How a Fulfillment Service helped this Company

Fulfillment Service Need – Example Company

Prior to attending the GAMA Trade Show in mid-April of 2009, we were planning on doing the warehousing and shipping for Tasty Minstrel Games ourselves and not use a fulfillment service.  In addition to these duties, we needed to get into the various distributors.  Especially important are the large distributors Alliance,ACD, and GTS.  This meant that we would be calling the various distributors, negotiating terms, sending samples, and waiting for them to bring us into the fold.  We definitely were not looking forward to performing these duties.  Since this would involve a lot of the grunt work of packaging product, making follow up phone calls regarding the receipt of product, and organizing our garage; I selfishly decided that this effort should be led by my wife. Please don’t see this as some sort of honor, because when your company consists of yourself, your wife, and your best friend…  If you lead a project, you are in charge of that project without much assistance.  We anticipated being the worst at shipping and distribution and understood what needed to be done the least, find a fulfillment service company.

The Logistical Facts of Fulfillment Service Distribution

Here is what I knew prior to choosing a fulfillment service company.  Proper board game distribution can be difficult to get into as a new publisher.  Distributors are notoriously cheap.  They need to be, any distributor is typically buying product from lots of manufacturers, aggregating those products, and selling the products to retailers for a small markup.  Typically in the hobby game market, distributors pay 40% of retail and sell to retailers at 50% of retail.   The distributor’s margin on product they sell is 20%.  With this 20% they need to pay all of their employees, rent on their warehouse space, property taxes, employment taxes, unemployment taxes, income taxes, insurance premiums, and still make a decent profit.  Distributors will only buy from you if they get free shipping.  Game distributors will buy quantities they know they can sell, or possibly they have already sold.  If you don’t like it, you can try to sell directly to retailers.  Once I realized that my time was finite and that I am not in fact Superman, I knew the prospect of selling directly to retailers was ludicrous.  Instead of dealing with a handful of distributors, I would be dealing with thousands of retailers if they even want to buy direct.  My crude estimations of shipping costs led me to believe that it would cost me approximately $2.00 per game for shipping to distributors, by using a fulfillment service.

THE LOGISTICS OF A FULFILLMENT SERVICE COMPANY

Fulfillment service companies warehouse and ship your products along with other manufacturers to distributors.  The fulfillment service company also has existing relationships with various distributors, which means that choosing a fulfillment company will automatically get you in with distributors.  Having numerous products to offer, distributors get to leverage their time by using one trusted contact.  They do not have to play nice will potentially unreasonable publishers.  The fulfillment service company loves this relationship, because they get to make money just for having warehouse space, some employees, and existing relationships.  The fulfillment service company that I am using is Publisher Services, INC.  They pay me 34% of retail for sales that they make into the hobby market.  By that calculation, I am paying $2.40 a game for them to warehouse and ship my games that cost $39.95.  I am also paying them to automatically get me into all of the distributors that they deal with.  That may sound expensive, but remember that I was expecting to pay approximately $2.00 a game for shipping in the first place.  Without a larger quantity of games to ship, it just does not make sense to not use fulfillment services.  The other fulfillment companies that I looked at using were Studio 2 Publishing (which better serves role playing games), and Impressions.  For $0.40 a game, I get to keep my entire garage, my wife does not have to burden with shipping logistics, and I automatically get into the distributors I need.  Yes please!  If only more decisions were so easy to make…]]>

What it all means…...

This account is a demonstration of a small business using a Fulfillment service house model to expand their businessThis model is common to internet companies and is actually a subset of the inventory model. A fulfillment service house will handle some or all of t he aspects of getting the product to your customer. The will maintain inventory, order new product, assemble, pick, pull, pack, and ship, all according to your specifications and with your labels. The fulfillment house often can handle the order taking and provide an ordering and customer service call center if one is needed.  The advantage of this method is that all of the logistics are done by the fulfillment service house. All you have to focus on is marketing the product. The fulfillment house will take care of the rest. The disadvantage of this is that the fulfillment service house charges for their services. In conclusion, you should use a fulfillment service house only when the profit margin is large enough to pay the fulfillment service house. And the other requirement is use the fulfillment service house when you can make more money focusing on selling the product instead of managing the logistics.

In summary, you have several different methods to handle the logistics of your business. The fulfillment service house model should only be used when it is the best fit for your business. Usually this is when you have a high enough margin to pay the fulfillment servicehouse and you make more money selling the product instead of managing the logistics.

fulfillment service

Need a Third Party Fulfillment Service? Use Best West Direct

Fulfillment Service – Why should I use third party fulfillment services?

