Outsourcing Your Order Fulfillment: How Collaborating with a 3PL can Ship You Off to Success
Quality equals success—and the quality of your order fulfillment service will determine how successful you are as a distributor.
In today’s world of digital interconnectedness, consumers have proven themselves to be a regnant entity with just a few swipes and clicks. Looking for experiences that outperform the next, they are constantly opening windows to greater and better products as well as opportunities. If you are an eCommerce startup, looking to start one, or even just sell goods on the internet, it is important to understand that the height of your success will not only be measured by the quality of your product, but by the efficiency of your order fulfillment service.
Order fulfillment is a vital ingredient in formulating and running an eCommerce business; however, as crucial as it is, it also tends to be a taxing, labor-intensive, and time-consuming process that necessitates a team with a diverse set of skills and expertise.
So what’s the best way to ensure proper order fulfillment?
Outsourcing order fulfillment services to a Third Party Logistics Company (3PL) such as us at NextGen3PL, is one way to ensure that this critical operation runs smoothly and without costly errors. This article will provide you an explanation of what an outsourced order fulfillment service is, the advantages of outsourcing your eCommerce order fulfillment to a 3PL supplier, and how NexGen3PL is genuine “a partner and one-stop-shop for all of your fulfillment needs”.
What is An Outsourced Order Fulfillment Service?
To easily put this into perspective, imagine a world where you—yes you, yourself—do not have to operate and maintain a warehouse. Where you do not have to acquire all the stress that comes with picking, packing, and shipping products. With an outsourced order fulfillment service such as a 3PL, this fantasy land becomes a reality for the bricks order fulfillment that has weighed upon your body has now been lifted and you can finally focus on the growth of your company.
Outsourced fulfillment providers are all about doing this, and our experienced staff at NextGen3PL will help you accomplish just that.
An outsourced order fulfillment service is a contract under which you rent space from a third-party logistics (3PL) business, which warehouses your goods and processes orders for shipment whenever a customer purchases a product.
To begin, you enter an agreement with a 3PL logistics service provider to warehouse your goods for a flat monthly fee based on the amount of room your goods occupy in their warehouse facility. Then, to help streamline the entire distribution process, you combine your eCommerce store with its inventory management system.
When a customer purchases a product from your shop, the order details are sent to your 3PL partners, who process and prepare the order for shipping.
Listed below are the core responsibilities of a 3LP company:
- Receiving and storing your products inventory
- To keep an eye on and track inventory levels
- Preparing your orders for delivery (pick, pack, and other forms of readiness)
- Work with carriers to coordinate and arrange shipment pickups.
Benefits of Outsourcing Order Fulfillment
1. Allows you to concentrate on expanding your company
You probably didn’t launch your eCommerce company because you enjoy packing boxes. Even if you’re wrapping abilities are fit enough to be displayed in the Musée du Louvre, it’s the other skills you bring to the table that set your company apart. Furthermore, as the amount of your online store sales increases, your time becomes increasingly limited. You don’t want to waste endless hours of your business day packing and mailing orders, even though you have a small but incredibly talented and effective team on your side.
Outsourcing fulfillment will save you time, allowing you to concentrate on increasing your company. Outsourcing frees up time that can now be spent on sales, product procurement, and/or online marketing rather than backend logistics.
2. Lowers your expenses
While it will seem to be less expensive to fulfill orders yourself, as your business grows, hiring an eCommerce fulfillment company will save you money. A delivery service will help you save money in three ways:
For starters, you won’t have to settle for long-term warehouse leases, which are a significant financial burden during slow times. For a fulfillment service, you will only need to pay a monthly charge for the amount of room you occupy and the service you receive.
Second, because of higher delivery volumes, many fulfillment providers can negotiate better rates with couriers. Furthermore, not only can you profit from their experience, but you will also be able to utilize the fulfillment service’s bargaining power on shipping and packing costs.
Lastly, when you fulfill orders on your own, your staff can grow in tandem with your company. Managing workers, no matter how productive or hardworking they are, takes time and resources. Outsourcing your orders to an eCommerce delivery company relieves you of the burden of locating storage space, hiring qualified fulfillment workers, and negotiating favorable shipping rates with carriers. You can then concentrate on recruiting people with the skills and business acumen needed to expand your company, rather than on packing boxes.
3. Storage and distribution efficiency
A delivery business, of course, allows you to store, arrange, and ship your orders more efficiently. They’ll handle everything from receiving to storing to maintaining your products, and they’ll make it simple to keep track of your current stock levels. A delivery service thus removes the possibility of shipment errors. Their advanced receiving and return procedures, automated processes, simplified pick, and pack methods, and state-of-the-art inventory technology ensure reliable and effective order fulfillment processing.
4. Scale Your Company with Less Stress
Shipping becomes more difficult as your company expands, especially if you sell your products through various networks. Consider how many steps there are between processing an order and delivering it to your customer’s door. Fulfilling orders yourself is no simple walk in the park.
With a 3PL you won’t have to think about packaging and distributing, managing extra inventory, finding low-cost warehouse space, or recruiting new fulfillment workers if you take the walk with a fulfillment company by your side. Instead, you’ll have the assurance you need to expand the company as fast as you like without jeopardizing its stability.
5. Easier Access to New Markets
eCommerce is undeniably one of the fastest-growing sectors in the world today. Many small online companies want to enter the global market but are unable to do so because of the risks. Outsourcing order fulfillment is a great way to break into new markets without having to open physical stores in each country where you want to sell your goods. You can also take advantage of the fulfillment company’s low shipping rates and convenient delivery location, and certain order fulfillment companies can also help you with the requisite foreign trade documents.
Conclusion
Customer standards are already strong, and they will only rise as the world of eCommerce evolves. You can’t afford to settle for adequate order fulfillment in this fast-changing market; you need ideal–you need NextGen3PL. You’ll not only stay competitive and productive if you outsource to a fulfillment business, but you’ll achieve the success you desire.