What is a Fulfilment Company?

What is a Fulfilment Company?

…An order has just come through, what happens next?

Fulfilment… but what does this actually mean?

In the broadest sense, order fulfilment is everything that happens between a customer placing and receiving an order. Online retailers and businesses can handle fulfilment in-house or outsource these processes. The term fulfilment can cover all supply chain operations: receiving, storing, processing, packaging, and delivering customer orders.

Issues with in-house fulfilment

In-house fulfilment is time and resource-intensive, impacting the efficiency and costs of operations. Outsourcing order fulfilment to experienced third-party logistics partners can greatly optimise operations. This is not limited to online retailers and eCommerce; wholesalers and manufacturers benefit too.

The storage and distribution of wide product ranges can cause strain for businesses, especially for smaller operations. When business owners themselves deal with the logistics of storage, inventory management and packaging, this impedes the growth of their business. Fortunately for businesses around the world, fulfilment companies arose to solve these challenges and specialise in order fulfilment. Third-party logistics is now one of the most popular methods of product distribution, globally.

Time is a decisive factor in fulfilment

For many small and medium enterprises, time is a decisive factor when choosing to outsource. This is not limited to the time required to handle and process orders. With consumer expectations demanding next-day delivery options, accuracy and speed are crucial to staying competitive. There are key factors to consider to achieve this through outsourcing. For example, late cut-off times, same-day dispatch and daily collections from all major carriers. In a world where convenience is a large driver for consumer purchasing, offering the same delivery options as Amazon Prime is key.

How to deal with Order Volumes and Growth

Think of times when you have been overwhelmed by large order volumes. Due to seasonal variation, or the rising popularity of your product, how do you deal with surges of orders? Third-party logistics providers have the resources and experience to produce, pack, and ship all the orders quickly enough to keep customers satisfied. Fulfilment companies take care of every aspect of the fulfilment process for you. Through their expert teams and infrastructure, they are perfectly suited to deal with rapidly increasing order numbers. Ultimately, this lets businesses focus on growth and development.

Storage and Inventory Management at Fulfilment Centres

Online retailers can use fulfilment centres to outsource warehousing and shipping for more flexibility and adaptability. This relieves online businesses of the need to pay fixed rates for fixed volumes of warehousing. It not only optimises storage costs but provides the perfect solution for varying seasonal demands. Unlike traditional warehousing, fulfilment centres are optimised for the fast processing of inbound and outbound deliveries.

The management of inventory is a common operational challenge for many online stores. However, it is a key element in cultivating a great customer experience. Third-party fulfilment allows online retailers to focus on other aspects of their business rather than inventory management. Using software-based solutions for inventory management, human error is removed at fulfilment centres. This tech-driven approach improves efficiency, accuracy, and consistency.

So why choose a fulfilment company?

Fulfilment centres improve many aspects of your business. They have the advanced infrastructure and software to manage orders and inventories. As well as real-time stock control, batch tracking and optimisation. Through access to premium carriers and improved shipping options, they provide cost-effective and rapid dispatch. Third-party fulfilment can scale quickly to demand without compromising customer satisfaction. Above all, reducing time spent in-house on fulfilment processes and more.

To find out more about how fulfilment centres work, or key things to look for, read the following articles.

If you ship products to customers then there comes a time when ‘doing it yourself’ is actually holding your business back!  Concentrate on GROWING your business and outsource your order fulfilment operations to experts who have the infrastructure and skill to let you deal with taking more sales!

Thoughts on business growth opportunities from Yorkshire Powerhouse

Have you any questions?

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