So you made an informed decision and decided to partner with a fulfillment provider. You are definitely on the right track when it comes to marketing options. So, the question now is, How do I make sure I have chosen the right company for the fulfillment of my business? You have a lot of options to choose from, and as a business owner, making the wrong decision can have serious consequences for your business.
Apart from that, sometimes what makes a fulfillment service right for you can depend on several factors such as how much you sell each month, what additional services your logistics company offers from a third party, where most of your customers are, Even how fast your business is growing.
Beyond what you can see on the surface, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes that play a vital role in getting your product from the warehouse to the people who need it. If you’re considering working with another company to take on these responsibilities, you need to understand how they work.
Add to that the complexities of fees, pricing, delivery times, and software integration, and it becomes increasingly difficult to choose a fulfillment partner with confidence. Rest assured that when you complete this article, you will understand what to look for in a fulfillment company and will be able to select an appropriate fulfillment partner for your business.
What to look for in your fulfillment service provider
To help you select the right angetion order fulfillment service provider company for your business needs, there are a few important things to consider. These play the most crucial role and should be considered in your decision.
While it can be tempting to get carried away with advertisements or even great deals, it’s important to make sure you cover the most important bases first, as they will form a solid foundation for your business.
1. Shipping Speeds
With Amazon’s two-day delivery becoming the new industry standard, the process of choosing a fulfillment company should include an e-commerce fulfillment service that can deliver your company’s product to your customer within a very short delivery time.
Longer delivery could entice your customers to buy from competitors, causing you to lose business. In fact, as companies begin to deliver faster and faster, any services that take longer than the industry standard will eventually be phased out.
To ensure you don’t run out of customers, make sure your fulfillment partner is reliable and won’t let you down when you encounter an increase in sales volume. Red Stag Fulfillment is a great example of an order fulfillment service with incredible speed.
They are so sure of their speed that they can promise that your product will go from dock to shelf in less than two days. They even pay you a $50 fee if they get it wrong, so rest assured you’re covered by the speed shipping service.
If you want to increase your shipping speed, you can also try the dropshipping business model, which offers a huge advantage, especially when it comes to storage and inventory management.
2. Warehouse Locations
The location of your warehouse is critical for the supply chain. Without properly located warehouses, the supply chain will become unnecessarily long and complicated. This can lead to huge delays and increased costs that would otherwise be easily avoided. How fast your product can get to your customer depends on how far they have to travel to get there. This means that fulfillment centers with multiple warehouses located in different regions are imperative for your customers to receive their packages on time.
3. Order fulfillment software and automation
If you want your business to stay ahead of the competition, it’s essential that the fulfillment service you choose has built-in software and uses automation technology for its inventory. This means that your distribution business should automatically send orders when your customers buy something from your e-commerce platform to the warehouses that handle your packaging and shipping.
This needs to be done in real-time, and integrating this technology with your third-party platform and distribution center can save you a lot of time. On top of that, it should automatically update your inventory in your warehouse and on your e-commerce platform.
This all sounds very basic, but not all companies offer these real-time options, and they are keen to integrate this technology and software into their platforms.
For this reason, it is worth trying a provider such as ShipBob to fulfill your order. ShipBob offers integration with multiple marketplaces, and its seamless software can make a big difference between inventory processing and customers. This is a great pillar to support the fulfillment process and is definitely a vendor to consider.