Well this question is easy to answer: So you can use your time and resources to grow your core competencies like product development, marketing and sales strategies instead of focusing on warehousing and shipping.  Best West Direct Fulfillment Service will give you the peace of mind knowing that after your sale has been made, your products will arrive to your customers promptly and professionally.  Best West Direct fulfillment servicewill help give you the opportunity to get the products from your supplier. They will provide you the service of unpacking your products, storing them for you in a safe place, process your orders, package them, and ship them out for you. In other words, we take the load off your business. You do not have to worry about the minor details when you have Best West Direct fulfillment service doing the dirty work for you. All you have to do when you want to process an order is to send them a message. What’s great about this is that you can even automate this with your website or online store. Simply set it up in such a way that when someone places an order in your site, the company will also get that order form and they will do the rest for you.

WHY CHOOSE Best West direct fulfillment service?

With a full in house fulfillment service facility offering various aspects of hand assembly. In today’s competitive market you don’t want to spend all your resources in dealing with rising overhead costs such as number of employees and worker’s comprehension costs. Let us handle the all your daily or special packaging programs and your company and employees can spend much of their time and resources in marketing and sales. With the rising costs of business taxes, employee benefits and outrageous fuels costs why not let us worry about that.  With the use of our fulfillment service, you can make your business easier to run. You do not need to hire other people, you do not need partners or anything of the like; all you need is to find the product that you are willing to sell and have us receive your product, store it and package it for you. We will then send out the products for you.

STORAGE WAREHOUSING FULFILLMENT SERVICE

With storage warehousing services you can store all your merchandise, whether it’s just a few pallets or hundreds of them.  We provide a safe, dry, temperature controlled and clean storage warehousing space with bulk areas, rack/shelve areas and fast moving picking areas.  We work with all industries.  Best West Direct fulfillment service will usually be ready to ship your orders 24 hours after receiving. If your shipments have been sent following our standard procedures and include proper documentation.

TYPICAL FULFILLMENT SERVICE STORAGE WAREHOUSING PROCESS

Inventory delivery notification, where you contact us when we are going to receive merchandise.  At this point, if available please provide a packing list with SKUs and amount and if we are receiving new SKUs please provide a description for your customer’s packing list.  During receiving we receive, count and categorize your merchandise.  We prepare a designated picking and storage area where we enter the SKUs and inventory amounts in our system.  At this point you typically receive an email with a PO.  There is typically a different process when dealing with bundles.  When a product can be sold individually or in bundles, prepackaged boxes with multiple units, we can enter it in our system with the corresponding bundle amounts, in this way you will save substantially in fulfillment costs, and you won’t need to create a new SKU or manipulate your original orders. Inventory management is also important in fulfillment service.   We’ll do physical inventory counts depending on each customer needs. You can request a physical inventory of your storage at any time.

 Why Fulfillment Service is Necessary

Warehousing and fulfillment service is a necessary part of most business operations. Best West Direct Fulfillment Service is committed to customer satisfaction for both you and your clients. Here are a few things Best West Direct Fulfillment Service can do that may help your business.  Quality Short and Long Term Storage, Assembly and Repackage,  Immediate pick up and delivery service, Quality Control and Testing, Deployment and Troubleshooting, and Inventory Control.  Some other services include Display Assembly, Pick & Pack, Return Processing, E-Commerce, Apparel Packaging, Drop Shipping, Container Receiving and much more….

Order Fulfillment Service Management

 Best West Direct Fulfillment Service deals with high volume or low volume shippers, start ups, seasonal companies, shipping to final consumers, also known as business to customer fulfillment service, small packages, or to retailers, business to business shipment.  We are in the business of online order fulfillment management, making sure that your shipments are processed in the fastest and most efficient way. If you are new to order fulfillment or curious about about our online order fulfillment procedures, you can read about our daily management process below.

TYPICAL ORDER FULFILLMENT SERVICE MANAGEMENT PROCESS

How it works: We receive your orders, once, or many times during the day, Automatically through the web or manually , through email, or web interface or you can call us with any questions, special requests or changes to printed orders.  Then, your order is picked, checked and packed.  First a picker picks your products and a supervisor checks your orders to make sure they are correct. We use the most appropriate box/packaging for your product and then we label and generate all the forms, tracking numbers, packing slips and documentation. Next,  USPS, FedEx, or UPS comes to pick up your orders.  With this we ship anywhere in the world.

