How To Choose The Best Macy’s 3PL For Your Orders | Cahoot

The best ecommerce brands and Sellers are constantly looking for new sales channels to expand their footprint. Most people think of Macy’s and its sister brand Bloomingdale’s as retailers that are heavily focused on their brick-and-mortar stores and trail well behind the likes of Amazon in ecommerce. Therefore, they are likely not the first names that come to a merchant’s mind when they consider expanding beyond Amazon. However, in recent years, Macy’s has begun to catch on to the surge in ecommerce and realizes that it represents an opportunity through which it can boost sales and revive stalling growth.

In 2022, Macy’s reported it had around 45 million active shoppers, of which 29.1 million were Star Rewards members – a sizable audience for an online seller to target. In a bid to increase the product mix that it offers, the company launched its online third-party marketplace in late 2022. Unlike Amazon’s marketplace, where nearly anyone can start selling, Macy’s platform is curated. Macy’s platform facilitates ecommerce opportunities for vendors by allowing them to manage their inventory effectively and optimize their fulfillment processes. This could be done to ensure they serve their customers with the brands and products they think will most appeal to them. If you’re reading this, it probably means you’ve been selected by them to feature your assortment – congratulations!

One of the key benefits of this 3rd Party Marketplace is its Vendor Direct Program – which allows merchants to receive orders that customers place on Macy’s website, and fulfill those orders on their own. This offers significant advantages for a couple of reasons.

Understanding 3PL and Macy’s Fulfillment Needs

What Is Third-Party Logistics (3PL)?

Third-party logistics (3PL) refers to the outsourcing of various logistics and supply chain functions to an external service provider. This can include services such as warehousing, transportation, inventory management, and order fulfillment. By leveraging the expertise and infrastructure of a 3PL provider, Macy’s vendors can delegate critical components like warehousing and order fulfillment, allowing them to focus on their core business. In essence, third-party logistics providers take on the heavy lifting of logistics, enabling Macy’s vendors to concentrate on what they do best – creating and selling great products.

Benefits of Outsourcing Macy’s Order Fulfillment

Outsourcing Macy’s order fulfillment can bring numerous benefits, including improved operational efficiency, increased customer satisfaction, and cost savings. By partnering with a 3PL provider, Macy’s vendors can tap into their expertise and technology, ensuring seamless integration with the Macy’s platform and efficient order processing. This means that orders are processed quickly and accurately, reducing the likelihood of errors and delays. Additionally, 3PL providers offer flexible and scalable fulfillment services, allowing Macy’s vendors to adapt to changing market demands and customer preferences. This flexibility is crucial in today’s fast-paced retail environment, where customer expectations are constantly shifting. By outsourcing fulfillment services, Macy’s vendors can ensure that they are always ready to meet these expectations, leading to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Why is The Macy’s Vendor Direct Program Great For Sellers?

Simplified Inventory Management

As Macy’s allows Sellers to fulfill their orders independently, you do not need to send some of your inventory to a Macy’s warehouse. This is a welcome relief for Sellers who might already have sent some inventory to Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) or Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS), and are overwhelmed by keeping track of all these different marketplace-specific order fulfillment solutions. Macy’s allows you to manage your order fulfillment entirely on your own, just like you might be doing for your Shopify storefront, for example. This ensures that you don’t have to work with another logistics solution that is specific to a single sales channel.

Whatever The Logistics Setup, Everyone Has a Fair Chance

Amazon’s A10 algorithm for search rankings, as well as the Buy Box algorithm, both assign high preference to listings that are fulfilled by the company’s in-house FBA logistics network. Additionally, when delays or issues occur with FBA, Amazon faces no penalties – whereas Sellers fulfilling their own orders face severe penalties if they or the carriers they rely on make a mistake, including having their product listings suspended. With Macy’s, there is no such competing network that stacks the odds against you – everyone competes equally, and the brands with the best products who achieve the highest order fulfillment excellence will win.

While all this offers Sellers and their businesses operational and strategic advantages, the program still has high expectations from participating brands. Your choice of a 3rd Party Logistics Provider is a crucial factor in determining your success, and there are a few key factors to consider.

What Should You Look For in Macy’s Fulfillment Services?

Full Compliance With Macy’s Vendor Direct Fulfillment (VDF) Tech Stack

Macy’s requires that Sellers integrate with their platform via CommerceHub. Within 1 hour of a purchase order being made, Sellers must push acknowledgment to Macy’s via this integration. Also, the order must be shipped within 2 business days, and merchants must push confirmation that the order was fulfilled to Macy’s via this connection (with carrier tracking information). Your Macy’s 3PL fulfillment partner must be able to work with this configuration and ensure your orders are shipped on time. Collaborating with third-party logistics (3PL) providers allows you to streamline operations and improve customer satisfaction for Macy’s orders.

“Cahoot is very responsive and organized in all aspects. Everything is prepared to give anyone the best experience ever. They’re the right partner to help you accomplish your business purpose.”

~ Italian Food Online Store

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Flexibility to Work With Macy’s Carrier Accounts

Macy’s will provide you with a UPS account which must be used exclusively for fulfilling VDF orders. Your 3PL partner must be able to have the flexibility and agility in both their software and operations which supports Sellers bringing their own accounts.

