Marketplace logistics
Lower carrier rates for marketplaces
Marketplaces pay more for delivery because their parcels start from many seller locations, not just one warehouse. Carriboo are specialists in this field and have delivered bespoke solutions for clients, both large and small.
YOUR CATCH‑22
CRACKED BY CARRIBOO
Why do marketplaces pay more for delivery?
The marketplace model spreads collections across many seller locations, with varying collection volumes.
Ad-hoc collections attract high carrier costs which either impact your profit or strain customer conversion through price increases.
Each step makes the next one worse.
Catch-22
- Collections required from many global seller locations
- Varying pick-up volumes and frequency for carriers at each seller location
- Only a limited number of carriers can reliably collect from every location worldwide
- Uncompetitive carrier rates
- High cost to serve for a single transaction
- High customer delivery charges at checkout to protect margin
- Low conversion and basket abandonment
- Decreased volumes and slower growth - and the cycle repeats
Key takeaways
- Carriers price on density. A marketplace with many small collection points looks like many small customers, not one large one.
- Few carriers can collect from every seller location, so marketplaces lose negotiating leverage and accept uncompetitive rates.
- High carrier costs push up checkout delivery charges, which can reduce conversion and volume, which weakens density further.
- The fix is to treat the marketplace as one shipper: consolidate collections, match carriers to seller locations and negotiate on total volume.
How we fix it
How can carriboo help marketplace clients cut their shipping costs?
Each marketplace is different and has different requirements dependent on how long it has been trading. In most cases, delivery cost is a common theme and below are the four steps we take in order to review delivery pricing. Whether your issue is cost, customs, duty and tax or something else, we have solutions to help you.
Look at the big picture
We will take the time to look at where you want to go and not where you are today. This is important for businesses, whether you're a start up or planning for growth and the next step
Identify the right carriers for your business
We listen! We want to understand the service you provide, in which areas, and we'll work with carriers that are best suited to your business needs, with both service expectations and cost clearly in mind.
Benchmark and renegotiate
We benchmark your rates and surcharges against the market and negotiate on the marketplace's total volume, not country by country. Our clients have seen carrier rates fall by 20-40%.
We provide exact costings to price your service on
We provide detailed cost analysis including all surcharges, along with tools developed in-house to provide easy reconciliation of carrier costs. This gives you absolute confidence in your pricing.
Marketplace results
What results have marketplaces seen?
saving on annual European shipping costs after Carriboo re-tendered and restructured IVALO's European deliveries.
Read the IVALO case studyOptimised cross-border delivery for an online wholesale cosmetics marketplace shipping from many suppliers.
Read the Qogita case studyWho we work with
Which marketplaces do we help?
Any platform where orders ship from sellers, brands or suppliers rather than a single central warehouse, in the UK, EU or US.
- Multi-vendor fashion and luxury
Boutiques and brands shipping direct to customers worldwide. - Drop-ship platforms
Retailers extending range through supplier fulfilment. - B2B and wholesale marketplaces
Supplier-to-retailer shipments across borders. - Resale and collectibles
High-value, one-off items from individual sellers.
Does this resonate?
A founder will reply within one working day.