WMS for D2C and B2B fulfillment: one warehouse system for two very different jobs

D2C fulfillment and B2B fulfillment look similar from a distance. Orders come in, inventory moves, boxes leave the building. Inside the warehouse, the two models behave very differently, and that difference is where most systems break.

D2C rewards speed and flexibility. B2B rewards precision and obedience to rules. When a business tries to run both through a system designed for only one, inventory accuracy slips, orders collide, and margin disappears into rework and chargebacks.

That is why brands search for a WMS for D2C and B2B fulfillment, not two separate tools. They need one system that can move fast without forgetting the rules, even as volume and channel mix change.

Why D2C and B2B pull the warehouse in opposite directions

D2C orders are small, frequent, and impatient. Customers expect same-day or next-day shipping, clear tracking, and easy returns. A missed promise usually means a refund, a support ticket, and a dent in lifetime value.

B2B orders are larger, less frequent, and far less forgiving. Retailers expect exact quantities, exact labels, exact cartons, and exact timing. When something is wrong, the penalty often comes as a deduction weeks later, long after the shipment left the dock.

Bryan Wright, CTO and COO at G10, explains why treating B2B like an extension of D2C is risky: "Our WMS system was written from day one around B2B, which is very different." A WMS has to be designed to handle that difference at the workflow level.

Inventory accuracy is the shared foundation

D2C and B2B both fail when inventory counts are wrong. In D2C, the failure shows up as oversells and cancellations. In B2B, it shows up as short ships, ASN mismatches, and chargebacks.

Connor Perkins, Director of Fulfillment at G10, sees the same root cause repeatedly: "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." Picking errors do not just affect the order in front of you. They change the inventory truth every other order depends on.

Perkins describes the discipline that keeps the truth intact: "You want everything to be scanned in the warehouse, nothing done on paper." Scan-based execution is how one system can safely support two very different fulfillment models.

Why D2C speed collapses without execution control

Fast shipping looks simple until volume spikes. Without controlled workflows, teams skip scans, batch picks get messy, and inventory adjustments happen after the fact. The system shows speed, but the operation bleeds accuracy.

A WMS for D2C has to enforce receiving, picking, packing, and shipping scans so speed does not come at the expense of truth. When those scans are optional, inventory becomes a rumor.

Wright describes the standard that keeps speed and accuracy aligned: "A good WMS tracks inventory through the warehouse at every point that you touch it." That standard matters even more when the same inventory also feeds B2B orders.

B2B compliance is not paperwork, it is execution

Retail compliance lives in the physical details. Label placement, carton content, pallet structure, routing guides, and appointment scheduling all matter, and they vary by retailer.

Joel Malmquist, VP of Customer Experience at G10, summarizes how strict the rules can be: "Walmart's pretty intense with their labeling rules." He also describes the consequence of small mistakes: "Dick's Sporting Goods is the same; if you don't do it right, you get those massive chargeback."

A WMS for B2B fulfillment has to validate these requirements before freight leaves the building. Explaining mistakes after delivery is expensive and rarely successful.

One inventory pool creates the allocation problem

Most brands share inventory between D2C and B2B. That is efficient, but it creates conflict when both channels want the same units at the same time.

D2C demand can spike suddenly. B2B demand can arrive as a large PO that consumes weeks of supply. Without allocation rules, the system lets whichever order releases first take the inventory.

A combined WMS needs allocation logic that protects priority inventory, enforces reservations, and makes those rules visible so teams are not guessing under pressure. Allocation removes emotion from decisions that otherwise get made too late.

Order routing has to respect both speed and capability

In multi-warehouse setups, routing decisions decide whether an order succeeds or fails. D2C orders should ship from the node that can deliver fastest. B2B orders should ship from the node that can meet compliance requirements.

Routing by distance alone is not enough. A WMS has to consider inventory state, labor capacity, cutoff times, and retailer-specific capabilities.

When routing rules live inside the system, speed and compliance stop fighting each other. The system chooses the right outcome instead of forcing humans to improvise.

Why integrations make or break dual-channel fulfillment

D2C and B2B both depend on clean integrations. Orders have to flow in quickly. Confirmations and inventory updates have to flow back just as fast.

Malmquist describes what brands expect on the D2C side: "There's a direct integration with Shopify where orders come in and flow directly into G10." When that flow is delayed, customer experience suffers immediately.

B2B integrations often involve EDI, ASNs, and retailer portals. A WMS has to support both worlds without creating parallel processes that drift apart.

Amazon raised the bar for everyone

Even brands that are not selling heavily on Amazon feel its influence. Amazon normalized same-day and two-day shipping, which reset customer expectations everywhere.

Maureen Milligan, Director of Operations and Projects at G10, describes the shift: "And in the 3PL business these days everything's immediate, just in time." She explains why the pressure keeps increasing: "Amazon kind of set the standard between same-day shipping and getting everything in two days."

A WMS that supports D2C and B2B has to help warehouses hit these speed expectations while staying compliant with slower, rule-heavy retail workflows. That balance is what keeps growth from turning into operational debt.

What to look for in a WMS that supports both models

The test is not whether the system has features for both D2C and B2B. The test is whether those features operate on the same inventory truth.

Look for scan-based execution, inventory state modeling, allocation rules, compliance validation, and flexible integrations. These are the controls that keep one channel from breaking the other.

The goal is not to choose between speed and precision. The goal is to build a system where speed does not destroy precision.

How G10 approaches D2C and B2B fulfillment

G10 was founded in 2009, and its operations are built around brands that sell across channels. G10 supports B2B and D2C e-commerce, retail, wholesale, and HAZMAT-compliant fulfillment, with same-day shipping and custom capabilities.

G10's proprietary ChannelPoint WMS is designed to support fast D2C execution and strict B2B compliance on the same inventory pool. That means scan discipline, rule-based routing, and retailer-ready workflows are not optional features. They are the operating system.

If D2C speed and B2B compliance are pulling your warehouse in opposite directions, bring a recent oversell example, a recent chargeback, and your current warehouse layout. You will leave with a clear plan to run both models on one system without paying for the conflict.