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Flexibility Fulfillment Services For Your Ecommerce Business Common misconceptions about ecommerce fulfillment services are often brought about by not taking a critical approach to evaluating them. Fact: Your online business needs to be near your consumers. In other words, rather than selecting a fulfillment facility location or ecommerce fulfillment business just because of the proximity near you, it makes a lot more sense to use real-time analysis and let the analytical work to guide your selection. This will help reduce the potential for costly mistakes that could potentially impact your bottom line. Here are several key indicators to look for when evaluating any of your ecommerce fulfillment services options. Cost is perhaps the most common misconception when evaluating fulfillment services. Fact: Most third party inventory services do not bill shipping and handling separately from their own inventory management software. By combining these two functions into a single package called the shipping and handling service, you can get a better price for your inventory. Many fulfillment centers also provide their clients with additional perks such as tracking and delivery confirmation as well as onsite replenishment. Combine all these benefits with the fact that many third party vendors charge more to ship their items than they charge to operate their own ship station facilities and you can quickly see why the cost is such a major barrier for entering this highly competitive arena. One common misconception regarding ecommerce fulfillment services is that they must keep an exact copy of your entire inventory. Fact: While it is true that a fulfillment service may require you to make weekly or monthly deliveries of individual items to their facilities, in most cases, their storage and retrieval services provide enough space for most businesses' entire inventory. Furthermore, you may find that they provide extra space and/or amenities like water coolers and ice freezers to further reduce the amount of physical storage required. Fulfillment centers are constantly updating their equipment to meet customer demand, so you don't have to worry about not having everything your customers expect. This frees up valuable time that can be used to build your marketing list, generate new leads, or take advantage of other business strategies. The best ecommerce fulfillment services realize that there is no substitute for face-to-face interactions between a client and a vendor. Therefore, they strive to ensure that all interactions are as hands-on as possible. In addition, they work closely with their clients to develop customized solutions that meet individual needs. This ensures that your products arrive on time and that your customer experiences a pleasant shopping experience. In fact, research shows that many shoppers return to the same site over again because they're impressed by the quality of the product, timely delivery, and friendly staff. While some fulfillment companies have a physical office space that they rent out for their customers, many eCommerce businesses prefer to maintain their own secure, indoor warehouse. An a warehouse is ideal for storing inventory that isn't liquidated immediately (such as inventory that is leased from you and not sold); it is also ideal for storing seasonal or discontinued inventory. An a warehouse also provides superior quality customer service because they have a trained and experienced inventory expert on hand to assist with any questions or concerns that your end customer may have. FBA warehouses are also cost-effective compared to traditional warehouse rental. When you contract with a fulfillment company, you'll work with them to determine what products you want to purchase from their stock and what products you'd like to acquire via wholesale/drop shipping sales. You'll then give the fulfillment company the information they need to pack your orders accurately, according to the dimensions you provide. For an example, if you order a dozen pens via your website, you'll want to know how large those pens are to ensure they're shipped flat. The packing itself will be determined by the type of item being packaged. If the item is simply a letter, you could have your fulfillment company pack the item using bubble wrap, tissue paper, and boxes; however, if the item is a bulky product such as a sports video, then heavy packaging is needed. Depending on your inventory levels, you may also have the need to ship your finished products to customers who ordered them from your website. If so, your fulfillment company can assist with b2b orders, including account servicing and inventory management. They also help ship your finished products to your customers via UPS or FedEx for rush orders. Your business partner can even assist with last-minute rush orders. The advantages of outsourcing your ecommerce business to a fulfillment house include the cost savings associated with having your workload managed by professionals rather than your in-house staff. Another advantage is that the fulfillment company will assist with all the tasks involved in shipping orders from your website to customers, including researching suppliers and coordinating rush orders from suppliers. This also includes answering phone calls and placing orders on your behalf when you are unable to be at your office or home. In addition to saving money on labor costs, outsourcing your ecommerce business allows you to expand your business at a more rapid pace because the fulfillment service will handle everything from keying orders to shipping packages and tracking inventory.
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