Shipping Fulfillment Services Benefit eCommerce Businesses
An efficient shipping strategy is a must for achieving eCommerce business success. You may have a great product, but it has to reach the customer in good condition, or, otherwise, your reputation will go for a toss. However, since every business has unique requirements and challenges, it could take time to figure out all the variables and plan for different eventualities. And even then, you must remain alert to industry changes and be ready to adapt fast to provide stellar service and maintain customer satisfaction.
If you don’t have the time or the resources to handle everything on your own, hiring a shipping fulfillment service might be a smart solution to consider for your business. It will allow you to better focus on running your business while ensuring that cost-saving and reliable shipping is available for your customers. Let’s look at some of the other ways in which a company providing shipping fulfillment for eCommerce can benefit your business:
You can expand your business without shouldering real estate expenses
Many eCommerce businesses get a warehouse to store their inventory and ship the goods from there. However, that increases the business expense since you have to pay rent or pay to build and maintain the infrastructure. You must also hire competent staff to manage the inventory and to package and dispatch the goods. And if your business takes off and you decide to expand, you end up with still more expenses and logistics issues. You might even find yourself spending more time dealing with those than managing your business.
However, when you hire a professional company that provides shipping fulfillment for eCommerce, they will be responsible for the real estate expenses and logistics issues. If you decide to expand your business, you don’t have to pay additional infrastructure, and there won’t be any delays with finding space for the increased inventory.
On the other hand, if things don’t work out well and you must scale down your business, you don’t have to hold to the warehouse space that you now don’t need or can’t afford. You will have avoided a risky real estate investment.
You can offer your customers improved and quicker fulfillment and delivery
The business model of a company that provides shipping fulfillment for eCommerce comprises storing inventory, taking orders, and moving inventory for multiple clients. As it is in their business interest to do this as quickly as possible, many 3PL companies maintain a full staff in their warehouses and have them pick, pack, and ship orders on the same day or the following day.
Additionally, they have established relationships with carriers, and, as they move a high volume of goods every day, they can get multiple shipping options for cheaper rates and faster delivery speeds. That will reduce costs at your end and enable you to meet expedited delivery orders from your customers. Furthermore, since the shipping fulfillment company will have warehouses at multiple locations, you will be able to save on delivery costs and delivery time to customers in those areas.
You will be better able to monitor, verify, and manage your inventory
Companies that provide shipping fulfillment for eCommerce have integrated software systems for efficient quality control. They can monitor and scan the different goods in their warehouse inventory, and unload and place them in a specific sequence in planned locations. That will make it easier to pick and check them accurately against in-coming orders.
Which, in turn, will prevent order errors and reduce the instances of disgruntled customers returning goods they didn’t order or don’t want. Since returned orders require you to pay for the return of the products as well as for resending the corrected order, they can cut into your revenue. With the fulfillment company managing orders correctly, you don’t have to worry about increased business costs. You will also have happier customers who are more likely to buy from you again.
As you see, it makes plenty of business sense to hire a third-party company to undertake shipping fulfillment for eCommerce. It can reduce your overall expenses, improve your inventory management, and expedite the processing and dispatching of orders. That will result in higher customer satisfaction and in increased business opportunities.