3PL sourcing and selection

We write down what the group needs the provider to do, build a long list across the Gulf markets where you ship, test every candidate against evidence and put a ranked shortlist before the board.

• A requirements brief covering volumes, order profile, service windows, handling needs and the systems a provider must connect to.
• A long list of providers by market, with the basis for each inclusion and exclusion.
• A scoring model with weighted criteria, agreed with you before the long list is scored.
• A selection paper to the board with the ranked shortlist, each provider's commercial position and our recommendation.

• Every long-listed provider is scored against written criteria.
• The all-in cost per order of each shortlisted provider sits side by side, with the spread between highest and lowest shown.
• The provider you choose commits to order accuracy and on-time dispatch, and those commitments are set against the group's current figures.
• Each selection criterion traces to a documented customer or board requirement.

Selection is often run by whoever has the most contact with provider sales teams, and the strongest pitch wins. The group then commits for years to a rate card it cannot compare. A wrong choice surfaces later as damaged stock, missed delivery windows and a contract that is expensive to leave.

• Two or three providers have pitched you and their quotes cannot be set side by side.
• The incumbent's contract renews within a year and nobody has priced the market.
• Service failures are explained by the provider and never measured by the group.
• The executive who chose the last provider has left, and the reasons were never written down.

Chairmen and chief executives of e-commerce brands, distributors, importers, retailers and manufacturers moving from self-run fulfilment to an outside provider, or replacing one whose service no longer fits the volume.

Qasim Abbas has spent more than 16 years inside Gulf family-based and venture-backed groups, where a provider is a cost line before it is a relationship. Every rate card on your shortlist is rebuilt as a cost per order, with fixed and variable parts shown.

We work with the order and warehouse systems the group runs and the ledger behind them, including Xero and NetSuite, and we test the systems each candidate runs. See how fees work.

Can we include our current provider?

Yes. The incumbent is scored on the same criteria and data as every other candidate, and the board sees the comparison.

Which markets does the search cover?

Any of Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait where you hold or expect volume, with providers assessed market by market.

Give us the provider decision that is coming up and the market it sits in. At a private briefing with the Managing Partner we draft the requirements brief with you.