If you’re a small business or e-commerce entrepreneur just beginning to grow your enterprise, you’ve probably already got a sense of how important order and gift fulfillment can be to success. Without overstating the matter, proper logistics operations and fulfillment infrastructure are a vital part of any small business operation, whether brick and mortar or based online. Put another way, they’re the heart and lungs of your operation, pumping out your product line and other promotional materials that keep your business growing and healthy.
Outsourcing your gift and order fulfillment needs gives you the advantage of bypassing the long and resource draining hours spent developing and maintaining your warehousing, customer service, shipping and tracking, and other logistics responsibilities.
Taking the few and simple steps towards outsourcing such responsibilities also an important alternate route in business growth. Outsourcing to a third party fulfillment provider gives the up and coming small business or ecommerce business the opportunity to sidestep making mistakes in planning those several crucial components of their business.
Fulfillment Providers Bring The Right Amount of Warehousing To Any Business
Many small businesses fail when they acquire too little or too much warehouse space, creating tension in their cash flow and problems with their inventory control. With a product fulfillment service, the warehousing, pallet storage, and other inventory management needs are assumed by the fulfillment service in lieu of the client business. The fulfillment service owns and controls the warehouse and takes control of its upkeep, maintenance, and staffing needs. The client’s product line is delivered directly to the fulfillment service’s warehousing facilities, keeping the shipping logistics between manufacturer and shipping center as streamlined as possible.
Customer Service Needs Are Also Handled By Fulfillment Service Providers
Customer service is another area that can drain time and money away from business growth. Properly staffing a customer support team can take weeks all by itself. But many fulfillment service companies allow you to outsource your customer service staffing and conflict resolution needs directly to their programs. This means they’ll act as a customer service department in your business’ stead, working with customers to make sure their needs and concerns are swiftly and satisfactorily resolved with a minimum of expense to you.
Making An Agreement With a Fulfillment Service Provider
Fulfillment services typically take a small percentage of each unit of product sold as payment for their services to the client business. Typically this percentage varies according to the amount of services provided as well as the sales volume of the client business.