heavy lifting.

Waiting until Q1 or later to make a final decision might limit your options, as your top 3PLs might already be taken. Choosing the second- or third-best option might deliver quick but limited results and fall short of meeting your ongoing needs.

What Poor Partner Selection Does to Your KPIs

Finding a 3PL with a solid foundation is crucial to ensure success. One with staffing issues or operational problems will drag down your key metrics, from dock-to-stock times, OTIF, inventory accuracy, customer satisfaction, and more.

Like personal trainers, 3PLs that specialize in warehousing and fulfillment aren’t commodities; they’re the backbone of success and crucial to developing and sustaining core strengths in supply chain and logistics management.

Four Qualities of a High-Performing Partner

Comparing your supply chain to an athlete and your 3PL to the trainer and support system, the main goal is to achieve better performance and lower risk during game time. To do this, the relationship must go beyond just storing products and fulfilling orders. You will need high levels of coordination and visibility.

Therefore, when evaluating vendors in an RFP, it’s essential to focus on these four qualities.

• Integrated Systems & Real-Time Visibility

Just as athletes train to improve their mind-muscle connection, supply chains need 3PLs that deliver seamless system integrations to ensure real-time visibility and precise execution.

Without connecting to your ERP, TMS, or WMS, you and your 3PL will be operating in the dark. Inventory data will be delayed, and costly errors will pile up.

This is why high-performance warehousing and fulfillment partners like Knight-Swift offer real-time EDI/API integrations, dashboards, and visibility tools that keep B2B supply chains synchronized at every stage — from inventory to order processing and final delivery.

• Strategic Locations and Transportation Capabilities

Many factors influence how an athlete performs under pressure. In logistics, a 3PL’s infrastructure and experience lay the groundwork for products flowing smoothly from origin to destination.

For example, Knight-Swift combines a nationwide warehousing and fulfillment network with the nation’s most extensive truckload, LTL, and multi-modal transportation network. As a fully integrated 3PL, Knight-Swift can quickly adjust and rebalance inventory locations and volumes in response to business growth and seasonal swings.

The unique warehousing, fulfillment, and transportation network infrastructure increases speed and ensures on-time service while reducing costs through load consolidation and mode switching.

• Scalable Labor for Peak and Off-Peak Seasons

Annual employee turnover at warehouses exceeds 46% nationally. To mitigate the risks of an unstable labor market, a high-performing 3PL must have proven methods for successfully recruiting, retaining, and expanding its labor force to meet customer needs.

Knight-Swift’s strong culture, low turnover, and flexible warehousing and fulfillment model combine to provide a stable, consistent labor pool, including on-demand staffing for peak and off-peak cycles.

• Technology That Enhances Performance

Some 3PLs may tout their use of technology, such as robotic warehouse automation, but sometimes this is more for show than real impact.

Knight-Swift applies technology with purpose for customers. We can implement robotic automation for customers where and when it makes sense. However, the focus is first and foremost on making investments that will best help customers achieve their goals and solve current and future business challenges.

As an example of the impact of our technology investments, Knight-Swift helped a nationwide retail fixtures manufacturer maintain 100% inventory and reporting accuracy during a record period of growth. The company’s shipment volume increased by 116% in Q1 2025 alone.

Prepare Your Supply Chain for 2026

In B2B supply chains, Q4 is more than just a deadline for reviewing RFPs. It’s time to start training for the upcoming year. When managed properly, an RFP will identify the best-fit warehousing and fulfillment provider who can get to work immediately to make your supply chain your competitive advantage.

Strong 3PL partners will prioritize transparency in the RFP and openly discuss their performance metrics, including inventory accuracy, labor strategy, and network scalability. They do this because they have a solid foundation to achieve desired outcomes.

Are you looking for a partner to help you do more, move faster, and stay resilient through whatever comes next? Invite Knight-Swift Warehousing & Fulfillment into your RFP and discover how you can benefit from our flexible, scalable solutions.

Contact our team below.