Private Label Fulfillment That Actually Scales With You

The Private Label Problem No One Warned You About

Private label sounds simple on paper. You find a manufacturer, build a brand, and start selling under your own name, while someone else handles the factory work. In reality, once orders start climbing and retailers show interest, the hard part is not getting product made. The hard part is getting it packaged, labeled, and shipped exactly the way each channel demands without losing your sanity or your margins.

Most founders discover this the uncomfortable way. They launch private label products on Shopify or Amazon, volume grows, and then a big retailer appears with a long routing guide and a short timeline. Suddenly it is not enough to ship on time. Now you need perfect labels, custom packaging for different customers, and a warehouse that can handle both direct to consumer and business to business orders without fumbling. If your 3PL is not built for that, private label stops feeling like leverage and starts feeling like liability.

Why Private Label Fulfillment Is So Much Harder Than Simple Pick and Pack

Private label brands do not just sell one way. The same product might go out as a single unit on Shopify, as a case pack to Amazon, and as a pallet to a retailer that has strict rules about labels, barcodes, and pallet configuration. Each of those flows has different packaging needs, different data requirements, and different timelines. That kind of complexity breaks simple systems very quickly.

Matt Bradbury sees the pattern when brands reach out for help. He explained that many of the larger customers G10 talks to have already gone through several providers. As he put it, "A lot of these brands have been around for 10 years or less, and a lot of them have had really bad experiences with 3PLs, so there's a big mistrust in the space." That mistrust usually comes from missed ship windows, surprise invoices, and partners who said yes to private label complexity they could not actually handle at scale.

What Private Label Brands Really Need From a 3PL

When you strip away the jargon, private label brands need three things from fulfillment. First, they need accurate, fast shipping on direct to consumer orders, because that is where reputation lives. Second, they need strict retail compliance for big customers, because one mistake with labels or barcodes can trigger chargebacks that wipe out a month of profit. Third, they need the ability to grow from a few thousand orders a month into full national distribution without having to rebuild their entire logistics stack.

That combination is rare, because many 3PLs grew up on simple ecommerce work and are now trying to back into B2B. Bryan Wright described the difference clearly. He said, "By comparison, a lot of other people have created D2C software and they're trying to get into the B2B space, and they may not realize the significant amount of effort that it takes to be compliant for B2B customers." Private label brands find this out at the worst possible time, when a retailer is already frustrated and the product is already late.

Channel Conflict, Chargebacks, and the Cost of Getting It Wrong

The private label opportunity looks attractive because it lets manufacturers and brand owners segment their channels. You can sell into Amazon, into big box retail, and into your own store without as much channel conflict as traditional wholesale. The catch is that each of those channels has the power to punish mistakes quickly, and they do. Amazon can bury your listings or remove your buy box. Retailers can apply chargebacks that turn decent volume into money-losing work.

Joel Malmquist explained how strict retailers can be. He said, "Walmart's pretty intense with their labeling rules. Dick's Sporting Goods is the same; if you don't do it right, you get those massive chargebacks. And Target's got big routing compliance issues." For a private label brand, that kind of penalty is not just annoying. It can be existential, especially when a new product launch depends on a single retailer relationship and you are still proving yourself in the category.

Private Label, Hazmat, and Specialty Product Constraints

Some of the most valuable private label categories involve products that carriers and warehouses do not like to touch, such as batteries, chemicals, or flammable goods. These products can be incredibly profitable, but only if you have a partner that understands the rules and has done the hard work of getting certified and audited. Otherwise, your growth gets capped the moment you try to move from simple parcels to fully regulated freight.

Kay Hillmann described how G10 handles categories that make other providers nervous. She said, "We're certified in all hazardous materials. So for example, we were looking at a matches company yesterday, that's a hazardous material; you can only ship it in certain configurations. We ship concrete sealant, that is also hazardous, a different classification. Paint, your everyday paint that you get from Home Depot or Lowe's, that's hazardous material." For private label brands in these spaces, fulfillment is not just a matter of boxes and tape. It is a matter of legal compliance and safety as well.

