In short
- A 3PL (third-party logistics provider) runs the physical side of your orders – receiving, storage, pick and pack, shipping and returns – from its own warehouse.
- It is not a freight forwarder, which moves your goods between countries, or a customs broker, which declares them to customs.
- A brand outside the EU typically needs a 3PL in the EU once it imports stock in bulk, so that orders ship from inside the EU instead of crossing a customs border one parcel at a time.
A 3PL – a third-party logistics provider – runs your warehouse and order fulfillment for you. It receives and stores your stock, picks and packs each order, hands the parcels to carriers and processes returns. Instead of leasing space, hiring staff and buying equipment, you pay for the storage and work you use.
What does a 3PL do?
Everything between your supplier's delivery and your customer's door, apart from the long-distance freight. At Primepack, a 3PL in Gothenburg, Sweden, that means:
- Receiving and storage: stock is checked on arrival, registered by barcode in Ongoing WMS and stored on pallet and shelf locations.
- Pick and pack: online orders to consumers are picked and packed the same day; B2B orders go by carton or pallet.
- Kitting: bundles, gift sets, inserts and relabeling.
- Order flow: with Shopify, orders come in automatically, stock levels sync back and tracking is pushed to each order. Other platforms and marketplaces connect via API.
- Returns: received, inspected and restocked.
Our page on European 3PL services from Sweden describes each step.
3PL vs freight forwarder vs customs broker
They do three different jobs. A freight forwarder moves your goods from your supplier to the warehouse, a customs broker declares them to customs on arrival, and the 3PL takes over at the warehouse door and repeats its work with every order. By default, a 3PL is not your importer, declarant or VAT agent. Our role map of who does what in an EU import goes deeper.
When does a brand outside the EU need a 3PL in Europe?
When you want to hold stock in the EU instead of shipping every order from home. If your stock is imported in bulk and cleared through customs before it is sold, the orders you ship from it are not imports. Duty and import VAT are due once, when the bulk shipment is cleared, and the temporary €3 duty on low-value parcels doesn't apply. From Gothenburg, orders then travel with no customs inside the EU – typically 1–2 business days to the Nordic EU countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland), 2–3 to Germany and Benelux, 3–5 to the rest of the EU.
Two conditions: it must be genuine stock – goods sold to individual customers before import count as distance sales – and with stock in Sweden, you will normally need to register for VAT there. Our overview of EU fulfillment for brands outside the EU covers the setup.
How is a 3PL priced?
Usually by the space your stock takes up and the work done on it. We charge per pallet or shelf location per month, per direct-to-consumer (DTC) order and per DTC return, and by the hour for B2B orders, receiving and stock counts. Freight, duty and import VAT sit outside these rates. See how our 3PL pricing works.
If you are weighing a 3PL in Europe, tell us about your products and order volumes and we'll come back with a quote.
