A Florida-based serial entrepreneur and investor, Michael Walding owns more than 50 businesses between real estate, M & A, e-commerce, legal services, whiskey brand, and even a rugby team. All while managing the world’s first educational cryptocurrency hedge fund. Michael Walding is also the founder and chief executive officer of NXTLVL Services, which renders turnkey e-commerce management services to small startups and side ventures. The company became the first to offer outsourcing logistics services for Walmart e-commerce sellers using a fulfillment by merchant model.
Fulfillment by merchant (FBM) occurs when sellers on e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart Marketplace utilize their own resources for the warehousing and shipping of their products, rather than paying these platforms to do so for them. It grants sellers greater control over their business operations and inventory levels, as well as independence from the distribution-services agreement policies of e-commerce marketplaces. The FBM model requires a greater time commitment, especially for sellers with product listings across multiple sales channels.
Full-service and turnkey third-party logistics (3PL) can supplement FBM models by offering a more balanced option. The relationship between the fulfillment and seller parties is more collaborative, and 3PL enables sellers to outsource warehousing and fulfillment operations without the concession of stringent terms and conditions. Additionally, some 3PL organizations provide more flexibility in allotted stock space than e-commerce platforms like Amazon, which implements inventory limitations in its warehouses during peak season.
