3PL Accuracy Rate: The Metric That Determines Whether Customers Stay or Leave

Accuracy collapses when warehouses lose visibility and control

A 3PL accuracy rate is more than a performance metric. It is the clearest signal of whether your fulfillment provider is protecting your brand or eroding it. Research shows that merchants now treat accuracy as a leading indicator of operational maturity because customer expectations have tightened and competitive pressure has intensified. When accuracy slips, customer trust slips with it.

Many brands who move to G10 describe the same story: mispicks, wrong quantities, mislabeled items, and inventory that never matched what their previous 3PL claimed. Those errors do not happen randomly. They grow when workflows are inconsistent, reporting is delayed, and visibility is weak.

As Maureen Milligan said, "Most of the customers who come to us from another 3PL, their challenges have always been access to their data, order accuracy and efficiency, and basically just meeting the committed requirements. So we've seen a lot of people come disillusioned by their last 3PL, where their orders weren't getting fulfilled in time, their inventory accuracy was not there, and they were not able to satisfy customer orders." A strong 3PL accuracy rate depends on eliminating every one of those operational blind spots.

Accuracy requires real time data, not end-of-day summaries

Accuracy failures rarely stem from a single moment. They form through dozens of small events: a receiving mistake, an unrecorded transfer, a rushed pick, or a packing station falling behind. Improving a 3PL accuracy rate requires visibility into every operational detail.

Bryan Wright described the depth of tracking needed when he said, "Absolutely. We have portals that show you the data. We have history that shows you all of that tracking. It shows the product landed on the dock at 8 o'clock. At 8:10, John picked it up and took it to location XYZ, and at 10 o'clock, we picked two items off of that pellet in the location 1, 2, 3, 4, order, you know, ABC, and at 11 o'clock, we packed it, we put it in this box and put this label number on it, and all the way through the process onto the truck and to the customer." That level of event history allows accuracy issues to be traced back to their source instead of being treated as unsolved mysteries.

When dashboards and portals show real time movement, teams can diagnose accuracy issues quickly and prevent them from repeating.

An accurate 3PL depends on fully scan-based workflows

A 3PL accuracy rate drops the moment product moves without being recorded. Unscanned transfers, paper picking, or partial updates introduce errors that spread through every subsequent task. Accuracy improvement begins with consistent scanning at every touchpoint.

As Connor Perkins said, "You want everything to be scanned in the warehouse, nothing done on paper. You can lose a lot of money in this industry by you know having people ship stuff wrong, or store it wrong, and now it's lost somewhere. So having a 3PL and WMS that is 100% scan-based is crucial." That discipline ensures that the accuracy rate reflects real performance instead of incomplete data.

Connor also said, "One of the pain points our clients have experienced with previous 3PLSs is inventory accuracy; maybe their previous 3PL wasn't great at picking the orders accurately. So they were losing money by shipping wrong items or wrong quantities of items." A 3PL accuracy rate is only meaningful when every workflow is captured consistently.

Visibility portals strengthen accuracy through transparency

Accuracy issues thrive when customers cannot see what is happening inside the warehouse. Transparent reporting forces accountability and reveals errors before they escalate.

As Maureen said, "We're in the last stages of developing a new portal that will give customers real-time visibility to their on-time order fulfillment, inventory accuracy, and even inventory levels so that they can monitor those things directly in our systems. They'll have visibility to what the statuses of their orders-are they getting processed as they expect?-and things like that." Visibility creates a feedback loop that improves accuracy every day.

She added, "A lot of the 3PL customer expectations are that order fulfillment is happening extremely timely, that our inventory is accurate, that we're able to execute on their orders very quickly, and get them shipped the same day. So what these real-time portals provide our customers is 100% visibility." When customers can see accuracy directly, the 3PL must maintain it.

Connor expanded on the reporting needed to support accuracy when he said, "Our clients get best-in-class visibility and transparency. They can see their daily orders, they can see KPIs, and they can see historical transactions. They can look at a daily level or go into the more granular version where they're looking at transactional history on an item." This level of detail makes accuracy measurable and actionable.

He also said, "You have easy access to reporting and you can export to Excel, or really any format that you like you know directly from our WMS portal." Flexible reporting helps teams investigate patterns and validate improvements over time.

Operational strength drives higher 3PL accuracy rates

Strong accuracy rates come from strong operational habits: organized receiving, disciplined putaway, reliable picking paths, and consistent packing workflows. Real time dashboards and portals help teams maintain those habits by identifying errors early.

As Maureen said, "We will take in your inbounds, we will get them received and reported back to you within our SLAs, and oftentimes more quickly than what we contracted for. We will ship your orders out the day they're required. And our inventory accuracy is generally right there at that 99.7% that we agreed. So that's one of the areas where we really do excel, and where we've been able to win business." Accuracy rates reflect this operational consistency.

Accuracy rebuilds trust after failed 3PL relationships

When brands leave a 3PL, it is often because they no longer trust the accuracy of the work. Conflicting reports, mismatched inventory, and repeated mispicks break confidence quickly. A high 3PL accuracy rate restores that trust.

As Maureen said, "For customers who have come to us from a bad 3PL relationship, they experience relief. They're suddenly seeing their business scaling, that the data supports what we agreed to, and then the trust begins to build." Accuracy is one of the first places where that rebuilding becomes visible.

A strong 3PL accuracy rate is now a competitive requirement

Customer expectations continue to rise while supply chain demands grow more complex. A strong 3PL accuracy rate is no longer a bonus. It is a baseline requirement. Real time tracking, scan-based workflows, transparent reporting, and consistent execution all contribute to accuracy that customers rely on.

As Connor said, "This is one of our strengths. G10 is on the cutting edge for this kind of transparency and feedback for clients." A reliable accuracy rate is one of the clearest expressions of that strength.

If your brand needs predictable fulfillment, fewer errors, and stronger customer confidence, improving your 3PL accuracy rate is the most important step you can take.