To meet rising customer expectations and compete with national delivery leaders, retailers and 3PLs turn to third-party delivery platforms. Bringg research in the 2025 State of the Last Mile report found that 68% of retailers increased their 3PL investments in 2024. 

But building and managing an in-house fleet adds cost, complexity, and delays. Despite the increased investments, retailers cited “working with multiple carriers” as their biggest last-mile challenge due to: maintaining consistent customer experiences, pricing negotiations, managing multiple carrier integrations, and handling exceptions, and more.

Third-party delivery platforms solve these headaches by connecting systems, customers, and fleets. They provide flexible coverage, fast onboarding, and real-time visibility without the burden of building infrastructure.

This article breaks down the core advantages of third-party delivery partnerships for businesses operating at scale.

Benefits of using third-party delivery platforms

Scale fast without operational drag

Third-party delivery networks let businesses flex quickly. They can expand or contract delivery capacity based on seasonal demand or daily peaks and that flexibility supports same-day and scheduled delivery models.

With access to broad fleet coverage and contracted drivers, shippers avoid sourcing talent, buying vehicles, or staffing dispatch. A solid platform can also handle routing and assignment, speeding up fulfillment.

Reach more consumers and grow revenue

Bringg found that 48% of retailers use 3PLs to regionalize fleets and improve delivery times. Instead of building out regional delivery operations city by city, retailers and 3PLs gain instant access to delivery coverage in key metro areas. This helps accelerate market entry, test new service zones, and meet growing expectations for consistent delivery availability—without upfront infrastructure investment.

For omnichannel retailers, third-party delivery networks enhance store-level fulfillment. Orders routed through stores can be handed off to contracted drivers for rapid delivery within tight time windows. This turns stores into local distribution hubs and increases the volume of high-margin, same-day transactions. With the right delivery promise in place, more customers convert at checkout—and more stores drive incremental revenue.

With more reach and reliable delivery, businesses grow revenue and capture more high-intent demand.

Lower fixed overhead and resource strain

Managing a delivery fleet requires capital. Partnering with third-party platforms turns fixed costs into variable costs that eliminate the need for in-house drivers, vehicle ownership, or logistics staffing.

Instead of investing in delivery infrastructure, businesses redirect resources to core operations and growth.

Third-party delivery platforms reduce the risk of over-investing in delivery operations. As demand shifts, businesses avoid paying for idle trucks or underutilized driver capacity. This model allows them to align delivery spend with order volume.

3PLs also reduce onboarding costs for new carrier partners. Rather than scaling internal networks, they route shipments through a centralized platform and allocate jobs based on availability, service level, or cost.

Retailers eliminate hidden delivery expenses—like vehicle insurance, compliance management, and exception handling. Third-party platforms absorb these operational layers, letting retailers allocate more capital toward growth initiatives and customer-facing innovation.

Refocus teams on what matters most

Delivery operations demand constant attention across driver scheduling, tracking, routing, exception handling. These tasks pull teams away from higher-value initiatives. When businesses outsource the last mile, they remove this daily burden and gain back time, focus, and energy.

Third-party platforms handle the complexity of fulfillment so internal teams can focus on product innovation, CX strategy, and market expansion. Operations leaders get a simpler tech stack and fewer moving parts to manage. Marketing, product, and store teams get more capacity to drive demand and deliver better experiences.

This shift unlocks stronger alignment across departments and puts strategic priorities back in focus.

Flexible, customer-centric delivery options

Consumers now expect delivery that fits their lives, not the other way around. They want time windows they can trust, same-day availability, and real-time communication when things change. Third-party platforms help businesses deliver on those expectations without adding operational complexity.

Retailers can integrate same-day and scheduled delivery into their checkout experience and maintain control over branding and communication simultaneously. This flexibility drives higher conversion and improves customer retention.

For 3PLs, third-party platforms unlock dynamic delivery orchestration. Operations teams can assign jobs based on SLA, zone, and cost without relying on static routing or overextending fixed fleets. Ultimately, an effective third-party platform unlocks delivery precision and supports tighter client service requirements.

Delivery insights drive smarter decisions

Third-party platforms often include analytics and reporting tools. These capabilities help businesses track on-time delivery rates, monitor customer satisfaction, and identify regional or operational gaps.

Retailers can use third-party platforms to gain visibility into where and why deliveries underperform. They can compare partner performance across regions, flag common exception causes, and prioritize operational improvements based on actual impact to customer experience or cost-to-serve.

3PLs use these insights to optimize client service levels and route efficiency. They gain benchmarks that inform staffing levels, asset allocation, and pricing models. With better visibility into delivery execution, they make faster, more informed decisions that support growth.

Over time, consistent access to delivery data strengthens strategic planning. It helps logistics leaders move from reactive firefighting to proactive performance management.

The right platform can drive significant 

Third-party delivery partnerships offer faster scale, wider reach, and better customer experiences without the complexity of in-house logistics. For retailers and 3PLs focused on growth, outsourcing the last mile isn’t a fallback—it’s a competitive edge.