Logistics costs are everything you spend to get your product from the supplier into your customer's hands: transport, storage, inventory, administration and packaging. They're measured two ways: as a percentage of sales and as cost per order shipped. Those five categories are the ones listed in the diagnosis by the Northeast chapter of COMCE (Mexico's Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology), reported by Expansión on March 24, 2026.
It isn't a rounding error. According to the Pulsómetro Logístico 2025, a survey of Mexico's logistics market, small companies in Mexico spend up to 18.8% of their sales on logistics, and large ones 9.7%. If you've never run the full numbers, it's easy to count only the shipping labels and the rent.
The five components of logistics cost
| Component | What it includes | How to measure it monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Transport | Inbound freight (from the supplier or port to your warehouse), parcel labels to customers, surcharges and reshipments | Freight and label invoices ÷ orders shipped |
| Storage | Warehouse rent or fees, utilities, equipment and the staff who receive and pick | Total warehouse cost ÷ orders shipped |
| Inventory | Cash tied up in stock, shrinkage, obsolete product and insurance | Average inventory value × your monthly cost of capital, plus recorded shrinkage |
| Administration | Whoever enters orders, reconciles stock and handles issues, plus their software | Hours per month × hourly cost, plus licenses |
| Packaging | Boxes, void fill, tape, labels and inserts | Material cost ÷ orders shipped |
Cost of capital is what it costs you to have money sitting still: the rate on your credit line, or what that cash would earn elsewhere. Almost nobody adds inventory to the bill because no invoice arrives for it, but the money on the rack isn't funding ads or your next purchase order.
Which ones weigh the most
There's no universal ranking; it depends on your product. If you sell light but bulky items, transport dominates, because carriers also charge by box size. If your stock turns slowly, storage and tied-up cash grow. If your orders carry several units, warehouse labor weighs more.
What there is, is a trend: transport and storage costs rose more than 72% between 2015 and 2025, based on data from Mexico's statistics agency (Inegi) cited by COMCE Northeast in the same Expansión article.
How to calculate them: two formulas
- Logistics cost as % of sales = total logistics cost ÷ sales × 100
- Cost per order = total logistics cost ÷ orders shipped
Use one full month for everything, sales net of returns, and orders that actually went out.
Illustrative example, not market prices: a store sells MXN 1,000,000 in a month, ships 2,000 orders, and its total logistics cost, adding up all five components, is MXN 100,000.
| Metric | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| % of sales | 100,000 ÷ 1,000,000 × 100 | 10% |
| Cost per order | 100,000 ÷ 2,000 | MXN 50 |
Read them together, because they tell different stories. The percentage moves with your price: discount your average ticket for a promotion and it goes up even though the operation didn't change. Cost per order moves with the operation: if it rises, something changed in shipping, packaging or the warehouse. To find what, use warehouse KPIs.
Why logistics costs small companies more
The Pulsómetro Logístico 2025 is the third edition of the study by Mexico's National Council of Logistics and Supply Chain Executives (ConaLog), prepared with Álvarez & Marsal, AMACARGA, AMTI, AOLM, BDS, CSCMP México, GS1 México, IPADE and The Logistics World, which reported it on April 2, 2025. It surveyed 351 companies that use logistics services (313 small and 38 large) plus 90 providers. The large-company sample is small, so treat its 9.7% as a reference point, not a norm.
The number alone doesn't explain the gap. The most likely reasons are about scale:
- Without volume, there's little leverage to negotiate parcel or freight rates.
- Fixed costs (rent, equipment, the person packing) are spread across fewer orders.
- Space gets rented for peak season and paid for all year.
The costs that never show up on an invoice
- Tied-up cash. Unsold inventory doesn't generate an invoice, but it does carry a cost of capital.
- Shrinkage. The gap between what your system says you have and what's actually there. How to measure it: inventory shrinkage.
- Picking errors. The wrong product costs the reshipment, the return and sometimes the review: what a picking error costs.
- Volumetric weight charges. Carriers bill whichever is higher, actual weight or the weight implied by box size, so a big box for a small product pays for air. More in volumetric weight and packaging.
- Returns. Receiving, inspecting, restocking or discarding, and sometimes paying the return label.
- Your time. If you or your partner pack orders at night, those hours are logistics cost even if they never hit payroll.
In-house vs. 3PL: compare the same perimeter
A 3PL (third-party logistics provider) stores, prepares and ships your orders. The most common mistake when evaluating one is comparing its full invoice against only part of your in-house cost, usually rent and labels. Done that way, in-house always looks cheaper.
Draw one perimeter and apply it to both sides:
| Item | In-house | With a 3PL |
|---|---|---|
| Space | Proportional rent and utilities | Storage fee |
| People | Wages for the time spent on logistics | Receiving and pick and pack (picking and packing each order) |
| Shipping | Labels at your rates | Labels at the provider's rates |
| Packaging | Material you buy | Billed separately or included, per the quote |
| Errors and shrinkage | What they cost you today | What the contract covers, or doesn't |
| Administration | All the follow-up | Coordinating and reviewing invoices |
The cash tied up in inventory is yours either way, so don't count it as savings on either side. To read the right-hand column properly, see how much a 3PL costs in Mexico. And compare service too: a low cost per order with frequent errors isn't cheap.
FAQ
What are logistics costs? Transport, storage, inventory, administration and packaging, according to the COMCE Northeast diagnosis reported by Expansión in March 2026.
What share of sales goes to logistics? The Pulsómetro Logístico 2025 found that small companies in Mexico spend up to 18.8% of their sales on logistics, and large ones 9.7%. Yours: total logistics cost ÷ sales for the same period × 100.
Is in-house logistics or a 3PL cheaper? It depends on your volume. Compare cost per order with the same perimeter on both sides, including your time and your errors.
At Ecommex we handle storage, pick and pack and parcel shipping from our fulfillment center in Zapopan, Guadalajara, to all of Mexico. We receive your goods by counting them against the invoice, and orders that come in before noon (12:00) ship the same day. To compare on the same perimeter, see our 3PL in Mexico service.