Veho, a last-mile delivery company founded roughly a decade ago, already counts Macy's, Sephora and Lululemon as clients — a sign that apparel and beauty brands are moving parcel volume away from legacy networks built by UPS, which has operated since 1907. Executives from three challenger logistics providers made their case at Sourcing Journal's annual Sourcing Summit in New York City last Tuesday, in a session titled "Logistics as a Competitive Advantage: How Technology Is Transforming the Supply Chain."

The panel covered the three supply chain stages a product must clear before reaching the end consumer: storage, fulfillment and, for international commerce, the border. Catherine Dummitt, vice president for marketing at Veho, spoke alongside Richard Hurley, founder and CEO of 3PL Highline Commerce, and Rathna Sharad, founder and CEO of cross-border commerce platform FlavorCloud. Sourcing Journal logistics editor Glenn Taylor moderated.

Why are brands switching away from legacy carriers?

Dummitt pointed to one factor. "Ultimately, I think what people are looking for when they're switching to alternative providers is more control," she said.

For years, shippers chose between standard and expedited delivery. That constraint forced companies to model their entire e-commerce customer experience around the carrier's network and capabilities. Dummitt called that arrangement outdated. "That model is just silly, but it's also fundamentally broken," she said. "I think what we're seeing is that there's a bigger opportunity to lean into more optionality."

That optionality now includes matching shipping speed to the actual urgency of each package, letting brands manage cost-to-service tradeoffs themselves rather than accepting a carrier's fixed menu.

What goes wrong at the border?

Sharad argued that cross-border failures usually start with a mistaken assumption: that international shipping is the same domestic service plus an international rate. The typical result is Delivered Duty Unpaid (DDU), where the business covers only transport while the customer absorbs import duties and clearance fees.

"It really is death by a thousand cuts," Sharad said. "Stuff gets stuck in customs compliance issues, and then the consumer experience suffers the most because they're getting all these bills that they did not expect and the parcel is delayed by days, weeks, months."

She said markets differ in purchasing behavior and affordability, and technology now allows localization. "E-commerce infrastructure allows you to customize for every single market as if you are in the domestic experience," Sharad said. "But not understanding the consumer in India is very different. The propensity to buy is very different. What they can afford is different." For sourcing teams, that means cross-border programs require market-specific compliance and pricing design, not a single extended rate card.

Where is fulfillment capacity heading?

Highline Commerce launched more than half a decade ago serving businesses other 3PLs considered too small. Hurley said his clients — often founders — systematically underestimate manufacturing timelines and skip buffer stock.

"I think the purpose of my company is to lower the barrier for someone to pass with their fulfillment, and the biggest costs are your rent and your labor," he said. Highline deploys robotics to cut labor costs for startup clients. "It is already cheaper than humans," he said of the automation.

According to a report from Automated Warehouse Online, Highline uses a two-armed bimanual manipulator nicknamed "Fleetwood Pack," developed by Ultra Robotics, that fills up to 30 percent of its orders at its Brooklyn operation.

What decision does this force?

The panel's closing message to brands was direct. As Dummitt put it in her parting remark at the Summit: "Stop accepting the status quo."

For sourcing and logistics managers, the practical takeaway is a carrier-mix review: segment the parcel portfolio by speed requirement, audit cross-border programs for DDU exposure and unexpected duty bills at the consumer door, and evaluate whether smaller, robotics-equipped 3PLs can undercut legacy carriers on labor-driven fulfillment costs.