As a 3PL, your warehouse management system (WMS) is the beating heart of your warehouse operations. It handles everything within your four walls: receiving, storage, picking, packing and shipping. But here’s the problem: Your clients sell on Shopify, Amazon, TikTok, Square, and dozens of other channels. Each selling channel captures orders in a different format and has unique rules and requirements. Your WMS wasn’t built to handle multi-channel complexity before client orders even reach your warehouse.
That’s why leading 3PLs add Pipe17’s Order Operations Platform to work alongside their WMS, creating a complete tech stack from customer connectivity to delivery. Pipe17 provides a managed network of pre-configured integrations that connect your WMS to every commerce channel. The result? You onboard clients 10x faster, support more selling channels, and grow without adding overhead.
A good WMS excels at warehouse operations. It tracks inventory, manages picking workflows and optimizes shipping processes. With the right setup, you’ll see higher throughput, fewer mis-picks, and accurate inventory counts.
But warehouse operations are only half the story. The other half happens before orders ever reach you.
Where Traditional WMS Solutions Fall Short
The fulfillment process starts long before a shipment gets picked or packed. Modern commerce happens everywhere. Your clients’ orders come from:
Each order source has its own data format, buyer-cancellation windows, SLAs and quirks. Before an order even reaches your warehouse, someone needs to:
Establish and maintain reliable connections to every client’s order sources
Translate data formats into a common language that works with your WMS, your clients’ selling channels, and their back-office systems
Catch any exceptions before they block orders and immediately alert the right teams
Screen orders for channel-specific policies, fraud alerts, pre-sales or time-based restrictions that would trigger a hold, modification, review or cancellation
Apply each clients’ unique routing rules based on inventory availability, proximity to customer, delivery promises and dozens of other variables or custom business logic
Create and send shipping requests to the optimal warehouse locations
Your WMS can’t do this. It was built to optimize how goods physically move within your warehouse, not to connect with the sprawling commerce ecosystem or orchestrate which fulfillment location best serves each order.
Why This Matters for Your 3PL Business
Of course your clients expect the basics: competitive costs, high accuracy, on-time delivery, SLA performance, and satisfied end customers. These are table stakes for any 3PL.
But here’s what brands really evaluate: how you make their operations more efficient. They don’t care about your warehouse efficiency metrics, they care about their pre and post-fulfillment operations:
How quickly you can connect to their selling channels
Whether you support their entire tech stack
How accurately you sync inventory across their platforms
If they can check the status of an order without calling you
Your ability to handle their complex routing rules
How well you adapt when they add new channels or change workflows
58% of 3PLs report that connecting new systems to legacy infrastructure is their biggest challenge. It slows onboarding, strains IT teams and limits growth. Regardless, clients expect 3PLs to connect with and support all their channels seamlessly.
“Brands need to be wherever their customers shop. They need to move quickly and require 3PL partners who can adapt in real time. DIY integrations mean one-to-one builds, which get increasingly difficult as brands grow.”
— Tiffany Johnson, Head of Sales @ Pipe17
The High Cost of Manual Workarounds
When 3PLs can’t meet these client expectations, they typically resort to costly workarounds:
Custom development and maintenance for each client
Unreliable 3rd party 1:1 integration apps
Manual processes and spreadsheet imports/exports
Adding more staff to manage it all
This approach doesn’t scale. At best, client onboarding takes months. Your teams spend more time troubleshooting than fulfilling. And every new client adds more complexity to an already fragile system. At a certain point, your warehouse becomes the least of your problems. It’s everything around it that slows you down.
How Pipe17 Completes Your 3PL Tech Stack
Pipe17’s Order Operations Platform doesn’t replace your WMS, it works alongside it to create a complete fulfillment solution.
“Your WMS is your warehouse brain. Pipe17 is the nervous system that connects that brain to the outside world.”