Why Private Label Needs Omnichannel Tech, Not Just Extra Space

Private label brands are often tempted by cheap warehouse space or stripped down software, especially early on when every dollar feels scarce. That can work for a while, but once you start serving large retailers, you need more than racks and a shipping account. You need a warehouse management system that understands how to keep inventory accurate across channels, push data back into your storefronts, and support complex labeling and kitting rules without falling apart.

Joel described how G10 handles direct to consumer and retail flows through the same core system. "There's a direct integration with Shopify where orders come in and flow directly into G10. We fulfill those, push back tracking to Shopify to show that the order has been completed, which then fires an email out to the customer," he said. At the same time, the same platform is managing EDI flows and routing guides for B2B shipments into retailers like Target and Walmart. Private label brands benefit most when all of that happens under one operational roof instead of being spread across multiple disconnected partners.

How G10 Thinks About Private Label Growth

From G10's perspective, private label fulfillment is not just another service line. It is part of a broader strategy to work with brands that are built to grow. John Pistone made this point when he talked about what kind of business G10 is trying to build. He said, "What I'm really interested in is finding customers who are going to have long-term value, and what that means they're going to grow. We're going to grow with them. You can't do that with short-term thinking. You have to figure out the long-term solutions."

Those long-term solutions show up in concrete ways for private label brands. They show up in a warehouse footprint that can serve most of the United States in two days. They show up in the ability to split inventory across locations to reduce transit cost while still meeting retailer cutoffs. They show up in a culture where sending a truck at midnight to make a carrier scan is considered normal if that is what it takes to protect service levels.

Why Dedicated Human Support Matters So Much in Private Label

Private label fulfillment involves more moving pieces than a typical ecommerce setup. Between manufacturers, brand owners, retailers, carriers, and compliance requirements, there are many places where communication can fail. That is why G10 leans heavily on dedicated account management rather than anonymous ticket systems. When something goes wrong, or when a retailer suddenly changes a requirement, you want to speak to someone who already knows your business and can move quickly.

Joel highlighted this advantage from a customer experience perspective. "If you're working with G10, your experience for getting help is that you can either email or call your direct point of contact. It's that simple. You only have to worry about reaching out to one person," he said. That matters even more for private label brands because problems often cross boundaries between operations, tech, and retailers. Having one person who can quarterback those issues internally is the difference between a small scare and a major disruption.

Private Label Fulfillment as a Competitive Advantage

When private label fulfillment is handled well, it becomes something much more than a cost center. It turns into a strategic advantage. Brands can say yes to new channels more confidently because they know their 3PL can handle the labeling, packaging, and data flows without melting down. They can negotiate with retailers from a position of strength, because they have a track record of hitting service levels and avoiding chargebacks.

On the other hand, when fulfillment is weak, every new opportunity feels risky. Founders hesitate to pitch new accounts because they are not sure the operation can keep up. That is not the position you want to be in when you have invested heavily in product design, branding, and marketing. As Matt put it, growing brands are often looking for a partner that feels as scrappy and ambitious as they are. "They want to know that you're scrappy, the history of the business, our growth, the health of our business. They really look for that mirrored relationship and how we communicate," he said.

Next Steps for Private Label Brands That Want to Scale

If you are running a private label brand and fulfillment feels more fragile than it should, it may be time to upgrade from simple warehousing to a true omnichannel 3PL. Look for a partner that owns its tech stack, understands both D2C and B2B, and can show real experience with the retailers you care about most. Pay close attention to how they talk about chargebacks, routing guides, and packaging. If they speak in generalities, that is a warning sign.

G10 was built to work with builders, especially those whose brands are moving from early traction into serious growth. Private label fulfillment sits at the center of that mission, because it touches everything from packaging and compliance to shipping speed and customer communication. If you are ready to turn fulfillment from a worry into a weapon, G10 is ready to help you build a private label operation that matches the ambition of your brand.