What to Outsource in Your Ecommerce Business: Complete Guide
What to Outsource First
The best candidates for outsourcing share three characteristics: the function is not a core competitive advantage (someone else doing it does not diminish your brand or product differentiation), the function requires specialized expertise that is expensive to build internally, and the function consumes significant time that you could redirect toward higher-value activities. For most ecommerce businesses, the first three functions to outsource are:
Bookkeeping and accounting. Monthly bookkeeping, bank reconciliation, expense categorization, sales tax tracking, and financial statement preparation are essential but do not differentiate your business. An experienced ecommerce bookkeeper knows how to handle marketplace payouts, payment processor fees, inventory valuation, and multi-state sales tax compliance. Outsourced bookkeeping costs $300 to $800/month for a typical small ecommerce business, compared to $3,500 to $5,000/month for a full-time in-house bookkeeper (salary plus benefits). Services like Bench ($299/month for basic, $499/month for premium), Pilot ($599/month+), and independent bookkeepers on freelancer platforms ($20 to $40/hour) handle this effectively. The ecommerce accounting guide covers what specifically to look for in an ecommerce bookkeeper.
Fulfillment and shipping. Once your order volume exceeds 50 to 100 orders per day, the time spent picking, packing, labeling, and shipping becomes a full-time job. Third-party logistics providers (3PLs) like ShipBob, ShipMonk, and Deliverr store your inventory in their warehouses, pick and pack orders as they come in, ship them through negotiated carrier rates (typically 15% to 30% lower than you would get directly from UPS, FedEx, or USPS), and handle returns processing. 3PL costs typically run $3 to $8 per order plus storage fees of $5 to $40 per pallet per month. The shipping and fulfillment guide covers 3PL selection in detail.
Web development and technical maintenance. Unless technology is your core competency, outsourcing website development, theme customization, plugin management, performance optimization, and security maintenance to a specialized developer or agency produces better results than trying to learn it yourself. A Shopify expert on retainer ($500 to $2,000/month for 5 to 20 hours of work) or a WooCommerce developer ($50 to $120/hour) keeps your store running smoothly while you focus on product, marketing, and customers.
Step-by-Step: How to Outsource Effectively
List every function in your business and evaluate each against three criteria. Does performing this function in-house give you a competitive advantage? (Product development, brand strategy, and key customer relationships usually do. Bookkeeping, IT maintenance, and basic fulfillment usually do not.) Does the function require specialized expertise that you lack or that would be expensive to develop? (Tax compliance, web development, and paid advertising strategy typically require deep expertise.) Does the function consume time that could generate more value elsewhere? (If you spend 10 hours per week on bookkeeping at an implied cost of $50/hour, that is $500/week of your time that could be redirected toward revenue-generating activities.) Functions that score positively on two or more criteria are strong outsourcing candidates.
The in-house cost of a function is not just salary. Include the fully loaded employee cost (salary plus employer taxes at 7.65% plus benefits plus workers' compensation), the cost of tools and software the employee needs, management time (your time spent hiring, training, supervising, and providing feedback), overhead (office space or equipment for remote workers), and the opportunity cost of your attention. A $40,000/year bookkeeper actually costs $52,000 to $60,000/year after employer costs, plus $2,000 to $5,000 in accounting software, plus 3 to 5 hours per week of your management time. Compare this total against outsourcing quotes from 3 to 5 providers. The outsourced option often costs 30% to 60% less for equivalent or better quality because outsourcing providers specialize in that function and achieve economies of scale that a single small business cannot.
Request proposals from at least 3 providers. Evaluate each on: relevant experience (have they worked with ecommerce businesses similar to yours in size and platform?), references (contact 2 to 3 current clients and ask about reliability, communication quality, and problem resolution), pricing transparency (are costs clearly defined, or will you face surprise charges?), communication practices (response times, point of contact, reporting cadence), and scalability (can they handle your growth without quality degradation?). Start every outsourcing relationship with a defined trial period of 30 to 90 days with specific success criteria. Do not sign a long-term contract until the trial demonstrates that the provider meets your quality, communication, and reliability standards.
Document what you expect the outsourcing partner to deliver, how they will report progress, and how issues will be escalated. Create a shared dashboard or reporting template that tracks the key metrics for the outsourced function: for fulfillment, track order accuracy rate, shipping speed, and cost per order; for bookkeeping, track reconciliation completeness and reporting timeliness; for customer service, track response time, resolution rate, and customer satisfaction. Establish a regular check-in cadence: weekly for the first month, then biweekly or monthly once the relationship is running smoothly. Use a shared project management tool or communication channel dedicated to the outsourced function so nothing gets lost in personal email inboxes.
Review the outsourcing relationship quarterly against the metrics and success criteria you defined. Is quality meeting or exceeding your standards? Are costs within budget? Is communication responsive and clear? Are there recurring issues that indicate a systemic problem? Provide constructive feedback regularly rather than letting issues accumulate. If the relationship is working well, explore expanding the scope to additional tasks or functions. If performance consistently falls short despite feedback, begin evaluating alternative providers while the current arrangement is still functioning, so you can transition smoothly rather than scrambling after a sudden termination.
Functions to Keep In-House
Not everything should be outsourced. Keep the following functions in-house regardless of cost savings: product strategy and selection (what you sell and why is your core competitive advantage), brand voice and positioning (outsourced content and marketing should follow guidelines you create, not replace your brand perspective), key customer relationships (your most valuable customers should interact with your team, not a third-party service), and quality control (even when fulfillment is outsourced, you should audit quality regularly and own the standards). The general principle is: outsource execution, keep strategy and standards in-house.
Outsourcing vs Hiring: When Each Makes Sense
Outsourcing is better when the work is variable (seasonal fulfillment spikes, periodic website updates, quarterly tax preparation), when you need specialized expertise for specific projects rather than ongoing general capability, when you want to avoid the administrative overhead of employment, or when you are testing whether a function justifies a permanent hire. Hiring an employee is better when the work is continuous and central to daily operations, when institutional knowledge and deep understanding of your business are essential for quality, when you need someone available for real-time collaboration throughout the day, or when the cumulative cost of outsourcing exceeds the cost of a dedicated hire. Many businesses use a transitional model: outsource initially to establish processes and validate the need, then hire when the volume and consistency justify a dedicated role.