— Mo Afshar, CEO @ Pipe17
Purpose-built for modern commerce, Pipe17 enables 3PLs to connect to clients channels in days, automate multi-channel order orchestration, synchronize multi-warehouse inventory in real-time, and proactively prevent issues with instant exception alerts.
Pipe17
Your WMS
Order Operations
Warehouse Operations
Connectivity + order management
Pick, pack and ship
3 Ways Pipe17 Extends Your WMS
1. Instant Client Connectivity
Pipe17 is the connective layer between your clients and your warehouse management system. With our managed network of pre-configured connectors, technical bottlenecks disappear and 3PLs get brands live up to 94% faster. Connect your WMS to:
No custom development. No unreliable point-to-point apps. No maintenance headaches. Just fast client onboarding and reliable data flows, with all future integration updates handled for you.
2. Powerful, Easy to Use Inventory and Order Management
Pipe17 makes inventory and order management simple. Pippen, your AI order operations agent, enables anyone to onboard even the most complex clients; no coding needed:
Route orders based on inventory availability, shipping method, customer location or any custom business logic
Manage multi-warehouse inventory allocation and automate purchase and transfer orders
Offer virtual product bundles and kits that automatically split into component SKUs for fulfillment
Handle split shipments, backorders and pre-orders effortlessly
This eliminates IT and developer dependencies for client onboarding, account management and support. You can also easily extend Pipe17 to accommodate any client requirement with rich code customization options and an AI agent that will write the code for you.
3. Visibility and Self-Service for You and Your Clients
53% of 3PLs say lack of real-time insights is their top logistics challenge. Pipe17 solves this with complete visibility for both you and your clients. Give each client their own secure portal where they can independently:
Check real-time order status from checkout through delivery
Monitor multi-location and multi-warehouse inventory levels
Adjust integration configurations, automations and routing rules without calling you
Get instant alerts if an exception needs their attention
The result? Support tickets drop by up to 70%. Your team stops fielding WISMO calls and starts focusing on growth. Clients get the self-service they expect, while you maintain full control and oversight.
Real Results from Real 3PLs
3PLs that use Pipe17 win more deals, onboard brands >10x faster, expand existing client business, and significantly improve customer retention. Here’s how three 3PLs transformed their operations with Pipe17.
Deliverr: Connectivity Expands Addressable Market
Challenge
Sales stalled when prospects needed to integrate a non-Shopify or Amazon order source, and onboarding dragged on for closed-won deals.
Solution
Pipe17 enabled on-demand client integration and served as the gateway API for Deliverr’s enterprise clients that needed to connect custom apps; all without engineering or IT involvement.
Excelsior Integrated: From Weeks to Hours with Pipe17
The Bottom Line: Better Together
Your WMS investment remains invaluable. It’s the foundation of your warehouse operations. But to grow your 3PL business and retain modern brands, you also need to excel outside the warehouse. You need to connect your WMS to the entire commerce ecosystem, orchestrate workflows and sync data between all of your clients systems.
Together, Pipe17 and your WMS deliver:
10x faster client onboarding getting brands live in days vs. months
70% fewer support tickets with client self-service and real-time visibility
Instant integration to 100s of order sources without IT of dev dependency
Higher client retention with workflow agility and easy channel expansion
By combining the strengths of your WMS with Pipe17’s connectivity and order management capabilities, 3PLs reduce friction, improve client satisfaction and grow faster with less overhead. No rip and replace. No lengthy implementations.
Connect Pipe17 to your existing WMS and start winning more deals. Every day without Pipe17 means slower onboarding, more support tickets and deals lost to more agile competitors.
Ready to Run a More Profitable 3PL?
See how Pipe17’s Order Operations Platform can extend your WMS capabilities and accelerate your growth.
A WMS (Warehouse Management System) manages physical warehouse operations like receiving, storage, picking, packing and shipping within the four walls of a fulfillment center. Pipe17 handles everything that happens before orders reach the warehouse: connecting to selling channels, translating data formats, routing orders to optimal fulfillment locations, synchronizing inventory across multiple systems, and managing exceptions. Think of your WMS as your warehouse brain and Pipe17 as the nervous system connecting that brain to your clients’ entire commerce ecosystem.
