5 Proven Tips for Selecting a Reputable Fulfillment & Shipping Service
After considering the many benefits of outsourcing fulfillment and shipping, you have decided to hand over the responsibility of moving your products to another company. Outsourcing fulfillment and shipping frees up more time for you and the team to handle other tasks. You also benefit from lower costs, as well as fewer fulfillment and shipping errors. The question is not whether your business should outsource fulfillment and shipping. Instead, the question is how does your business select the best company to move your products?
Here are five proven tips for selecting a reputable fulfillment and shipping service.
Shipping Speed
Early in the shipping war, Federal Express guaranteed some product orders could reach customers as fast as overnight. Amazon Prime has perfected its fulfillment and shipping system to make two-day delivery speeds the norm. Because of the new standards set for delivery speed, customers expect their orders to reach them as soon as the day after placing an order. At Complete Mailing and Printing, our team of fulfillment and shipping professionals has set one of the fastest delivery speeds in the industry.
Warehouse Location
One of the most important criteria that establishes delivery speeds for fulfillment and shipping orders concerns the location of the nearest warehouse to your business. To achieve super-fast delivery speed, you want to work with a company that has built a centrally located warehouse, preferably near major roads and highways. Centrally located warehouses translate into shorter shipping routes, which is a huge factor in getting customers the product they ordered on time.
Types of Features
The best fulfillment and shipping companies offer features that give them a competitive advantage. Advanced order fulfillment software should be highly organized and easy to learn. You want to confirm that the fulfillment and shipping company that you choose uses software that never encounters a glitch, as well as calculates accurate arrival times. A fulfillment and shipping company that offers digital printing services and customer mail services allows your company to take care of many of the logistical tasks in one convenient location.
Responsive Communication
You have several fulfillment companies to choose from when searching for the right partner. The search process might come down to a factor such as responsive communication. Your fulfillment and shipping partner should respond promptly to emails, as well as text and phone messages. This is an especially important factor when you receive word from an unsatisfied customer that a product order has not arrived in a timely manner. Responsive communication also is an indication of a fulfillment and shipping company’s commitment to transparency and visibility.
Cost
You have heard the timeless adage, “You get what you paid for.” The adage means that if you cut costs too much, you might end up with an inferior product or service. Cutting cost corners when selecting a fulfillment and shipping company can lead to delayed orders that upset customers. Cost is a factor when selecting a fulfillment and shipping company, but it should not be the only factor. Treat cost as a make-or-break factor after considering the other factors on our list.
What are the 6 Typical Steps Involved in Fulfillment & Shipping?
Customers expect their orders to arrive on time and in mint condition. To exceed customer expectations, the best fulfillment and shipping companies typically follow a series of the same steps. Although the steps remain the same, the level of execution among fulfillment and shipping companies is not the same. Issues such as weather, equipment malfunctions, and logistical errors committed by drivers differentiate performance. At Complete Mailing and Printing, we ensure the completion of the following six steps involved in Fulfillment and Shipping in a timely manner.
Receive Inventory
After a customer places an order, the fulfillment and shipping company receives the inventory from the manufacturer or a third-party vendor. Receiving inventory requires a shipping and fulfillment company to verify the condition of the inventory, as well as the quantity of the products shipped. The key is to confirm all of the products have arrived in a condition that exceeds customer expectations. For especially large orders, a fulfillment and shipping company lets the manufacturer or third-party vendor know about the reception of the orders.
Store Order
After sorting, labeling, and organizing inventory, the next step in the process involves moving products to short or long-term storage. Most fulfillment and shipping companies that move products to short-term storage hold the products for existing orders. They often conduct another inspection before the processing step for each order. For bulk orders, fulfillment and shipping companies ensure a large number of products are in stock to prevent shipping delays.
Process Order
This is the step in which advanced technology plays an important role in ensuring the accurate transfer of products. Automated technology used for an order processing management system works seamlessly with shopping cart features to select the right products for imminent shipment. A packing slip created by digital printing services or custom mailing services presents the details of an order that include product features and specifications,
Pick Products
The processing steps get products ready to be picked manually or by operating an automated system that scans barcodes. Some large fulfillment companies such as Amazon use warehouse robots in conjunction with employees to select and retrieve the products required for shipping. Members of picking teams are assigned specific roles during the picking step to choose the correct products. Workers must be aware of amounts, colors, and sizes when picking products.
Packing Products
The same group of workers used for packing products also completes the packing products step. Automated robots also play a role during the packing step to improve speed and efficiency. The types of packing materials used depend on the weight of the cargo, as well as how fragile the products are while in transit. For example, products constructed with at least some glass require packing materials that provide sufficient cushion.
Ship Order
Fulfillment and shipping companies either ship orders directly to customers or involve third-party vendors to handle larger orders. They send orders to customers via an airline, freight line, or postal carrier. One of the most important criteria for successfully completing the last step is to keep customers aware of the status of their orders. Another important shipping criterion is to follow the shipping requirements established by third-party carriers.
5 Expert Ways to Build a Better Business With Fulfillment & Shipping Services
You understand the benefits of outsourcing fulfillment & shipping to an established and highly-rated third party. Your business can decrease processing times, which increases the number of orders sent out each day. With less to do onsite, you free up employees to provide better customer service. The number of order errors decreases, as a company such as Complete Mailing & Printing works with the latest technology to ensure order accuracy. Finally, a reduction in operating costs combined with generating more revenue improves your bottom line.
Understanding the benefits of outsourcing fulfillment & shipping is one thing. It is quite another thing to implement strategies to reap the financial rewards of those benefits. Let’s take a look at five expert ways to build a better business with fulfillment and shipping services.
Warehouse
The warehouse model for fulfillment and shipping has been around as long as motorized vehicles. However, Amazon defined the long-term warehousing model by handling orders that help customers avoid paying costly fees. Fulfillment and shipping services provided by a third party can include long-term warehousing, which saves your company money, especially if it sells high-end products such as furniture and appliances.
Retail
One of the most common ways to build a better business with fulfillment and shipping services involves going through traditional retail outlets like Target and Walmart. Even the COVID pandemic could not destroy the traditional sales channel for businesses operating across every niche. Retail giants also provide other services, such as digital printing services and custom mailing services. A company such as Complete & Printing enforces strict shipping guidelines to ensure your products arrive at retail outlets on time and in the correct quantity.
eCommerce
When a consumer orders a product online, the consumer receives an estimated date of arrival. The estimated date of arrival is often accurate down to the day and even the time. Due to the explosive growth of online sales, many businesses rely on fulfillment and shipping services to deliver products in a timely manner. A shopping cart created online immediately processes a customer’s order by engaging with a warehouse management system (WMS). The WMS then manages the distribution of the product through every delivery point.
Multi-Channel
By working with a fulfillment and shipping business, you can access every sales channel that is available to consumers. Your business meets product demand through traditional channels like retail, as well as more cutting-edge sales channels like a subscription service. The ability to broaden your sales options helps your company grow sales by reaching consumers that you otherwise would not attract.
Subscription
This sales strategy also goes by the name of auto shipping service. Subscription box fulfillment ships out products on a regular schedule. For example, the subscription fulfillment and shipping model is how the Dollar Shave Club sends razors to signed-up customers once a month. Businesses that handle this type of fulfillment and shipping model must be experts at processing batch shipping orders.