Best West Direct Fulfillment Service, Above and Beyond the rest 

Best West Direct will assign a dedicated account manager to your company. Someone knowledgeable that understands your business, your merchandise, your needs, your customer needs… always willing to help you with a smile.  In full, Best West Direct fulfillment service will receive, store, and pack and ship to both wholesale and retail purchasers. Best West Direct serves as the warehouse for many of our clients who maintain online stores. By outsourcing the fulfillment of their retail sales to Best West Direct, they realize savings that are unavailable to individual shippers, pass on the worries about delivery and security to us, enabling online sellers to focus on growing their business. Many companies who maintain their own warehouses utilize our fulfillment services to ensure that special projects are handled with a level of expertise and economy that is unavailable to them in-house.  If you are seeking fulfillment service, a 3rd party company for warehousing, assembly, and distribution in Arizona, take a close look at Best West Direct Fulfillment Service and see what we can do for your business.  Located in Phoenix Arizona, we offer distribution with on site assembly for business to business and business to consumer clients. Product assembly & repackaging is no problem at Best West Direct fulfillment service. Our large quality climate control warehouse guarantees your products will retain their value.  Please contact us for a storage warehousing services quote.

fulfillment service

Best West Direct – A Fulfillment Services Company Like no Other

Fulfillment Services Company- Best West Direct is like no Other

Best West Direct not your typical fulfillment services house.  Instead, we are your most valuable partner when it comes to making smart, money-saving business decisions. We leverage over 25 years of industry experience, cutting edge technology and close supplier relationships so that our clients benefit from more efficient operations, more satisfied customers and significant cost reductions. The following are only some of the reasons why Best West Direct Fulfillment Services are unique and tailored to all of our customer’s needs.

Best West Direct Fulfillment Services, Our Goal

Best West Direct’s mission is to provide outstanding turnkey fulfillment services to the business to customer and business to business E-commerce industry. We stand behind our commitment to this business, our clients, associates and friends. We are committed to providing opportunities for employee advancement and are dedicated to ensuring that all employees, clients and associates are treated with honesty and respect. We maintain long-term client relationships through open communication and integrity. To our community and industry, we maintain success and try to  demonstrate energetic and ethical business practice.  These are the core values and principles that drive our company. With recognition that our employees largely contribute to our success. We provide a safe and healthy environment where staff members don’t simply come to work but come to excel. Where colleagues are friends, and initiative and enthusiasm are honored.

OUR WAREHOUSE AND FULFILLMENT SERVICES

Inside our warehouse you’ll find our energetic staff.  This allows us to master all aspects of our clients’ fulfillment needs, including their unique products, customers, and shipping policies.  Best West Direct Fulfillment Services maintains, climate-controlled, state-of-the-art managed warehouse facility. We guarantee that your products are stored safely and securely in both our production and storage space and handled efficiently throughout every phase of the fulfillment process. Our fulfillment services warehouse is insured, with secured monitoring.  Our Phoenix warehouse is ideally situated for major distribution points across the country and around the world. Our staff is supported by our continually upgraded warehouse management and inventory control systems, order processing and tracking systems. Most importantly, while many other fulfillment services warehouses keep these systems separate, our system is closely linked to keep the flow of information seamless and more efficient.  You can contact Best West Direct fulfillment services today to learn more about our warehouse services.

Total Integration and Turnkey Service

Best West Direct Fulfillment Services prides itself on delivering proven solutions for both business to consumer and business to business clients – solutions like real-time, online inventory management, 99.9% warehouse inventory accuracy, the industry’s fastest turnaround times, web-based, customized reporting capabilities, and seamless transition planning and implementation  We offer all of the fulfillment services you would expect – real-time order processing, pick and pack, e-commerce, inventory control, assembly and much more. Let us tell you how we can save you money and keep your customers happy.

Why Best West Direct Fulfillment Services?

At Best West Direct Fulfillment Services, we’re detailed, efficient, and statistically close to perfection. Which means you now have the confidence to say, ‘‘No problem!’’ No matter if you are a start-up or large established company.  Here at Best West Fulfillment Services we make it easy for you to respond to new orders, surprise contracts, or new opportunities with total peace of mind. Since 1985, Best West Direct has specialized in creating customized solutions for clients across the United States and around the world. Customization means we take the time to learn your needs like no other fulfillment company does. It means discussing your goals, asking smart questions, and understanding your business and the challenges it faces as if they were our own. It means being prepared. Your success is our goal, and as our loyal clients will attest, we deliver.  Clients never fail to notice that our staff loves what they do, and love doing it well. We give you our guarantee, that no matter whether you’re considering outsourcing fulfillment services for the first time, or are concerned with the risk involved in switching to a new vendor, our people and customized approach will help you save money, solve problems, reduce costs, and increase productivity.

