As an ecommerce retailer, one of your most reliable tools for fast-tracking growth and reducing costs is to outsource order fulfillment to a 3PL distribution center. Not only will this help you quickly fulfill orders but also save you money on logistics fees – allowing your company to scale up at a remarkable rate! Whether new or rapidly growing, take full advantage of the efficiencies that come with partnering with a proficient distribution center.
1. Distribution Centers Can Save Ecommerce Businesses Money
Many fulfillment providers can manage a variety of customers all under one roof. This allows them to combine their volume in order to get steep discounts from vendors for materials like shipping boxes and packing materials (dunnage). Theseller also doesn’t need to expend the cost associated with managing and staffing its own distribution center or warehouse, allowing them even more savings. All this combined buying power enables these companies to pass along substantial discounts to their customers.
As a vendor, the greatest fulfillment expenditure is shipping costs which can represent up to 70% of your entire expense. Experienced and expansive fulfilment businesses secure discounts with large delivery companies such as FedEx, UPS and DHL in order to get group savings – all of these benefits are passed down directly to their sellers.
2. Inventory Storage And Management
If you are not a mega-retailer shipping thousands of items daily, it is likely that attempting to manage your warehouse on your own will be both costlier and more time consuming than outsourcing the task. If you find yourself unable to keep up with the inflow of orders or having difficulty dispatching them in a timely manner, then consider tapping into an external distribution center—it’ll certainly make operations much more efficient!
3. Time To Focus On What’s Most Important In Your Business
Ordering, product selection, boxing and shipping are essential aspects of a thriving product business. However, these tasks can be effortlessly assigned to an experienced 3PL. For any growing online venture, delegating them to the expertise of a third-party means more time for operations such as customer service, marketing and strategic planning.
4. Custom Ecommerce Fulfillment Services
In this age of digital commerce, it is essential to collaborate with a proficient fulfillment company that has the required technology and know-how needed for successful ecommerce management. Whether connecting your store to an online platform such as Shopify or BigCommerce, or needing resources to fulfill hundreds (if not thousands!) of orders daily – these experienced teams have all the necessary solutions in place.
With the ever-growing success of ecommerce businesses, it is essential that fulfillment companies are able to expand rapidly and meet heightened demands from sellers. Seasonal surges in sales as well as promotional campaigns throughout the year often result in an increase of orders for these businesses – which requires flexible labor forces and additional space inventory with impeccable quality standards. That way, Fulfillment Companies can handle any seller’s needs without compromising on service or excellence.
5. Effective Supply Chain Management
The function of distribution centers has been significantly altered in the last few years, making it vital to maintain an efficient supply chain. Rather than exclusively providing storage for goods, these hubs are now focusing more on facilitating their movement from one place to another. By removing slow-moving items and returning or using any excess inventory, both customers and businesses can benefit from greater economies of scale when outsourcing logistics tasks to them. Efficient and effective supply management is key.
6. You Don’t Need A Warehouse
If your company is doing well and you’re quickly expanding inventory to meet customer demands, chances are high that the storage space in your home garage, office or elsewhere can become overwhelmed. It’s an enviable problem to have; however, finding a solution for it can be quite time consuming.
Outsource to an order fulfillment company and free up precious business space while boosting your bottom line. 3PLs can store all of your inventory for you, eliminating the need for costly deliveries, product handling or organization. This cost-effective solution is a great way to streamline operations and provide peace of mind.
With the assistance of a 3PL provider, your inventory will be skillfully managed from the manufacturer to their distribution center. You’ll also receive notifications when stock levels dip below an agreed-upon threshold so that you can restock and save on fulfillment costs.
7. Distributed Inventory
When selecting the right 3PL, a crucial factor to consider is the location of their distribution centers and whether they are close to where most of your customers reside. The less distance that your product has to travel means quicker deliveries for your customers with cost-effective shipping rates on you end!
Customers demand speed and convenience when it comes to online shopping. By keeping your product near large metropolitan areas or close to the majority of your shoppers, you can guarantee that they will receive their orders in record time! This strategy ensures customers get what they want as quickly as possible, delivering a superior shopping experience with minimal wait times.
8. Experience And Specialization For Your Business
Business owners often find managing logistics to be a tedious and intimidating task that piles on unnecessary stress. A third-party logistic (3PL) distribution center provides the expert assistance needed to handle any logistical processes with speed and precision, so you can take care of other aspects of your business with confidence. Fulfillment companies have been managing order processing, inventory management, packing and shipping for decades! They are equipped with cutting-edge technology as well as strong connections that allow them to swiftly deliver products economically. Outsourcing fulfillment and logistics to an expert 3PL is a very wise decision in the long run since it will save you money.
9. Automate Your Fulfillment
Cutting-edge 3PL fulfillment companies keep up with the trendiest technology for their procedures. This makes it possible to document and monitor every single step of the order completion process in real time. Automatically, each customer order is routed from the ecommerce shopping cart to a distribution center where it will be picked, packed, and shipped quickly and accurately. So you can rest assured that tracking information is sent back both to the seller as well as customers – all without any problems!
To make life easier for small business owners, some 3PLs have the capacity to share their technology tools. Thill Inc’s technology package is a great example, it helps sellers to check inventory levels, keep tabs on orders and stay up-to-date. Being an entrepreneur isn’t a 9-5 job; it’s 24/7! With this app, you can access shipping costs, fulfillment information and also your stock levels at any time anywhere – making managing your business easy yet highly effective.
10. Value Added Services
When working with a distribution center, their primary purpose is to pick, pack and ship orders. However, you can also benefit from their fulfillment partner’s extended services – known as value added services. These encompass kitting, assembly and returns management which are all essential elements of customer satisfaction in this ever-changing world of marketing trends. Having these additional resources readily available allows sellers to promptly respond to the demands of customers while staying current on market trends!
11. Customer Satisfaction And Service
By utilizing the benefits discussed above, your order fulfillment process will be optimized, resulting in customers receiving their products on time. We all comprehend that successful deliveries are driving forces behind customer loyalty and repeat purchases. Thus, outsourcing distribution to a third-party logistics provider (3PL) provides an improved consumer experience while concurrently increasing revenue.
In Closing
Creating an effective fulfillment process should be a top priority for any business. By establishing the proper systems and plans, you can minimize some of the most taxing expenses and time consumption. For the ultimate ordering experience for customers, partnering with a third-party logistics provider (3PL) is your best bet; it eliminates all stress associated with managing this aspect independently! To prevent any unfortunate errors which could lead to operational disruptions, make certain that you are taking the necessary steps and setting up reliable systems if your orders are being handled in-house.