Ultrafast Shipping

Macy’s requires that 98.5% of orders are shipped (leave the warehouse) in under 2 business days. However, the consumer expectation today is for fast, free shipping across every channel. Whether you operate from a single warehouse that you own or lease, or work with a traditional 3PL that only has 1 or 2 fulfillment centers, covering the entire country from a limited number of locations becomes extremely challenging. Additionally, with Macy’s carrier accounts, you can only pick from UPS SurePost or Ground services to fulfill orders. Imagine if your 3PL only has a California fulfillment center, but you have to ship orders to New York – customers will have to wait 4-5 business days to get their order in the era of ultrafast same or next-day delivery. With a platform like Cahoot, you can leverage a network of strategically located warehouses to place your inventory closer to your end customers and shorten delivery speeds.

Adherence to Macy’s Packing Requirements

The little things are often the most important; merchants are required to place a Macy’s branded packing slip inside every carton shipped to customers. You need a fulfillment partner that is fully aware of all these requirements and will sweat the details to ensure you are compliant with all aspects of the VDF program.

Responsive and Reliable Customer Support

As part of the VDF program, Macy’s audits and reviews the performance of Sellers in the program – any mistakes or errors that your 3PL commits directly affect your brand reputation, the Macy’s customer experience, and your ability to remain an approved vendor. It becomes essential to have a customer support team that is responsive and ready to quickly resolve any issues that you may run into.

Experience Working With Macy’s Sellers

As we mentioned before, Macy’s marketplace is curated – meaning that it’s exclusive and there are not a large number of brands or Sellers approved to participate, unlike Amazon. This therefore means there are a limited number of order fulfillment services out there that have experience working with merchants who are part of Macy Vendor Direct. Make sure to identify a company that has demonstrable social proof of its track record supporting Macy’s merchants. Here’s what one of our customers, Glo International, had to say about their experience shipping Macy’s orders with Cahoot:

“Cahoot allowed us to reduce the monthly shipping cost and the support service is really responsive and efficient!”

~ Glo International

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The Role of Logistics in Customer Satisfaction

Effective logistics and fulfillment processes are the central components to achieving success in the Macy’s marketplace. When customers place an order, they expect it to be delivered accurately and on time. Any delays or errors in the fulfillment process can lead to dissatisfaction and potentially harm the brand’s reputation and ability to continue in the VDF program. By working with a reliable 3PL provider, Macy’s vendors can ensure that their warehousing and order fulfillment processes are optimized for speed and accuracy, prioritizing early shipment and delivery wherever possible (what Cahoot calls ‘preponing’, the opposite of postponing). A well-executed logistics strategy will not only meet but exceed your customer’s expectations, leading to repeat business and greater lifetime customer value.

Top Macy’s 3PL Companies

Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment

Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) is Amazon’s outsourced fulfillment service for merchants selling on non-Amazon sales channels, such as Macy’s, whereby Amazon handles the picking, packing, and shipping of the orders coming from those sales channels. Ecommerce Sellers can store their inventory at Amazon’s warehouses, and MCF will fulfill the non-Amazon orders from select channels.

ShipBob

ShipBob is a 3PL that focuses on serving ecommerce merchants. They have a nationwide network of order fulfillment centers that enable fast shipping, but they charge extra for guaranteed 2-day shipping. Built for ecommerce, they have an easy-to-use shipping software platform and a large set of pre-built integrations.

Cahoot: The Best Macy’s 3PL

Cahoot’s order fulfillment network is built for the future of ecommerce. Our network of warehouses is strategically located at different locations in the US, enabling Macy’s merchants to offer ultrafast shipping. Our fulfillment centers are well equipped to handle all types of SKUs (including the ones that the typical Amazon fulfillment center may struggle to process) – small, lightweight, seasonal, slow-moving, heavy, and oversized.

We are also fully compliant with the Macy’s technology and packing requirements – and provide you the flexibility to use the Macy’s UPS account provided to you without any hidden fees. Lastly, our US-based customer service team is always available if something needs to be addressed, ensuring that sales are uninterrupted and that you enjoy a successful partnership with Macy’s.

Cahoot is committed to helping Macy’s Sellers grow their businesses with fast and affordable ecommerce order fulfillment service.

If you’d like to find out how Cahoot can help your ecommerce business, please get in touch with us. We can’t wait to show you how Macy’s order fulfillment was meant to be.

If you are selling on multiple sales channels and are interested in a 3PL that can help you with fulfillment, check out some of our other articles:

1. How to Choose the Best 3PL for Your Shopify Store
2. How to Choose the Best 3PL for Wayfair
3. How to Choose the Best 3PL for Target Plus
4. How to Choose the Best 3PL for the Nordstrom Direct Drop Ship Program

Frequently Asked Questions

What carrier does Macy’s use for shipping?

The company uses UPS and the U.S. Postal Service to deliver packages, in addition to DoorDash for same-day delivery.

What is 3PL in retail?

3PL stands for third-party logistics, also known as order fulfillment. A 3PL warehouse provides a full range of ecommerce fulfillment services, including storage, order processing, shipping, and receiving. Many 3PL warehouses provide value-added services such as returns processing, cross docking, or kitting.

How many distribution centers does Macy’s have?

Macy’s currently operates 25 fulfillment centers across the U.S. Most recently, the retailer opened a new 908,000-square-foot distribution center in Tomball, Texas in September 2023, before leasing a 272,000-square-foot facility in Lathrop, Calif. in January 2024.

What is Macy’s biggest competitor?

The main competitors of Macy’s include Dillard’s (DDS), Nordstrom (JWN), Kohl’s (KSS), JC Penney, Burlington Stores (BURL), and Target (TGT).

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