What we do at Best West Direct Fulfillment Services

We provide our clients with over 25 years of fulfillment services experience. Our tenure in multiple industries has allowed us to gain valuable insights into the needs of our customers and we pride ourselves on delivering proven solutions for both business to consumer and business to business clients – solutions like real-time, online inventory management, 99.9% warehouse inventory accuracy, the industry’s fastest turnaround times, web-based, customized reporting capabilities, competitive pricing and seamless transition planning and implementation. These attributes translate directly into cost-saving solutions for our clients.  Best West direct Fulfillment Services is a full-service, end-to-end fulfillment company serving start-ups and large companies alike, across Arizona and beyond.  One thing that hasn’t changed however, is our passion for helping ensure our clients’ success. We guarantee an unrivaled commitment to service and a company-wide devotion to outperforming our clients’ expectations which translates to happy customers and repeat business. Your success is our goal, and as our loyal clients will attest, we deliver.

fulfillment services

Best West Direct – Direct to Consumer Fulfillment Service

Fulfillment Service – Direct To Consumer with Best West Direct

At Best West Direct fulfillment service we know satisfied, repeat customers are what keep retailers in business. While you might have the greatest product under the sun, even your best marketing efforts can be damaged by inefficient and slow direct to consumerfulfillment service.  Here is several ways in which Best West Direct fulfillment service does well, what it does Best!

E-commerce Fulfillment Service

Our e-commerce fulfillment service model is simple! We download your orders directly from your site, process all open orders, ensure that credit card orders are charged properly, and ship the orders worldwide no matter what the size. Our order processing and warehouse management system gives you up-to-the-minute shipment and order status to keep your website in-synch with daily order processing and fulfillment service activities. That also means you maintain total visibility over the entire e-commerce fulfillment process and your customers can rest easy knowing their order is quickly and securely on its way, right away.  Best West Direct fulfillment service has been a proven leader in e-commerce fulfillment for all sizes and types of businesses for over 25 years. We understand that when you are fully devoted to running an e-commerce business, you need a fulfillment house that provides turnkey ecommerce fulfillment services; a fulfillment company who you can rely on to keep your inventory properly managed, your orders efficiently shipping, and your customers happy and coming back again and again. When it comes to e-commerce fulfillment services, we give you the whole package!

 PRODUCT FULFILLMENT SERVICE

Best West Direct fulfillment service provides a top-notch product fulfillment service that is tailored to meet each client’s individual business requirements and specific needs. As a  order fulfillment service center, we are experienced in shipping a multitude of products, including books, body care products, nutritional supplements, and much more.  Our dedicated managers process many orders every day for product fulfillment and premium merchandise distribution utilizing a variety of data feeds, such as real-time processing, batch order files in a multitude of formats, fax, phone, and mail. Fax and mail orders are immediately keyed into our fulfillment system for expedient processing. Call center and web store/e-commerce orders are imported directly into our fulfillment system for seamless, real-time order processing and same-day shipping.  Contact us today to learn more about our turnkey product fulfillment services.Our pick, pack and ship services are managed by our integrated order processing and inventory control system. We process your orders upon receipt, and they ship within 24 hours.

Literature Fulfillment Service

Fulfillment Works provides superior literature fulfillment services that allow clients to process and ship thousands of orders each day. Whether it’s books, catalogs, magazine subscriptions – our flexible approach allows us to tailor our literature fulfillment services to meet each client’s individual business requirements and needs.  Orders are accepted through a variety of data exchanges like real-time processing.  Fax and mail orders are keyed into our fulfillment service system upon arrival for immediate order processing. Batch order files and website orders are imported directly into the system for seamless, real-time order submission and immediate processing.  Our order processing and warehouse management system gives you real-time reporting so that you can stay on top of your daily order processing and fulfillment activities. That also means you maintain total visibility over the entire literature fulfillment process. Your team and your customers can rest easy knowing their order is quickly and securely on its way, right away.

