Why and How to find a Fulfillment Service

Fulfillment service - why go with one?

Why choose a third party to handle your fulfillment service needs, you might ask. Won't it be expensive? Small business entrepreneurs may get the idea that outsourcing is more trouble than it's worth cost-wise, but if you find you can't handle the influx of orders, returns, and customer queries you could cost your company even more money - particularly if customers stop buying altogether because they feel they can't trust your service!  As an entrepreneur managing a growing business, be it selling clothing or electronics or anything in between, you always need to stay one step ahead of the competition. You must provide quality products at the best prices - that much is a given - but your job doesn't end once the sale is made. You must assure your customers that all orders are packaged correctly and shipped on time. If you run a small company, the fulfillment service tasks involved can become overwhelming if you do not know how to handle an onslaught of orders. Outsourcing your fulfillment service to a company experienced with logistics can get you back into business.  Here are some reasons to consider hiring a third-party fulfillment service to help conduct your business.

 Increase your warehouse space with a fulfillment service.

Tired of storing inventory in your garage? Fulfillment service companies offer warehouse space to businesses to help them better handle shipping of your products. This allows you, too, to up your stock and cut down on backorders.

Keep costs reasonable.

Not only can you save your customers money through centralized shipping options, but working with a fulfillment service company can help keep your costs down as well. A company's relationship with various logistics businesses can help negotiate good prices on products and transport. As for a quote from a fulfillment service company and compare their services to the cost of doing it on your own.

MANAGE YOUR INVENTORY BETTER WITH THE HELP OF A FULFILLMENT SERVICE.

As you track sales, your fulfillment service company can let you know what is moving out faster and which products are duds. This lets you know where to focus your sales and perhaps experiment with new products.

Minimize damages.

There's always the risk of a package being damaged in transit, but when you leave your inventory to a professional fulfillment service you get superior packing services that help keep your products safe so that they arrive intact.

Outsourcing fulfillment lets you concentrate on the business.

With your fulfillment service handled, you are free to concentrate on development, marketing, and other aspect of your business to make it grow.

Most fulfillment services offer free quotes to let you decide what you need. Consider using a third-party fulfillment service to improve how you do business.

Now that your going to use a fulfillment service, the question is, which one should your business use?

Choosing an order fulfillment service company for your business is quite a complex decision-making process. Besides the rates and quality of dispatching, there are many more specific needs and parameters to be considered. The volume of the order, the types of goods, the location of the warehouses, there shipping options, there turn around time and the dependence of fulfillment service activities on other parameters of business are the major factors affecting the  fulfillment service you are going to choose.

Although all order fulfillment services generally offer the same basic amenities, you are needed to have a close look at their individual methods of carrying out the tasks and rates to choose appropriate one for you. Given below are some factors you need to keep in mind.

Location

It is very essential to select a fulfillment service warehouse which is close to your clients rather than your place of business. In this, you have to consider the shipping costs. If you choose a warehouse near to your clients, then the shipping costs will be lower.

Volume
There is a large diversity among the present fulfillment service warehouses. They range from petty small business having a very few employees to large corporate companies. You have to select a service which can cater your daily order fulfillment service needs. Here the most important point to be taken into consideration is that whether your fulfillment is steady or not. If your fulfillment is steady then by knowing its volume you can adjudge the best service for you. But if the volume is not having any consistency then it's better to look for such a service which can cater the extra workload and still ship the consignment within a stipulated time.

Communication
Communications forms the most important and integral part of any business. To get the exact status of shipping you need a service with excellent communication. There can be times when you will be needed to change the address of shipment, modify the shipment or even cancel it. A prompt communication facility will be of great assistance in doing your business.

Turnaround Time
Each order fulfillment service has its own rules and regulations regarding order processing. You have to take their deadline time of order entry before choosing the right one. You have to take your client's need in terms of shipping time.

Rates
These services have their own and diverse kind of payment schedule. Some fulfillment service warehouses can charge some basic fee to store your goods at the warehouse. Some services use sliding scales of rates and require a contract. Some will charge you per order or per item. You have to be pretty sure that you have clearly understood the rates, terms and conditions of the contract of the fulfillment send.

Percentage of Error
Mistakes are bound to happen. There will be incidences when your clients will receive wrong items or there may be a case when shipment is done to a billing address instead of shipping address. While searching for a potential order fulfillment service you have to ask about the error rate and there procedure to offer the solution for it.

Order Entry Method
While choosing such a service, the careful study of the order entry methods can be on immense help. There are numerous order entry methods practiced in this sector. Each method has a specific effect on your business. The most commonly observed methods include forwarding the individual order to the fulfillment warehouse manually, entering  your order in the web format of fulfillment center on the net and e-mailing an excel spread sheet which will carry all the shipment orders in a single day.   While considering an appropriate data entry method you have to take a note of the volume of your business and the available time for you. If you have high volume of orders, then it will not be feasible to enter all your orders manually. Although you may pay higher price in auto e-mail format, it is worth to spend these extra charges to make your time management perfect with creating a age over your competitors.

History and Credibility
You need to do considerable research in this regard. You should check the profile of these companies to get the overall idea of their credibility. Certain companies are particularly appreciated by their renowned clients for e-commerce and telemarketing activities. You can check out the total number of years the fulfillment service has been in the business as older the company greater is the credibility; although, the new companies should not be mistaken for their uncompetitive or unreliable nature. Order fulfillment service forms an integral part of a sales procedure.

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