Fulfillment as an innovative service from 3PL for e-commerce sector – InPost example

The article describes the topic of fulfillment service as a complex and innovative logistic solution for e-commerce. The paper aims to show the importance of fulfillment services based on secondary sources and to illustrate the practical aspects of this type of service. At the same time, the article explains the origins and evolution of fulfillment services in the context of broader and more structured logistic solutions that resulted in the emergence of the socalled 3PL (third-party logistics) concept in the market. From such a perspective, fulfillment service appears to be – considering various executive configurations – an attempt to offer e-commerce players a solution that would 'take care' of keeping and rendering the critical aspects of their logistical function. Considering such a background, fulfillment may pose – in light of the literature analyzed – as a transitional stage through which logistics service providers go on their pathway to complex 3PL solutions. An empirical analysis based on the observation of such a possible cause-and-effect relationship in the development of logistics service offers was carried out on the example of InPost – a Polish logistics service provider.

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