Growing an ecommerce business is not just about selling more. As the number of orders increases, so do the tasks required to manage them: preparing shipments, managing inventory, coordinating different carriers, handling returns, and serving new markets. In fact, ecommerce in Spain generated more than €114.8 billion in revenue in 2025, up 20.6% from the previous year, according to the latest data from the CNMC. In the final quarter of the year alone, more than 575 million transactions were recorded.
However, growth does not mean you need to outsource your entire logistics operation or adopt every solution available. The key is to identify which processes are starting to consume too many resources or limit your ability to continue growing. Below, we look at some of the most common situations ecommerce businesses face as they grow and the logistics solutions that can help address them:
When you only handle a small number of orders, entering data, preparing labels, or manually updating the tracking information for each shipment may seem manageable. The problem arises when sales increase and these tasks multiply.
In addition to being time-consuming, manual processes increase the risk of errors. Entering a recipient’s details incorrectly, duplicating information, assigning a label to the wrong order, or failing to update a shipment’s status correctly are just some of the issues that can arise when orders are managed manually.
Integrating your online store or marketplace with a shipping system allows order information to flow automatically, automating processes such as shipment creation, label generation, and order tracking. This helps you avoid repeating the same tasks across different platforms and reduces the risk of manual errors.
Depending on how your business operates, you can directly integrate platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, or PrestaShop, manage different sales channels from a single platform, or use an API to connect your own systems. Automating your ecommerce shipping is not simply about doing the same tasks faster: it allows your order volume to grow without necessarily multiplying the administrative tasks required to manage those orders or the number of errors made.
Black Friday, Christmas, sales periods, special promotions, or specific campaigns can cause order volumes to vary considerably throughout the year. The challenge arises when an operation designed to handle normal activity suddenly has to process a much higher number of orders within just a few days. Order preparation slows down, workloads increase, and maintaining the same response times becomes more difficult.
Sizing your entire logistics operation around the biggest sales peak of the year is not always the most efficient approach. An alternative is to build a flexible operation that allows you to increase capacity when needed or outsource the processes that create bottlenecks.
For example, with a fulfillment solution, you can outsource processes such as storage, inventory management, picking, packing, and order preparation, either fully or partially, depending on your ecommerce business needs. This allows your logistics capacity to adapt more effectively to changes in sales without having to continuously resize your internal operations.
Many online stores start by storing their products wherever they have space available. A few boxes can quickly turn into several shelves, and as your product range and inventory grow, packaging materials, orders waiting to be prepared, and returned products start taking up space too. Eventually, the space available begins to limit how much you can grow.
The challenge is not simply finding room to store more products. A higher volume of goods also means having to manage stock levels, organise storage locations, prepare orders accurately, and keep inventory up to date.
Outsourcing storage allows you to access the logistics capacity you need without having to continuously expand your own facilities. If required, you can also incorporate additional processes such as inventory management, picking, packing, order preparation, and shipping by opting for a more comprehensive fulfillment service.
There is no specific order volume at which every ecommerce business should outsource its logistics. The decision depends on the space available, the type of products you sell, the number of SKUs, seasonality, and the resources required to manage your logistics operations in-house.
As an ecommerce business grows, its shipping needs also tend to become more diverse. Not every order has the same weight, dimensions, urgency, or destination, and not every customer requires the same type of delivery.
In Spain, 1.335 billion parcels were shipped in 2025, 10% more than the previous year and 148% more than in 2019, according to the CNMC Annual Report on the Postal Sector. In addition, 61.2% of users received at least one parcel from an online purchase.
Working with a multi-carrier solution gives you access to different shipping options and allows you to select the most suitable one based on factors such as the destination, the characteristics of the goods, delivery times, or the specific requirements of each order. This helps you avoid relying on a single option for logistics needs that can vary significantly from one shipment to another.
It also allows you to offer additional delivery options that make it easier for customers to receive their orders, such as delivery to collection points. As order volumes and destinations increase, having different shipping and delivery options gives your logistics operations greater flexibility.
Ecommerce logistics does not always end when an order reaches the customer. According to the CNMC, among Spanish consumers who received parcels from online purchases in 2025, 35% returned at least one purchase, according to its Annual Report on the Postal Sector.
When volumes are low, an occasional return can be handled as an isolated issue. But as your business grows, returns can become a logistics process of their own: coordinating the return shipment, receiving the product, checking its condition, updating inventory, and deciding whether it can be put back on sale.
Defining how returns will be managed helps prevent each one from having to be handled on an ad hoc basis. The process can include different return options, arranging for the product to be collected or dropped off at a designated location, receiving and sorting it, and, where appropriate, returning it to inventory.
Integrating reverse logistics into your regular operations allows you to manage returns in a more structured way as sales grow. For this reason, you should choose a logistics partner that includes reverse logistics as part of its service offering.
One of the major advantages of selling online is the ability to reach customers in other markets. The international dimension of ecommerce is already significant: in the fourth quarter of 2025, 65.8% of ecommerce transactions originating in Spain were made with businesses located abroad, according to data from the CNMC.
However, international shipping also introduces new variables into your logistics operations. In addition to selecting the right shipping service, you may need to deal with documentation requirements, customs procedures, duties, taxes, and different costs depending on the product and destination country.
Before you start selling in a new country, it is important to assess how shipments will be handled, what documentation will be required, and what costs may arise throughout the process. Having expert support for import and export can play a key role in successfully expanding your online store into markets around the world.
International expansion is not simply about being able to ship to another country; it is about building an operation capable of effectively managing everything involved in the process.
The reality is that ecommerce growth rarely creates just one logistics need. At first, the main challenge may be the time spent preparing shipping labels. Later, you may run out of space to store products. As the business continues to grow, you may need to manage new markets, more carriers, a higher volume of returns, or demand peaks that are difficult to handle.
However, the solution does not necessarily involve outsourcing your entire logistics operation at once. Some logistics providers allow you to select the services that best suit your needs at each stage. One ecommerce business may choose to keep its own warehouse and automate only order and shipping management. Another may need to outsource storage and order preparation. A third may combine fulfillment, multiple shipping options, returns, and international logistics.
As your operations become more complex, it is especially important for the different parts of your logistics setup to work together seamlessly. MBE eCommercePlus is a logistics solutions ecosystem that adapts to the needs of each ecommerce business, including order integration and automation, fulfillment, shipping, multi-carrier solutions, returns, and complementary services.
However, technology and logistics are only part of the solution. With MBE eCommercePlus, you have an MBE specialist who understands your business, advises you on the solutions you need, and supports you as your ecommerce business grows.
Growth does not necessarily mean outsourcing your entire logistics operation or adopting every solution available. What matters is identifying which processes are starting to consume too many resources, generate errors, or limit your business’s capacity, and taking action before they become an obstacle to growth.
Automating order management, increasing storage capacity, outsourcing fulfillment, adding different shipping options, or preparing your international logistics operations are all decisions that can be made gradually, depending on the needs of your ecommerce business.
In this way, logistics no longer needs to be a structure that must be expanded every time sales increase. Instead, it can become a flexible operation that evolves alongside your business as it grows.
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