Shipping is one of the most important parts of an e-commerce business. At the end of the day, you need to figure out how your customers will get their orders as fast as possible.
For growing businesses, managing inventory, processing orders, and handling returns can quickly become overwhelming. What may have worked when you had fewer than 10 orders per week will become ineffective the moment you start receiving 100 orders every day.
What Are Order Fulfillment Services?
Order fulfillment services are a solution offered by 3PL logistics companies. Instead of running fulfillment in-house, you can contract a third-party logistics company to handle everything from inventory storage to returns.
Once an order is placed, the fulfillment provider receives the details and handles the rest of the process. This often includes picking, packaging, and labeling the products, which are then handed to a carrier for last-mile delivery.
This allows business owners to focus more on sales, marketing, product development, and customer relationships rather than spending their time running warehouse and shipping operations.
How Order Fulfillment Services Can Help
Here is how using order fulfillment service providers such as Packageman can help online business owners.
§ Faster Order Processing
Speed is crucial in e-commerce. Even the slightest delay is enough to make customers leave bad reviews or cancel orders.
Companies offering order fulfillment services use systems and established workflows to process orders fast. When an order is received, warehouse staff quickly locate the relevant products, pick and pack them, and prepare them for shipment.
§ Better Inventory Management
Inventory management can be easy when handling few orders. However, it can turn into a massive challenge once your product catalog and orders start increasing. In such cases, stockouts can delay shipments.
Order fulfillment providers typically use inventory management technology to monitor stock levels and outgoing orders. The management software sends timely updates on what needs to be restocked and how soon, eliminating human mistakes.
§ Lower Shipping Costs
Shipping costs can significantly affect your margins. However, using an order fulfillment service company gives you access to favorable carrier rates.
Fulfillment companies often handle shipments for many different businesses and may therefore have established relationships with multiple shipping carriers. Depending on the provider and contract, businesses may benefit from negotiated shipping rates or access to different delivery options.
§ Access to Strategic Fulfillment Locations
Where your stock is stored can have a significant effect on delivery speed and times. If your products are held in one warehouse, customers located far away may face longer delivery times and higher shipping costs.
Most fulfillment providers operate multiple fulfillment centers in different regions, near major transport hubs. This often reduces shipping distances and potentially improves delivery speeds, especially if your business serves customers across multiple regions.
§ Handling Returns More Efficiently
Returns are an unavoidable part of running an e-commerce business. However, handling them in-house can take considerable time, particularly when a company has a growing customer base.
Some order fulfillment companies offer returns management services as part of their package. The provider can receive returned products, inspect them according to predetermined procedures, update inventory, and respond to complaints.