What you didn’t know fulfillment companies could do

You’ve probably heard about fulfillment companies and their services as the ecommerce retail industries have boomed over the last ten years. Fulfillment companies process, pack, and ship orders to customers for retailers who do not have their own warehouse or capabilities of doing so. Or, perhaps the retailers have used fulfillment companies as a form of outsourcing to simplify their business procedures. Regardless, these companies are ever-expanding their services and they can probably help you fulfill your business responsibilities in some capacity or another.

Fulfillment companies can save companies quite a bit of money because they get discounts other retailers don’t. Since they ship such a high volume of goods on a daily basis, they are able to receive deeply discounted prices on shipping materials and processes that average consumers or small businesses cannot get. These people are specialized in their industry so they are able to be more efficient than ever.

Alternative services from fulfillment companies

Like mentioned before, fulfillment companies do more than just pack and ship consumer goods. In fact, you probably don’t know that you didn’t even know all that they could do! They don’t just ship clothes, toys, and other products customers may be interested in. They can also mail out informational products such as catalogs, marketing materials, coupons, magazines, and other paper or promotional products to a large customer base. They will store all of these materials, sort them, address them, and get them shipped to anyone anywhere in the world in the fastest manner possible. This brings great relief to ecommerce businesses who have so much more to deal with than when to ship out catalogs.

Since many catalogs contain time-sensitive materials, it is crucial that they get to consumers in a timely manner. You can set up a schedule with your fulfillment company so that magazines and other paper products are mailed out automatically during certain times of the year. This can be especially helpful around holidays and other important events throughout the year.

If your company--large or small--ships (or needs to begin shipping) a lot of products out to consumers, fulfillment companies might come in handy.