3 Ways Legacy Brands Can Win in the New Era of E-Commerce

By Billy Peterson

Retailers can no longer win over consumers with product and price alone. More than half (52 percent) of consumers from PwC’s 2025 Customer Experience Survey said they stopped using or buying from a brand after they had a bad experience with its products or services. It's not just a consumer problem. The same report showed 70 percent of executives think customer expectations are a moving target, changing faster than their company can keep pace.

Whether serving B2B audiences, scaling direct-to-consumer channels, or navigating complex returns, brands that fail to modernize to meet customer expectations risk losing relevance.

Legacy retail brands are often slow to act or adjust internal processes. They face internal red tape, which slows their ability to adapt or take risks. In contrast, emerging and midmarket brands have a sharper sense of what their customers want — order accuracy and on-time delivery — and move quickly to implement solutions that deliver.

Even so, when it comes to fulfillment, there’s an interesting dynamic at play. Many emerging and midmarket brands struggle to identify when to outsource their fulfillment operations. An industry report conducted earlier this year found 70 percent of these modern brands rely on an in-house fulfillment strategy with multiple distribution centers, and 60 percent of brands under $50 million in revenue are still approaching fulfillment in-house within a single distribution center. This is where legacy brands can regain ground by tapping into partnerships that boost their ability to respond to customer expectations faster.

Here are three steps legacy brands can take to partner faster and stay competitive:

1. Integrate with marketplaces.

Consumers shop across a fragmented ecosystem, from marketplaces to social commerce to retail media. Yet legacy brands are often built for single-channel operations, but now they need to connect anywhere. Legacy brands typically experience slower partner onboarding and disconnected product data, which delays time-to-market and creates inconsistent customer experiences.

The brands winning in the new era of e-commerce treat marketplace integrations as core infrastructure, not add-ons. Success means delivering a unified customer experience and maintaining inventory accuracy across channels, not just showing up on the marketplace, but excelling there.

2. Understand costs inside and out.

Legacy brands must thoroughly understand their costs. Many run on outdated accounting systems or logistics data that don’t show an accurate cost of fulfillment and subsequent fees. Margins are tight in today’s business landscape, and cost visibility can give brands a leg up on the competition.

Brands are turning to third-party logistics providers, manufacturing partners or other vendors to regain margin transparency with shared dashboards and more informed predictive cost modeling. However, true visibility also means knowing what budgets allow before kicking off a RFP. When brands understand their costs, they negotiate better contracts; make faster, more informed decisions; and protect profitability.

3. Optimize location strategy for competitiveness.

Most legacy fulfillment networks are built around regional distribution centers, not necessarily agility. With shifting consumer delivery expectations, legacy brands need to strategically understand where they should be in the U.S. It’s not just about proximity; it’s also about reducing shipping costs, improving cart conversion rates, and supporting sustainability initiatives. Optimizing the fulfillment footprint is a customer acquisition strategy.

Brand heritage can only get retailers so far in the new era of e-commerce. Those that modernize their fulfillment strategy will stay relevant, responsive and visible.

Billy Peterson is executive vice president and chief operating officer at Radial, Inc., a bpostgroup company, the leader in e-commerce solutions.

Billy Peterson Author's page

As executive vice president and chief operating officer, Billy Peterson is responsible for Radial's Service Delivery and Transportation teams, driving innovation, streamlining operational processes, and improving operational performance. Additionally, he plays a critical role in Radial's launch process evolution and driving its optimization strategy.

Prior to joining Radial, Billy served as the Division President at GXO Logistics, Inc., where he played a transformative role in establishing and leading the GXO Direct Division, creating market-leading business models and driving operational success. Billy’s notable career also includes executive leadership positions at prominent organizations such as Geodis, Neovia Logistics, and California Cartage Company. Billy holds an undergraduate degree and an MBA in supply chain logistics.