Direct Response Fulfillment Service

Best West Direct Fulfillment Service understands the complexity and challenges of a direct response fulfillment service and has the right resources in place to help businesses increase sales and customer satisfaction.  Best West Direct fulfillment service  has significant experience in direct response and direct mail fulfillment and can efficiently and economically handle each stage of the supply chain – from capturing the initial order to the final delivery to your customer.  Best West Direct fulfillment service has the capacity to ship many, many orders per day and our cutting edge technology allows us to handle high volume programs and spike media promotions as well as a wide variety of media-based sales.  We save our clients money by leveraging highly automated systems efficiencies and shipping volume discounts that we pass on directly to you.   Orders are keyed in or imported directly into our fulfillment system for seamless, real-time order processing and same-day shipping.  We know that delivering your products correctly and on time is important in achieving satisfied customers and repeat business. Your success is our goal, and as our loyal clients will attest, we deliver.

Best West Direct Fulfillment Service understands the complexity and challenges of direct to consumer fulfillment service and has the right resources in place to help businesses increase sales and customer satisfaction. Our pick, pack and ship services are managed by a fully  integrated order processing and inventory control system. We guarantee a top notch customer experience by ensuring all orders are shipped within 24 hours, packaged professionally and correctly, and are delivered on time. Our direct to consumer logistics management team works with internal account managers and our clients to find money-saving ways of completing the final leg of distribution.  In other words, you can count on us for fast, accurate shipping of your products to anywhere in the world.

fulfillment service

Best West Direct Fulfillment Services

Fulfillment Services

Best West Direct Fulfillment Services is a full-service, end-to-end fulfillment servicescompany in every sense of the word. We are able to custom tailor a suite of fulfillment services to fit the needs of any size business-to-consumer or business-to-business client.  With our team of dedicated employees, we provide every imaginable fulfillment service from data entry, order processing, product fulfillment and literature fulfillment to inventory control, storage, temperature control storage, temperature control shipping, pick and pack,  kit building, hand assembly and customized packaging solutions. Credit card and e-check processing along with E-commerce shopping cart  management. Customized reporting and real-time shipping and tracking systems. And the list goes on.  We do whatever it takes to ensure the seamless flow of all your sales and marketing activities. To experience our unmatched level of SERVICE, simply contact us with your specific challenge. You’ll not only get answers, but a taste of our unrivaled commitment to customer service.  Tell us you need the absolute best price, and we’ll reply that we’ve already got you covered. Best West Direct Fulfillment Services offers the most aggressive pricing every day and we regularly, relentlessly negotiate with all our suppliers and pass the discounts on to you. We get the job done right, no matter what, at the best cost every time. Our clients know that once an assignment is in our hands it gets done quickly, efficiently, and economically.

Logistics Management Fulfillment Services

Best West Direct Fulfillment Services is skilled at helping companies lower their costs and improve shipping efficiencies through logistics management solutions. Our logistics management services knows how to find the best shipping method to get your goods where they need to go, both expeditiously and economically.  Our logistics management team works with internal account managers and our clients to find money-saving options to complete the final leg of distribution.  By leveraging our experience to minimize in transit times and maximize shipping discounts.  All shipping logistics are managed by our integrated systems that handle order management, inventory, returns management and supply chain needs along with customized reporting.

BUSINESS TO BUSINESS E-COMMERCE FULFILLMENT SERVICES

At Best West Direct Fulfillment Services, we understand that retail fulfillment is deadline sensitive and attention to detail is critical – there is no margin for error. Best West direct ensures that your products arrive on time, with complete accuracy, every time!  From small and medium-sized businesses on up, we manage all Vendor Compliance requirements. From compliant barcode/parcel labels, and invoicing, Best West Direct Fulfillment Services is a master at routing guide compliance and business to business order processing and shipping. Integrated data and order processing, transaction management, multiple transaction types – we have it all, and you can too. We work in conjunction with your order processing system so that all order and customer information remains fully integrated. Our expertise in  fulfillment minimizes retail charge backs and increases profitability in the business-to-business market for our clients.

Assembly Fulfillment Services

Best West Direct Fulfillment Services provides a vast array of assembly services to meet your needs. From sales and marketing, boxing, bagging, sorting, kitting, we have the equipment and the skilled warehouse team to handle the job efficiently and cost effectively. Often times, the components of a custom distribution package are produced by many different suppliers and assembly. Best West Direct fulfillment services can assemble all of the components. Best West Direct assembly services include custom foam boxes, and complex kits that include several components to be placed in custom  boxes with trays, custom inserts, custom wrapping, and just about anything else – whatever your vision… our assembly services can make it happen!

