Prioritize service-level capabilities that directly affect customer experience and cost-to-serve: order lead time, inventory visibility, returns handling, and carrier connectivity. Also evaluate IT integration (API/WMS), peak handling capacity, and contingency plans for regional transit disruptions.

Facilities in Lankaran typically offer lower rent and labor costs than major metropolitan hubs, which reduces fixed storage costs. To lower total spend, optimize slotting and cubic utilization, consolidate inbound shipments, negotiate carrier tiers, and consider shared or multi-tenant operations to spread overhead.

Assess the 3PL’s relationships with regional carriers and customs brokers, transit frequencies to primary markets, and capabilities for bonded or temporary storage. Key checks include throughput windows, documentation support, transit-time SLAs and consolidation options to neighboring markets.

Negotiate clear KPIs and penalties for: on-time dispatch rate, order accuracy, inventory accuracy, dock-to-stock time, and SLA for returns processing. Where helpful, define capacity guarantees for peak periods and technology integration milestones to support scaling.