The fulfillment operations of today’s omnichannel retailers and e-commerce companies are models of efficiency and innovation. Advanced automation is increasingly widespread, with the 2025 MHI Annual Industry Report finding that 41% of respondents’ organizations have already deployed some form of automation in their supply chain operations, and 42% plan to do so in the next five years.
Such automation, from robotic pickers to Automated Storage & Retrieval Systems (AS/RS), enables today’s fulfillment operations to achieve throughput levels and order accuracy inconceivable just a few years ago. But understandably, these high-tech investments in warehouses and distribution centers are costly – often very costly.
And while such investments are increasingly necessary to keep pace with greater sales volume and consumers’ expectations for fast access to the items they buy online, they are also time-consuming to deploy and require significant investments in people to maintain them. Perhaps that is why, in a time when inflationary forces remain and consumer confidence continues to fluctuate, we are seeing more and more fulfillment leaders moving to optimize their parcel shipping operations.
Notably, Reveel’s customers, which include many well-known retail and e-commerce brands, on average see their parcel shipping costs decrease by 22% when they use our Parcel Spend Management (PSM) 2.0 technology and platform. And many achieve far greater savings.
Our recent survey of 150 supply chain leaders puts that percentage in perspective. It also uncovered a number of findings that show just how significant the impact can be when fulfillment operations use our PSM 2.0. First, there is the sheer scale of the opportunity.
Among respondents, 37% allocate between $2 million and $10 million for parcel shipping, 42% set aside between $10 million and $50 million, and more than a fifth – 21% – budget to spend more than $50 million on parcel shipping this year. And importantly, the majority, 87%, expect shipping volumes to increase.
On even the low end of those figures, savings of 22% or more are significant. But the significant benefits of bringing parcel spend under management don’t end on the bottom line. An overwhelming majority of respondents, 91% percent, also let us know that they plan to expand their carrier network.
Our platform enables fulfillment operations to make that transition to a multi-carrier network with confidence, not only by providing the intelligence needed to determine which parcels should be shipped with which carrier, but also by providing crucially important data – such as when moving more shipments from one carrier to another endangers volume-based discount tiers.
Importantly, with keen control over parcel shipping costs, fulfillment leaders often are also able to provide their organizations with the ability to offer “free” or discounted shipping – a powerful differentiator for today’s online shoppers. As a result of these factors, fulfillment leaders increasingly see parcel shipping performance and acumen as a significant differentiator, one that delivers significant top-line and bottom-line results.
To learn more about the parcel shipping landscape, what’s driving costs, and how fulfillment leaders can generate dramatic savings for retail and e-commerce brands, read our full survey, or sign up for a free demo of PSM 2.0.
