Outsourcing Supply Chain Management in Australia: The 3,400-Kilometre Problem and Where to Start

What is 3PL logistics outsourcing?

Trucks? Warehouses and deliveries? What most people think supply chains are all and only about. But you’re in the business, and you’re aware that it’s so much more – procurement, inventory, forecasting, freight, supplier communication, order processing, and reporting. Nothing but the shortlist.

It isn’t that out of the blue that you’re loosening your grip on the idea of all-things-in-house, and are now asking how to outsource supply chain management and how to outsource supply chain specialists.

Because of the geography problem.

One example of many you’re all too familiar with: QFM Logistics shows that Perth is 3,400+ km from Melbourne by road (trivia: it’s the longest interstate freight lane in the country). A 5-to-6-day transit time.

There’s also the staffing problem, since the labour pool’s both thin and, in other cases, more expensive than standard.

Should you make the leap to outsourcing, like some of your future-thinking competitors are already doing? What tasks should stay local or offshore?

Should You Use In-House vs Outsourced 3PL for Small Business?

When it comes to in-house logistics vs 3PL, and when you search for comparisons online, most results don’t separate the two. There’s one definition. Not an accurate take, and is among the things confusing Australian business owners as they shop around for providers.

But they solve different problems and require different providers and budgets.

What Is a 3PL?

A third-party logistics provider (3PL) takes over the physical side of your supply chain – warehousing space, receiving stock, storing stock, picking and packing orders, and moving freight from one point to another. If you need somewhere to store inventory or a fleet to move it, you’ll want to shop for a 3PL.

What Is Offshoring in Supply Chain Management?

Anything from procurement paperwork to purchase order processing, vendor communication, demand planning, freight documentation, and reporting. These don’t require a warehouse or a truck, but a trained person at a desk, plugged into systems work.

Offshoring supply chain is the category most Australian SMEs actually need help with first.

Warehousing decisions come with long-term leases and physical infrastructure, and are weightier to make. Staffing decisions can be made and reversed far more easily. They tend to address the exact problem that goads business owners to switch tracks and opt for outsourcing:

• Overflowing administrative and coordination work
• Not enough people qualified to do it locally, or at a reasonable cost

It’s not to any business’s benefit to assume both are the same, or else you’ll be talking to the wrong type of provider.

Or you’ll be assuming outsourcing means handing over parts of the physical operation when what they actually need is remote support for the work behind the scenes.

Related Read: Here’s a breakdown of the Philippine Labour Law Guide for Foreign Employers as you build your team.

What Supply Chain Functions Can You Offshore?

Here’s a breakdown by function:

1. Procurement and Vendor Management

Sourcing suppliers, resolving supplier issues, processing purchase orders, negotiating terms, and tracking vendor performance are tasks that can be done remotely with the right access to your systems.

Something to know:

Procurement decisions can now affect far more than what a business pays its suppliers, especially when supply and pricing are unpredictable.

The numbers above are the reasons why procurement admin work is one of the first functions outsourced.

2. Inventory Planning and Demand Forecasting

In contrast to physical presence in your office or warehouse, consistent, accurate data entry and pattern recognition need no assigned roof to be under. Reorder points and stockout prevention can be documented through data and inventory records.

Australians spent $82.6 billion online in 2025 (2026 eCommerce Report; Australia Post)

9.8 million Australian households are now shopping online, bringing the percentage to 14% year-on-year.

How about peak season? 111 million parcels were dispatched nationally. Even better news is that forecasting and planning around that volume is remote-staffable. Data problems can be braved via software.

3. Warehousing, Receiving, and Order Fulfilment

This function sits in 3PL territory, not offshore staffing. Physical storage, pick-and-pack work, and on-site receiving require a facility and local labour.

Businesses evaluating outsourcing should treat this as a separate procurement decision from the staffing functions below.

4. Logistics and Freight Coordination

A lot of the day-to-day freight work’s in documents and tracking updates. All of which, and everything in between, can be handled remotely. Your coordinator just needs system access and protocols for escalation and other next steps.

5. Supply Chain Analytics and Compliance

Performance reporting, customs paperwork, and biosecurity documentation required by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and enforced through the Australian Border Force generate a steady stream of administrative work.

Much of this is document preparation and data entry that can be handled remotely, with final sign-off retained by whoever holds compliance responsibility in Australia.

What To Do: Go through your supply chain, every function, using the table above. Anything marked “yes” is a contender for offshore staffing. Those marked “no” need a 3PL conversation.

Steps For How to Outsource Your Supply Chain Management?

