Online order fulfilment is complex and brings inherent customer service challenges. Charlie Walker, Marketing Director of Walker Logistics, asks if that means it is easier to make the case for greater automation within fulfilment centres? For third party logistics (3PL) services companies, investment in automation has traditionally been hard to justify: the technology required a relatively high level of financial commitment over an extended period of time before evidence of payback began to appear on the bottom line. This meant that unless a 3PL had a client that was prepared to commit to a contract of at least five years, automating any aspect of the goods-in, storage, order picking or goods-out process was rarely seen to be fiscally prudent.