Can Pipe17 integrate with my existing WMS?
Yes. Pipe17 works alongside your existing WMS without requiring you to rip-and-replace anything. Pipe17 has pre-configured integrations to leading WMS platforms including Logiwa, Deposco, ShipHero, Extensiv WMS, Advantive WMS, Manhattan WMS, Da Vinci, Mintsoft and many others. Implementation typically takes days, not months, and requires zero to one developer to maintain. If your 3PL has a custom WMS, or a combo custom WMS/OMS, Pipe17 will still work with your custom WMS through our open API or a potential connector build.
How long does it take for a 3PL to onboard a new brand with Pipe17?
What selling channels and marketplaces does Pipe17 support?
Pipe17’s managed network includes pre-configured connectors to hundreds of ecommerce platforms and marketplaces including Shopify, Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, BigCommerce, commercetools, WooCommerce, Square, Faire, Temu, and EDI trading partners like Costco, Best Buy, Home Depot and Nordstrom. The platform also connects to ERPs, accounting systems and returns platforms. All connectors are actively maintained and updated by Pipe17 as partner APIs change.
Do I need developers or IT staff to use Pipe17?
No. Pipe17 is designed to give operations teams visibility, control and the ability to manage commerce operations themselves. With Pippen, your AI order operations agent, you can configure integration requirements, create routing rules, set up automations, and onboard complex clients without writing any code. For advanced needs, Pipe17 offers rich code customization options, and Pippen can even write the code for you. Most 3PLs operate Pipe17 with zero developers or IT staff.
How does Pipe17 reduce 3PL support tickets from clients?
3PLs can provide each client with their own secure Pipe17 portal where they can independently check real-time order status, monitor inventory levels across multiple warehouses, adjust routing rules, and receive instant exception alerts. This self-service capability reduces support tickets by up to 70%, eliminating WISMO questions, and freeing your team to focus on growth instead of firefighting.
What’s the difference between Pipe17 and an iPaaS like Celigo or Boomi?
iPaaS platforms require you to build, map and maintain integrations yourself, with ongoing developer involvement whenever APIs change. Pipe17 provides a fully managed network with integrations that are pre-configured, actively maintained, and automatically updated by Pipe17 as partner APIs evolve. Additionally, Pipe17 includes native order management and orchestration capabilities built specifically for commerce operations, while iPaaS tools only handle connectivity and require a separate order management system.
Can Pipe17 handle multi-warehouse inventory management?
Yes. Pipe17 synchronizes inventory in real-time across multiple warehouse locations, 3PL partners, ERPs, and all of your clients’ connected selling channels. 3PLs can manage multi-warehouse inventory allocation, automate purchase and transfer order workflows, and route orders to the optimal fulfillment location based on inventory availability, customer proximity, or any client specific business priorities.
How much does implementing Pipe17 cost compared to custom integrations?
Pipe17 implementations cost a fraction of legacy systems. When you factor in ongoing maintenance costs, developer time, and the ability to onboard clients in days instead of months, 3PLs see up to an 85% reduction in total cost of ownership with Pipe17. More importantly, faster client onboarding directly impacts your time-to-revenue and win rates. Pipe17 pricing for 3PLs is based on total order volume and the amount of brand accounts you need.
Will Pipe17 work for my high-volume 3PL operation?
Yes. Pipe17 is purpose-built for high-volume 3PL operations processing millions of orders annually. Our 3PL customers range from some of the largest global 3PLs to regional speciality 3PLs. The platform scales seamlessly as you add clients and grow order volume without requiring additional infrastructure or IT resources.
Explore Pipe17’s 2025 product milestones: Pippen AI agent, MCP Server, Order Network eXchange, new and upgraded network connectors, and platform capabilities that scale.
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