As eCommerce continues to grow steadily worldwide, it is becoming increasingly important for eCommerce companies to understand the importance of fulfilment houses. Many eCommerce companies are not aware that they can outsource their fulfilment needs through a third-party company, also known as Third Party Logistics (3PL) providers. In this blog post we will explore what fulfilment houses do and how eCommerce companies can use them to their benefit in order to expand their reach.
What are fulfilment houses?
The world has quickly become a global marketplace, making it important that e-retailers can quickly and efficiently deliver their products internationally. Fulfilment houses make this easy. Fulfilment house services include warehousing and inventory management, order processing, pick & pack, eCommerce fulfilment, global eCommerce logistics and updating customers on fulfillment status. Depending on a company’s needs, they can choose to use one or multiple of these services to meet their needs in order to grow their eCommerce business.
Why is this useful you may ask? Well it is likely that eCommerce companies will not have the same infrastructure in every country and it is here that fulfilment houses come in. Fulfilment houses are able to provide e-retailers the opportunity to expand their business into new geographic areas, which they would otherwise not be able to reach with their current infrastructure.
What do they do?
eCommerce fulfilment services are typically used by e-retailers to ship their products from eCommerce warehouses, distribution centres or retail stores as opposed to fulfilling single orders manually which can be extremely time consuming. eCommerce logistics are the final step in the supply chain that involves integrating cargo transportation services for e-retailers’ delivery of goods from fulfillment centres directly to e-retailers’ customers.
What are the benefits of outsourcing to a fulfilment house?
Inventory management is a huge bonus offered by fulfillment services. Through this, inventory management can be quickly and efficiently sorted at the end of a season so that it does not take up space in the eCommerce warehouse. Order processing is also a helpful service for e-retailers who deal with many orders per day or receive an order at the end of a season, but need to ship it out immediately in order to meet customer expectations. Pick & pack services can provide e-retailers more time to focus on customer relationship management and the creation and development of their actual products.
When an online store has more orders for a certain item than they have the inventory to fulfill, this is known as overselling. This can be frustrating and lead consumers into believing that you are an unreliable or unprofessional business because of how it makes them feel when your company fails on such basic and commonly expected tasks like communication with customers. The last thing you want is unhappy customers and losses. To avoid these negative feelings from occurring external organizations handle fulfillment instead – you’ll not only tighten control over your order fulfillment but also create new relationships through third-party outreach efforts which could translate into increased conversions long term!
Saving you time and money
In addition to providing lower fixed costs, outsourced logistics have several other benefits. They handle more packages than just yours because major carriers are often willing to negotiate rates when there are higher volumes going through their system. Plus delivery confirmation is standard so you never get stuck waiting on hold wondering what is happening with your orders – it’s all sent straight from the center via tracking.
Some eCommerce fulfilment services even provide their own order fulfilment software that covers all essential processes and can help to streamline your existing operations!
Still not convinced?
With all of the benefits mentioned above, you can save time and money by outsourcing your fulfillment center needs. Outsourcing means that you are not responsible for the day-to-day operations at your packing and shipping facilities, so it’s easier to focus on other aspects of running an online business while still being able deliver great customer service through improved delivery rates.
Final thoughts
Most eCommerce companies who use fulfilment houses to expand their reach end up with positive results, such as increased sales and customer satisfaction. Using a third-party service is a no-brainer for eCommerce retailers as it frees you from the responsibilities of warehousing and logistics management in order to focus on what really matters.
Do you have experience outsourcing to an eCommerce fulfilment provider? We would love to hear about how it has benefitted your business!