Four steps that are used by Australian businesses in several industries:

Step 1: Find the Work and Costs Slowing Your Supply Chain Down

It could be stockouts. Slow PO turnaround. Perhaps freight delays. Local salary costs. Once you’ve mapped it out, decide whether the gap is a staffing problem, a physical infrastructure problem, or both.

A business drowning in procurement admin needs offshore staffing. A business that needs somewhere to store and ship stock needs a 3PL. Some businesses need both.

Step 2: Make Sure the Provider Fits Your Setup

Before bringing anyone in, make sure they can work with the tools your business already uses, whether that’s NetSuite, Shopify, DEAR, or Xero. Ask how they protect the data they’ll have access to, and who is responsible for what under the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles.

References from other Australian businesses are helpful as well, so you can get a feel for how the provider actually works once the arrangement is underway.

Step 3: Write Down How the Work Gets Done

Put the basics in writing before they start: how you decide when to reorder, who your suppliers are, who to contact when something goes wrong, and what your reports should look like. It gives them something tangible to work from and gives you a much easier starting point for training.

Step 4: Agree on What Good Work Looks Like

The buzzword’s “success.” What success looks like. It’s always better to make the decision of how to measure what good work is and what areas of improvement opportunities are.

Whether it’s order accuracy or how long it takes to smooth out a freight problem, create a blueprint for which work is for whom, or which role or unit. Whether it’s for the Australian team or the remote team.

Free Consult. No Pressure.

Free Consult. No Pressure.

We’ll answer any question on how to hire world-class, high performing, vetted virtual staff to cut your labour costs by 60-70%.

First Name: *

Last Name: *

Contact Number: *

Email: *

Company Name / Website: *

Role(s) you wish to hire: *

By submitting this form, you agree to receive SMS or phone communications from Remote Staff, Inc. Message & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out.

What Are the Risks of Outsourcing Supply Chain Management?

Things can go wrong, not really due to outsourcing itself, but when important details aren’t sorted out before someone else – someone offshore and oceans away – takes over the work.

Time Zone and Communication Breaks

More applicable to geography within time zones that are half a day or more delayed than Australia’s. All the same, it can happen sometimes, with teams in countries that are only 2 to 3 hours ahead of Australian cities and territories.

Not the time overlap per se, but when there’s a formal arrangement about what hours are must-overlaps, on what days. Simple, yet it’s the one obstruction that trips up hybrid teams.

Not so for those who’ve been working with offshore specialists for years. Those who’re coming into the outsource domain fresh.

Protecting Data and Meeting Compliance Requirements

The Privacy Act 1988 and Australian Privacy Principles apply even when data’s sent past Australia’s shores. Your business will still be held responsible for how customer and supplier information is handled, which means data security has to be clearly relayed and understood before sending the work on.

Losing Track of Inventory and Quality

If you’re handing over procurement or planning, make sure you’ve agreed on what the business needs to see. You should still be able to check stock levels, orders, supplier issues, and anything else that could affect the supply chain.

The work can sit with the remote team outside of Australia while keeping the business fully aware of what’s going on.

Related Read: Learn about the Do’s and Don’ts of Managing Virtual Assistants as you transition to hybrid operations.

Where Your Supply Chain Gets Its People

We’re part of your chain, too. Not the supply chain, but your business operations; specifically, ensuring your workforce is properly staffed for the work that needs doing behind the scenes.

That can mean a procurement specialist keeping purchase orders and supplier communication under control, a logistics coordinator staying on top of freight updates, or someone handling the reporting and documentation that quietly eats into everyone else’s day.

At Remote Staff, we’ve been connecting businesses with dedicated offshore professionals for more than 18 years. We handle the sourcing and screening, so you can focus on finding someone who fits the work, your systems, and the way your business operates. The warehouse stays where it is, and trucks keep doing what trucks do. And the people behind the spreadsheets, suppliers, orders, and reports have someone making sure they’re there when you need them.

FAQs

Local Costs and Geography Don’t Have to Hinder Business Growth

The geography and labour-cost problem is tarrying, and will do so longer, into the decade. The pile of procurement, freight, inventory, and reporting work, too. Work that needssomeone’s attention every day.

Sometimes the smarter move is giving that work to people who can keep up with it, wherever they’re based. Your Australian team gets room to focus on the decisions that need them, while the work behind those decisions keeps moving.

Your supply chain has enough moving parts already, and your staffing shouldn’t be another one. Let us support you in keeping your operations humming, without letting cogs grind to a halt locally. Request a Callback today.

↑ Back to Top