Fulfillment Services – Inventory Management

Best West Direct Fulfillment Services is your inventory according to your current business conditions. Our inventory management solution hinges on a dedicated team who ensures the availability of the right products at the right times to meet varying customer demands during periods of business as usual, promotional spikes, and seasonal volume increases. Our state-of-the art inventory control system is fully automated and helps you manage your inventory by sending out real-time inventory alerts, movement history reports and current usage analysis reports.   Internally, daily reports are used to track, analyze and manage inventory level and mix. Our fully automated fulfillment services inventory control services and order processing system tracks all inventory movement whether it is inventory in, inventory out or bin/location transfers. We can track versions, lot numbers and expiration dates if required. Complete visibility is maintained through our integrated, real-time system so you know your product will get where it needs to go. With our inventory control solution, you are able to manage your overhead and control your costs by keeping in step with current inventory stock levels and accurately forecasting future demand.

fulfillment services

It Makes Sense, Fulfillment Services

Fulfillment Services common sense

Our desire to be better than the best has resulted in a full service fulfillment services company that is owned & operated by individuals committed to quality, consistency and old-fashioned customer service. Visit our facility and experience the Best West Direct difference.

The Partner Warehouse & Distribution staff is highly experience and dedicated to our clients in helping them streamline their fulfillment services operation , lowering shipping costs and increasing efficiency. Best West Direct is the easy choice when searching for complete fulfillment services. You cab count on PWD to deliver the highest level of customer service. We are your complete fulfillment solution provider. Let us focus on delivering your product on time at a low cost while you focus on growing your business. 

You’ve developed a great product and marketing plan. Your customer calls in the order. The call center handles the call and processes the order. The next step is the most basic and important: get the right product to your customer, in a timely and neat fashion.

The back end fulfillment services of any catalog or web company is critical to the success of the business. We know that every retailer has unique needs that require attention, flexibility, and expertise. Our years in catalog/web fulfillment services has given us a tremendous advantage in understanding our clients’ needs and what it takes to make their order fulfillment services as smooth and successful as possible.

Again, it is our singular ability at Phoenix to go beyond the basics to offer exceptional customer services, including: Complete Warehousing and Distribution Services (receiving, pick/pack/ship, inventory control, customer returns, refurbishment of returns), Individual follow-up with you to review the operations, questions, needs, and to offer suggestions with the goal of Always Getting Better.  We also have same day shipping, Inventory Management, Comprehensive, tailored reporting, Order tracking, Handling returns, refurbishment and Value added services such as package inserts, gift boxes/cards, labeling.

WITH BEST WEST DIRECT USE A FULFILLMENT SERVICES COMPANY & FOCUS ON GROWING YOUR BUSINESS

Order Fulfillment services require a totally different set of skills than marketing, promotion and product development. That’s not to say that any capable business owner can’t do it. The questions is, why waste time and money that could be spent growing your business, marketing and developing new products or networking on running a warehouse. Outsourcing your fulfillment allows you to focus on what you do best and we’ll do the rest.

Drawing on our years of real business experience and knowledge of the fulfillment services industry, Partner Warehouse and Distribution understands that each business is different. We will develop a comprehensive and effective fulfillment services system to meet your needs.

Outsourcing Fulfillment Makes Dollars and Sense!

Whether you are a new business or an established business, fulfillment services outsourcing can save you money! Outsourcing product fulfillment allows you to take advantage of our economies of scale and lowers your overhead.You only pay for the space and labor that you use!

For manufacturers, we are able to handle both wholesale distribution to retail stores, as well as outstanding direct to consumer order fulfillment services.

Stated simply, the basic goal of fulfillment is to get the customer your product in a timely and neat fashion. At Phoenix, we take it more personally than that. We pay attention to the details…and your customers will notice.

Best West Direct is a premier fulfillment services, pick & pack fulfillment & warehouse service provider, Partner Warehouse & Distribution has the years of 3rd party logistics and fulfillment experience necessary to reduce your shipping and warehousing overhead and eliminate your headaches.

Choosing the right fulfillment center is paramount to the success of you and your company. Call one of our friendly and knowledgeable logistics & fulfillment services consultants today! Click on the following link to get a better idea of our fulfillment, warehouse, consulting & global logistics capabilities.

Product Fulfillment

Partner Warehouse is your full service product fulfillment services and order fulfillment solution. Servicing companies small and large our extensive quality and efficiency systems make doing business with us easy. From small mom and pop websites to major national brands, we do it all.

Our full range of fulfillment services allows us to meet the needs of almost any customer. From pick and pack fulfillment services of direct to consumer products to full load international freight to some of the largest overseas retailers Partner Warehouse does it right and does it fast!

