Third-Party Logistics Services have seen a significant increase in demand, sustained throughout the last five years. During this past half decade, companies have resorted to 3PLs to maximize efficiency and profit of supply chain operations with minimal resource allocation.
Closing the fourth quarter of 2025, it is crucial to review how 3PLs performed through the year, and what it is expected of 2026 to facilitate acquisition and maximize ROI.
Growing Trust & Widespread Outsourcing
In 2025, a 90% increase in 3PL acquisition has been reported, with a satisfaction rate above 95%. It is worth noting that, implied in this satisfaction rate, is the ease of implementation of new technologies for companies, like improved tracking systems, and AI agents. These are often the main struggles companies face when trying to adopt new services.
An important piece of context relevant to these statistics is the economic uncertainty the US market faced due to the new tariffs’ policies, so the increase in 3PL trust and expansion came at a time of extreme volatility, a fact unique to solutions that provide fast and scalable results.
Enhancing Customer Experience & Retention
3PLs’ success and trust come from their excellent tools for customer experience, which results in increased satisfaction and retention. These tools allow for faster pickup, improved communication, and carrier accountability.
These two are key to customer satisfaction. Around 50% of both shippers and 3PL agree that speed is one of the top priorities, but without secure lanes and visibility over carrier performance, these success metrics would fall apart.
This context, in turn, reduces churn, builds loyalty, and supports long-term revenue increase, which is a powerful ROI driver.
Cost Savings You Can Quantify
For 3PLs to be sustainable models, speed and safety are not enough. They need to provide a good enough financial return to be worth acquiring. Fortunately, they succeed tremendously in this field as well.
In 2025, around 65% of shippers comment that 3PLs contributed to reducing overall costs, and those savings are the result of route optimization, load consolidation, and better carrier negotiation. All enabled by the scale and expertise that 3PLs bring to the table.
70% of shippers also mention that 3PLs provide “new and innovative ways to improve logistics effectiveness.” This means that not only has their financial situation improved, but the opportunity for scaling is also now a possibility.
Enabling Strategic Focus Through Change Management with PLS PRO
It’s not just operations that benefit. Partnering with a 3PL gives companies breathing room to focus on strategic priorities.
In 2025, more than two thirds of shippers say visibility, technology, planning, and inventory are key areas in need of change.
3PLs that bring structured change-management models help their clients adopt new systems, align leadership, and drive transformation, strengthening ROI in the longer term.
This is where PLS PRO comes into play:
PLS PRO is one of the top established 3PLs in the industry, and has a great track record of improving costs, visibility and customer satisfaction, all while being easy to adopt and with live support for any emergency that could come up.
If you want to know more about why PLS PRO is one of the leading 3PLs in the market and how it can help your company increase ROI, schedule a call with us here to talk about your company’s logistics needs!
PLS Logistics Services: Visibility. Capacity. Confidence