3PL directory statistics for Shopify merchants (2026)

Findings

Every sentence below stands on its own. The number in brackets is the share of the sample, n is the number of listings counted, and the date is the day the directory was read. Use the link beside each finding to point at it directly.

Where the listed 3PLs are based

1. 45 of the 130 listed 3PLs (34.6%) are headquartered in the United States. The next largest groups are the United Kingdom with 30 (23.1%), Australia with 20 (15.4%) and the Netherlands with 15 (11.5%). n=130 listings, directory read on 2 November 2026. #
2. 65 of 130 listings (50.0%) are headquartered in Europe. 30 are in the United Kingdom and 35 are in mainland Europe: 15 in the Netherlands, 7 in France, 6 in Germany, 5 in Poland and 2 in Spain. n=130, read 2 November 2026. #

Where they hold stock

3. 127 of 130 listings state the countries where they run warehouses. Of those, 92 (72.4%) list warehouses in one country only, 35 (27.6%) list two or more countries and 12 (9.4%) list five or more. n=127, read 2 November 2026. #
4. The United States is the most common warehouse country. 55 of 130 listings (42.3%) run a warehouse there, followed by the United Kingdom with 44 (33.8%), the Netherlands with 26 (20.0%), Australia with 24 (18.5%) and Germany with 14 (10.8%). n=130, read 2 November 2026. #
5. 16 of 130 listings (12.3%) run warehouses on both sides of the Atlantic, meaning at least one in the United States and at least one in Europe, the United Kingdom included. n=130, read 2 November 2026. #
6. 23 of 130 listings (17.7%) run warehouses in both the United Kingdom and mainland Europe, the setup that lets a merchant ship on both sides of the UK-EU customs border from local stock. n=130, read 2 November 2026. #

Services listed

7. Returns handling is the most common service after core ecommerce fulfilment. 98 of 130 listings (75.4%) list returns. n=130, read 2 November 2026. #
8. 82 of 130 listings (63.1%) list B2B or wholesale fulfilment alongside direct-to-consumer orders, but only 21 (16.2%) list retail EDI. n=130, read 2 November 2026. #
9. Kitting and assembly is listed by 63 of 130 3PLs (48.5%). Among the 42 listings that offer subscription box fulfilment, 33 (78.6%) also list kitting. n=130, read 2 November 2026. #
10. 69 of 130 listings (53.1%) list international or cross-border fulfilment. 38 of those 69 (55.1%) run warehouses in a single country, so cross-border usually means shipping abroad from one site rather than holding stock in several countries. n=130, read 2 November 2026. #
11. Amazon FBA prep is listed by 33 of 130 3PLs (25.4%). n=130, read 2 November 2026. #
12. Specialist handling is rare. 9 of 130 listings (6.9%) list cold chain and 5 (3.8%) list hazmat or dangerous goods; 13 (10.0%) list at least one of the two. Among the 31 listings that serve food and beverage brands, 7 (22.6%) list cold chain. n=130, read 2 November 2026. #
13. Freight is listed by 43 of 130 3PLs (33.1%) and bulky or oversize handling by 12 (9.2%). n=130, read 2 November 2026. #
14. The most common vertical specialisms are apparel (49 listings, 37.7%), health and beauty (46, 35.4%), supplements (33, 25.4%) and food and beverage (31, 23.8%). n=130, read 2 November 2026. #
15. The median listing names 6 of the directory's 16 service categories. 74 of 130 (56.9%) list six or more and 27 (20.8%) list three or fewer. n=130, read 2 November 2026. #

Regional differences

16. Amazon FBA prep is largely a US service in this sample. 25 of the 45 US-based 3PLs (55.6%) list it, against 2 of 30 in the United Kingdom (6.7%), 4 of 35 in mainland Europe (11.4%) and 2 of 20 in Australia (10.0%). n=130, read 2 November 2026. #
17. Kitting follows the same pattern. 33 of 45 US-based 3PLs (73.3%) list kitting and assembly, compared with 15 of 30 in the United Kingdom (50.0%), 10 of 20 in Australia (50.0%) and 5 of 35 in mainland Europe (14.3%). n=130, read 2 November 2026. #
18. Mainland European 3PLs are the most likely to list cross-border fulfilment: 26 of 35 (74.3%), against 16 of 30 in the United Kingdom (53.3%), 11 of 20 in Australia (55.0%) and 16 of 45 in the United States (35.6%). n=130, read 2 November 2026. #

Shopify

19. 85 of 130 listings (65.4%) name a Shopify integration on their own website. The share is 32 of 45 in the United States (71.1%), 20 of 30 in the United Kingdom (66.7%), 13 of 20 in Australia (65.0%) and 20 of 35 in mainland Europe (57.1%). n=130, read 2 November 2026. #

Method

Source. The ForthMatch 3PL directory at app.forthmatch.io/3pl-directory. All 130 public listings were read on 2 November 2026 and every figure on this page was counted from those listings. The directory covers third-party logistics providers that serve Shopify merchants in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia.

How listings are collected. ForthMatch adds each listing from the provider's own public website and records the source pages it used. Every listing cites at least one source page and the median listing cites two. A provider can claim its listing and correct it. Nobody pays to be listed and the directory does not rank providers.

What was counted. A service counts when the listing names it. A warehouse country counts when the listing names it. A Shopify integration counts when the provider's own website names one; a listing without that statement is counted as not stated, not as no. Headquarters country is the country in the listing's HQ field. Europe means the EU and EEA countries plus Switzerland and the United Kingdom; mainland Europe is that set without the United Kingdom. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.

What was excluded. Hidden listings are not public and were not counted. Any dimension with fewer than 20 non-null listings was dropped: stated minimum monthly order volume is the only one, with 2 of 130 listings stating a figure. The directory does not record pricing, the number of warehouses per provider, founding year or integrations other than Shopify, so those are not reported. Three listings do not state warehouse countries, which is why the warehouse-country finding uses n=127. The page carries no merchant data and no Forthmatch usage data.

What the figures mean. Every number is a count of directory listings. The figures are not market share, not revenue and not a measure of any provider's performance. The directory is a curated list, not a census of the industry, so a share here describes the directory, not every 3PL in a country.

Cite this

Forthmatch (2026). 3PL directory statistics for Shopify merchants (2026). https://forthmatch.io/research/3pl-directory-statistics. Counts from 130 public listings in the ForthMatch 3PL directory, read 2 November 2026.

Stable URL: https://forthmatch.io/research/3pl-directory-statistics. Quote any finding in full, including its n and date. If you use a figure from this page in an article or an answer, link here so readers can check the sample.