Why Omnichannel Logistics Breaks Down (and What You Can Do About It)

The Hidden Cracks Under Every Growing Brand

If you have ever wondered why your logistics stack sounds like it is whispering ominous things behind your back, you are not alone. Brands that dip a toe into omnichannel always begin with optimism. You launch on Shopify because it is easy, then you add Amazon because you want volume, then Walmart because it seems doable, then maybe you toss a few pallets toward Target or Best Buy because someone on your team said it would be great for visibility. In theory this should feel like expansion. In reality it often feels like carrying a mattress up a stairwell that was not built for mattresses or humans or happiness.

Industry numbers confirm the strain. In 2024, more than 70 percent of online shoppers reported bouncing between two or more channels before completing a purchase. That means your customer might discover you on Instagram, visit Shopify on mobile, check Amazon for price and shipping, then place an order after dinner with expectations shaped by Prime delivery. And here is the kicker: they expect every channel to have the same product availability, the same speed, and the same reliability. If Shopify says you have 20 units but Amazon shows 0, customers blame you, not the channels, not the technology, and certainly not the polite warehouse employee wrestling a pallet jack in the background.

Omnichannel logistics was supposed to be the elegant solution to this chaos. Instead it often turns into a precarious Rube Goldberg machine that collapses the second a promotion goes well or a retailer changes its paperwork again. Your data flows in late. Your inventory sync drifts off course. Your orders queue up out of order. And your internal meetings sound like a cross between a literary tragedy and a group project gone wrong. This is not because you lack talent. It is because most systems simply were not built for omnichannel scale.

Why Traditional Logistics Infrastructure Cannot Keep Up

The vast majority of 3PLs were engineered for a world that barely exists anymore. Their software and physical processes were designed for either bulk B2B or straightforward D2C, but not both at high speed from a shared inventory pool. They operate on assumptions that crumble in an omnichannel environment, where a single SKU can drive ecommerce orders, FBA replenishment, retail distribution, and direct wholesale shipping in the same week.

This is why so many brands experience what we can politely call logistical personality splits. One batch of systems thinks a shipment is received; another thinks it is still on a truck. Amazon clocks a late delivery because your 3PL missed a scan. Shopify oversells because the warehouse is running a cycle count three days behind. A retailer assigns a chargeback because your pallet configuration does not match their new routing guide, which they sent at 4:59 p.m. on a Friday with all the warmth of a parking ticket. And because these systems do not talk to each other coherently, you spend more time playing referee than scaling your brand.

To make matters worse, consumer patience has been dropping faster than shipping margins. Studies from 2025 highlight rising expectations around two day and even same day delivery, which means your logistics partner needs precise, real time inventory and a broad geographical footprint. Many 3PLs simply do not have the software or facility depth to pull that off without breaking into a nervous sweat.

Where G10 Stops the Bleeding

This is where G10 quietly breaks the pattern. Since its founding in 2009, G10 has been operating across B2B, D2C, ecommerce, wholesale, retail, and fully regulated HAZMAT. Omnichannel for G10 is not an exciting new experiment; it is the operating system. That single decision changes the math dramatically, because every logistics choice the company makes assumes inventory has to support multiple channels without drifting, choking, or getting lost in a software maze.

The cornerstone of that system is ChannelPoint, G10's proprietary WMS. Because the software was designed around omnichannel rather than retrofitted for it, it handles the mixed workload of Shopify parcels, Amazon FBM, retail POs, and FBA replenishment without wheezing. Its job is not only to keep track of inventory but to make every channel believe they are looking at the same exact truth. When Connor Perkins, Director of Fulfillment, talks about integrations, he puts it in clear terms: "We have experience with omni-channel integration setup and we are capable of doing any EDI, API, flat file, or XML integration needed throughout the omni-channel." You do not need to be a software engineer to understand the significance of that. It means your orders flow into one system that actually works.

The Power of Placement and Speed

The second pillar is physical network design. A brand cannot compete on speed if all shipments fight their way out of a single facility. Customers expect nationwide two day coverage because Amazon taught them to expect nationwide two day coverage. That is not going to change no matter how calmly you explain your constraints. This is why G10 operates strategically placed facilities across Wisconsin, South Carolina, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada. Inventory does not sit in one place, sweating under fluorescent lighting, praying for a truck. It moves across a network designed to get products closer to customers before orders even happen.

Holly Woods, Director of Operations, sums it up with such matter of fact calm that you might miss the significance: "Having strategically placed warehouses lets inbounds come in faster, which means we can get it distributed faster." Logistics sometimes pretends to be complex, but most of its success comes down to fundamentals. The faster you receive, the faster you position, the faster you deliver.

The Human Advantage Most 3PLs Abandoned

Technology and geography only carry you so far. The place where G10 creates real emotional relief for brands is customer experience. Many logistics companies treat customer support like an afterthought or a bother. You get ticket queues. You get generic replies. You get automated responses telling you your issue has been escalated to someone whose name you cannot pronounce and whose timezone you cannot guess. And while that may be fine for some industries, it absolutely does not work in omnichannel logistics, where a single missed routing guide instruction can cost you thousands.

G10 rejects that model completely. Every brand gets a dedicated person in Delavan, Wisconsin who knows their SKUs, understands their quirks, and can walk into the warehouse to get answers. Joel Malmquist, VP of Customer Experience, explains it with refreshing simplicity: "Every account at G10 has a direct point of contact. You only have to reach out to one person, and they work with the teams internally to make sure we execute for you the right way." When logistics get weird, you want a human being who can solve it, not a ticket that ages like fine milk.

Making Growth Less Terrifying

Perhaps the most underrated part of G10's approach is its appetite for customers who are in that awkward teenage growth phase. These are the brands with serious potential, chaotic demand spikes, and the kind of inventory questions that spark entire email chains. G10 is designed to grow with them without breaking under pressure or asking them to downgrade their ambitions. The system supports the messy blend of B2B and D2C that defines modern retail. It handles complex routing guides, retail prep, D2C speed expectations, and mixed fulfillment logic without turning your operations into a crime scene.

This is what makes omnichannel logistics with G10 feel different. Instead of explaining to customers why things are broken, the system quietly prevents them from breaking. Instead of inventing workarounds for missing features, the team configures the software to support the customer. Instead of making you guess about inventory availability or order status, the platform gives you real information without a scavenger hunt.

The Part Where You Finally Get Your Evenings Back

You do not need omnichannel to be peaceful. You just need it to stop surprising you. G10's entire infrastructure is built around the idea that logistics should become a solved problem, not a daily suspense thriller. It should be predictable. It should be boring. It should make your customers happy without draining your team. And when something does go wrong, you should have a person who actually picks up the phone instead of telling you to expect an answer sometime tomorrow.

If you are ready for omnichannel logistics that does not collapse every time demand jumps, reach out to G10. The team can help you turn your operation into the stable, scalable backbone your brand deserves, and you can finally stop treating fulfillment like a mystery novel someone forgot to finish writing.