What to Include in a 3PL RFP for a National Marketing Campaign

Start by giving suppliers a clear picture of the campaign. You may not have every final number when the RFP goes out. That is fine. Give your best estimates, explain which figures may change, and include enough information for suppliers to understand the likely size and shape of the work.

Your 3PL RFP should cover:

• The purpose of the campaign
• Campaign dates and rollout phases
• The provinces or regions involved
• The number and type of final courier destinations
• The stock or materials being handled
• Expected quantities, cartons, pallets, or SKUs
• Stock arrival dates
• The length of time stock will need to be stored
• Average and peak order volumes
• Returns, unused stock, or redeployment requirements
• The people who will approve changes and receive reports

This information helps your 3PL plan warehouse space, labour, packing, inter-warehouse stock movement, courier handover, and reporting. For example, saying that you need “national fulfilment” is not enough. A supplier needs to know whether stock must be prepared for 20 regional offices, 500 retail stores, individual sales representatives, event venues, or a combination of all four, and which courier will collect the prepared orders. The more clearly you describe the job, the more accurate the proposal is likely to be.

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Avoid using broad descriptions such as “warehousing and national fulfilment” without explaining what they include.

Different 3PL providers package their services differently. If you do not list the individual tasks, suppliers may leave out work you assumed was included.

Depending on your campaign, you may need the 3PL supplier to manage:

• Receiving and counting stock
• Inspecting stock when it arrives
• Warehousing
• Inventory control
• Allocating stock to different locations
• Picking and packing
• Kitting or co-packing
• Adding labels, inserts, or campaign materials
• Preparing and staging orders for courier handover
• Inter-warehouse transfers where required
• Handover to the client’s preferred courier
• Courier tracking and proof-of-delivery visibility, where available
• Courier exceptions, returns, and re-handover where required
• Returns
• Final stock reconciliation

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A 3PL solutions South Africa supplier saying that it offers national coverage does not give you clarity on how that service will be managed. Nexus has 22 locations across South Africa, allowing stock to be positioned closer to the teams and campaigns that need it. Where required, we move stock between our warehouse locations, prepare the relevant orders, and hand them over to the client’s preferred courier for final delivery.

Ask each 3PL to explain:

• Where your stock will be stored
• How stock is moved between warehouse locations where required
• How orders are picked, packed, and prepared for courier collection
• How handover to your preferred courier is recorded
• What courier tracking information can be surfaced to your team
• What courier proof-of-delivery information can be reported, where available
• How courier exceptions or failed deliveries are communicated
• Who manages the handover and escalation process when the courier is involved
• How urgent fulfilment or courier-handover requirements are handled
• What similar national campaigns the supplier has managed

You should also request client references and examples of comparable work. A supplier that can store standard cartons may still struggle with a campaign involving store-specific kits, event deadlines, several stakeholders, inter-warehouse stock movement, courier handovers, and last-minute allocation changes. Your 3PL RFP should highlight how the supplier will keep control of the campaign from the time stock arrives through preparation and courier handover, as well as any returns that come back into the operation.

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Reporting is much easier to agree upfront than after the campaign has already started. Think about what you, your marketing team, and your operations team will need to see.

3PL reports should include:

• Current stock balances
• Orders received
• Kits completed
• Orders waiting for courier handover
• Orders handed over to the client’s preferred courier
• Courier tracking and proof-of-delivery status, where available
• Courier exceptions, failed deliveries, or delays reported back to your team
• Damaged or missing stock
• Returns
• Campaign close-out figures

State how often you need these reports. Some information may be needed daily during a rollout, while other reports may only be required weekly or at the end of the campaign. Ask suppliers to include sample reports or dashboard views in their proposals. This gives you a better idea of what you will actually receive once the work begins.

One of the easiest ways to make your proposals difficult to compare is to let each supplier present pricing in a completely different way. Include a pricing template in your RFP and ask every bidder to complete it.

A low storage or handling rate can look attractive until you discover that several necessary services were excluded. A clear pricing schedule helps you compare the total likely cost of the campaign, including fulfilment, inter-warehouse transfers, courier handover, and any separately identified courier costs, rather than a few headline figures.

A 3PL supplier still has work to do before your campaign can go live.

Ask each bidder to explain how it will manage:

• Stock transfer
• Initial stock counts
• Data setup
• System access
• Operating procedures
• Testing
• Account setup
• Staff training
• Reporting setup
• Communication during implementation
• Go-live support

You should also know who will lead the account, who will manage the implementation, and who you can contact when an urgent decision is needed. Include basic questions about insurance, stock security, incident reporting, business continuity, and escalation. You do not need to turn the RFP into a full risk-management document, but you do need to know that the supplier has thought about what happens when something goes wrong.