Packing yourself vs. outsourcing: the real math for small webshops
"Outsourcing is expensive, I'll just do it myself." It's a sentence you hear from many webshop entrepreneurs. And at first glance, it's true: if you only look at the direct costs, packing yourself is free. But that calculation misses a crucial element: the value of your own time.
The hidden costs of doing it yourself
Let's take a realistic example. You process 100 orders per month. Per order, you spend an average of 8 minutes on: checking the order, picking the product, packing, printing the label, and preparing the package. That's over 13 hours per month.
On top of that: driving to the pickup point or post office, keeping track of inventory, purchasing packaging materials, and processing returns. Add another 5 hours per month to that. You're quickly at 18 hours per month on logistics tasks.
Say you value your own time at €25 per hour — a modest rate for an entrepreneur. Then your logistics cost you €450 per month in time. And that while you could have spent those hours on marketing, product development, or customer service — activities that directly contribute to more revenue.
What does outsourcing cost?
The costs of outsourcing fulfillment vary, but on average you pay between €2 and €4 per order for pick, pack & ship. At 100 orders per month, that's €200 to €400. Add potential storage costs of €50 to €100 per month.
At first glance, those amounts seem comparable to the "costs" of doing it yourself. But the difference is in what you get back: 18 hours per month to spend on growing your webshop.
The opportunity costs
This is where it gets really interesting. Say you spend those 18 freed-up hours on marketing. You improve your product pages, write content, optimize your ads. If that results in 10% more sales — at an average order value of €40, that's €400 extra revenue per month.
The real comparison is therefore not "free DIY vs. paying for fulfillment." It's: "€450 in your own time + missed growth vs. €300 for fulfillment + more revenue through free time." Suddenly the math looks very different.
But I don't have 300-500 orders for a fulfillment partner
True — and that's exactly the problem many growing webshops encounter. Most fulfillment parties have minimum volumes. But through collective purchasing, as weunitebrands offers, your orders are bundled with those of other webshops. This gives you access to professional fulfillment without individually meeting high minimum volumes.
Do your own math
Grab a piece of paper and answer these questions: How many orders do you process per month? How many minutes does an average order cost you? How many hours per month do you spend on logistics in total? What is your hourly rate? What would you do with those hours if you got them back?
Most entrepreneurs who honestly do this exercise come to the same conclusion: packing yourself isn't cheap. It just feels that way because you don't pay yourself.