Partner Warehouse is a hands on order fulfillment services provider. Our customer focused approach sets us apart from the competition. The satisfaction of you and your customers is our goal. Contact one of our friendly and knowledgeable order fulfillment services representatives for more information.

We fully understands the short comings of a typical fulfillment services house. That’s why we spent years developing proprietary technologies that allow you to be a part of what we are doing. Extensive reporting and live help are always at your disposal.

fulfillment services

Fulfillment Service Pitfalls

fulfillment service – orders

Orders are one of the most frequently outsourced operations in the market today.  Successful outsourcing can plan a huge role in controlling operational costs, but it is critical that valuable customer relationships are not jeopardized in the process.  When evaluating the merits of one fulfillment service provider over another, there are several do’s and don’ts to consider.

If your warehouse fulfillment service company is planning a new system implementation or significant upgrade, be sure to plan your activities with great care.  The systems implemented in your warehouse can make or break your operations.   An unsuccessful system implementation may harm your immediate operations and cause a significant snowball effect of process issues, missed deliveries, and customer dissatisfaction.

Avoid the following fulfillment service pitfalls to improve your chance of a successful system implementation.

No evaluation of existing procedures:  Rather than simply replicating your existing processes and systems, be sure to ask the following questions upfront:  What parts of the operation can be removed to add efficiency?  What new processes and procedures are required or on the nice-to-have list?  The sooner the better to ask and answer these questions.

Lack of project management: A major systems implementation is not simply an IT project.  All fulfillment service departments are impacted by a new system so get the input and cooperation of subjects across all areas of the business, coordinated by a dedicated Project Manager.  Many new systems fail because companies don’t realistically plan for the project or effectively manage the designated implementation plan.

Insufficient training: It is important to remember that the software vendor will only provide documentation about how the fulfillment system works.  The specifics of how the system operates within the framework of your business and all training materials needs to be developed in-house.  A ‘train the trainer’ approach is commonly used and serves to create Subject Matter Experts of the new system.

Inadequate testing:  Everything must be thoroughly tested.  Involve key users from each functional area and run through all fulfillment service processes in full.  Create test scripts and use actual historical data in your test cases for authenticity.  Test interfaces to other systems and all peripheral functionality such as reporting, printing, query creation, etc.

Minimal data conversion planning:  Most warehouse management systems are data-driven so it is critical to build a solid plan for file and data table conversion (item SKUs, warehouse bin location schema, customer data, etc).  Aim to convert as much data as possible via programming instead of manual copy-and-paste data update.  Also determine upfront how much historical data needs to be converted to the new system.

 IN ESSENCE HERE IS AN OUTLINE OF SOME DO’S AND DON’TS OF FULFILLMENT SERVICE

Order Fulfillment service Don’ts

Never be afraid to ask questions and expect detailed answers in return. It is your right to know exactly how your fulfillment service provider will increase efficiency and make your company shine in front of clients. If you only get vague responses to direct questions, you should move to the next candidate.

Avoid order an fulfillment service that does not have a well-defined process of accountability. You need to know what happens when inventory is lost, shipped in error, or is damaged while in storage. Inventory losses can make a significant dent in profits, easily offsetting the benefits of outsourcing. Never do business with any fulfillment service provider that cannot make specific and equitable commitments in handling these types of loss.

Do not sign any fulfillment service contracts until the provider has been checked for financial stability and a history of delivering quality service to its customers. An order fulfillment service company may have a great operational strategy and provide all the right answers, but is not a good match if its business is on shaky financial ground or has a poor service reputation.

Order Fulfillment service Do’s

Consider the warehousing capabilities of the provider. Simply put, an inadequate amount of square footage means that the fulfillment service may not be able to support the client’s inventory needs.  If you expect future inventory growth, ask about additional warehouse space availability and the process and timing involved to increase capacity.

Check which ordering methods the provider can process. Customers today require multiple options when it comes to submitting orders, ranging from traditional phone orders to real-time email and online orders.  Ensure that your provider can process high-volume orders across multiple formats.

Investigate the internal procedures used to process orders from receipt to delivery. Ask to see documented process to ensure the provider has the infrastructure and operational flow to provide acceptable order turnaround.   Also ask how exceptions and outages are handled; problems will arise and it’s critical to know how your provider will respond.

Think about location. Select an order fulfillment service provider that has facilities strategically located for your customer base.

Keep in mind that customers don’t care if you outsource their orders for completion or not. They do care if their order is late or differs from what was ordered.  If you choose to outsource your fulfillment service, candidly assess these do’s and don’ts before contracting with any service provider.

If you are looking for a warehouse fulfillment service company with a proven track record of successful system implementation and operation, contact Best West Direct to request further information and request a follow-up communication from us.

fulfillment service

Fulfillment Service F.A.Q.

Fulfillment Service F.A.Q.

Am I too small to use a fulfillment service?

We service fulfilment accounts accounts ranging from a handful of orders, up to several hundred a day so there is no ‘right size’ for fulfillment service. If you are shipping more than a lot of orders every month then will certainly be able to help reduce your costs and increase your capacity.

WHY DO ALL FULFILLMENT SERVICE HOUSES PRICE DIFFERENTLY?

Because the process can be broken down in many different ways, inevitably there are many ways to price. Some fulfillment service companies will give a single fee per order for everything which is simple, but a little unfair on everyone as it will be overpriced to ship just one item in an order, yet underpriced to ship many items in the same order. Others charge for everything (and I mean everything, the worst case I’ve seen they charged for an address label separately, and then another 0.5p to print on it!).
At Best West Direct we have tried to keep things both fair and simple.

How is fulfillment service different to drop shipping?

Drop shipping is when you advertise a product that someone else is selling. While you handle the transaction, the real seller has the stock and does the shipping on your behalf.
A fulfillment service house works as part of your business, storing and despatching your products to your specification. You keep control of how goods are despatched and more importantly have a much better ability to provide excellent customer service. If a drop shipper loses a parcel, it can be a slow process to find out what happened to it and resolve who sends the replacement.

Do you run your own delivery fleet?

We do whatever it takes to get the lowest delivery prices for you, but running our own fleet of trucks will never be cheaper than the commercial rates of local, national and international couriers. They already have thousands of vehicles out there as well as a world wide network of hubs.

 What exactly is a fulfillment company?

A fulfillment service company manages the complete process from order receipt to delivery of your product to the end customer. Inventory is stored in a distribution center, as orders are received the fulfillment service process begins by processing orders, picking product, packaging product, then after it passes quality control it is shipped through a local, regional, or national carrier.

What types of products do you handle?

We handle all types of various products with the exception of environmentally hazardous substances and those products of questionable ethical or moral content. Popular products are nutraceuticals, promotional products, cosmetics, pet toys, office supplies, gaming, CD’s, DVD’s, Books, beverages, energy drinks, supplements, surfboards, apparel, literature and the list continues.

What are the costs?

Every clients needs are unique and can require special solutions. As an extension of your company, our flexible suite of services are customized and priced according to your needs. We offer volume discounts, as your business grows your fulfillment service costs decrease. Generally, fees for a fulfillment service occur when receiving your product, order fulfillment, and monthly storage. Marketing support services, such as kitting, light assembly, or POP/POS displays would be priced upfront to avoid any surprises.

 What is your order fulfillment service process?

 Innovative order flow begins when an approved order is received from your shopping cart, customer service or inbound call centers. Every order is inspected and signed off by a member of our Quality Control Team to ensure the accuracy of each order. Our systems are scale-able to handle a wide variety of  orders per month with the ability to manage multi-channel distribution and continuity orders.

How are orders communicated?

Included in our consultation is to draft a plan that will optimize your order management process. There are several variables that need to be identified in streamlining your order process. We will look at your business requirements, the functionality of your ERP, Accounting Systems, and shopping cart, order frequency and understand the process how you currently receive the orders from your clients. We can integrate with shopping carts and ERP’s for both custom and out-of-the-box applications, we can upload batch files daily, our account managers can enter orders or someone on your staff can enter orders into our Free order management software.

Is my company big enough?

No company is too small to benefit from an outsourced fulfillment service. Whether your project or program is small or large our pricing for a fulfillment service is a direct cost per unit. Typically, we can do it quicker, better, and cheaper than it would take for you to use your internal resources. We combine the strengths of the fulfillment service industry best-practices, pooled labor, equipment, and facilities to deliver your needs with success.

When should fulfillment service get involved?

By speaking with one of our fulfillment service experts in the planning stage of your project or program you can plan properly to improve final production quality, reduce costs, avoid mistakes, and set proper time lines of production. We offer tips involved with the overall strategy of production, which in turn will set proper timeliness, improve final product quality, and cost-saving tips surrounding packaging, kitting, shipping, and materials.

Does your fulfillment service handle returns?
Yes, we can receive returns from customers. Every return is inspected and anything that is unopened and unused will be returned to stock automatically. Opened or used products will be quarantined and we can either send you a photo or return these items to you for re-conditioning.

fulfillment service