Things to Look for When Choosing a Fulfillment Company
It is essential to conduct your research thoroughly and ensure that you’re not choosing just the cheapest fulfillment partner, but the right one. Here are eight points you need to consider when it’s time to choose an order fulfillment service for your online company.
There are plenty of paths to choose from when opening a fulfillment service agency, these days you can even find printing fulfillment services and many many new ideas that will hit the market in 2023.
1. Shipping Speeds
Amazon Prime’s two-day delivery speeds are the norm now, which means modern consumers expect faster delivery speeds that they’ve never experienced before.
So, how can you align with these evolving expectations? By working on an order fulfillment service that can meet them – literally. If your company can’t do so, you’ll be unable to earn revenue from the 53% of consumers who say they’ve canceled their online purchases due to the slow delivery time. High-end fulfillment businesses should have efficient and effective fulfillment processes that enable their products to be delivered to customers in a short time. This becomes possible when they have numerous, strategically-located fulfillment warehouses and simplified order fulfillment software (which we’ll get to in a minute! ).
2. Location of Fulfillment Warehouses
Customers expect rapid shipping speeds. And, of course, a major aspect of this service is the proximity of the fulfillment warehouse to the client. It makes perfect sense–the closer the order fulfillment center is located to customers it is the lesser distance your product has to travel to get there, which means shorter shipping timelines (and less cost of shipping).
Therefore, when selecting a fulfillment firm be sure to find out the location of their fulfillment warehouses where they are. For instance, a fulfillment company with just a few fulfillment warehouses most likely won’t be able of delivering at the speed the customers demand therefore working with them could hurt your user experience. It’s important to make sure the fulfillment partner you choose to work with has warehouses located within the area where your customers reside.
In addition, if your business sells across the globe, you should be sure the fulfillment company you’re considering working with provides worldwide shipping beforeagreeing to cooperate with them. Since you can’t ship your products in the areas where your customers reside then your company won’t be in the market for long!
3. Features of Order Fulfillment Software
As an eCommerce business owner, plenty is going on. You’re already using numerous digital tools such as applications, platforms, and software in your day-to-day business operations. The most important thing you’ll want to do is implement yet another software that’s slow, disorganized, and nearly impossible to figure out. This is why it’s essential to do not only your homework on the fulfillment company that you’re looking to work with itself but the order fulfillment software they’re using as well.
Different fulfillment firms use various order fulfillment software with various capacities and functions. It is important to know the goals and needs of your business are and select the right fulfillment provider that leverages tools that allow you to match. You should also make sure their program for fulfillment of orders is easy to install and use in the day-to-day, and that it can seamlessly integrate with any other platforms or business apps you’re already using.
4. Transparency and Visibility
There are so many companies out there selling similar products, so determining which ones are worth buying is a daunting task for shoppers. If they can find an organization they can trust, they’re likely to stay with them for the long haul. But how do you earn trust? Transparency.
56 percent of respondents in the survey said they’d remain loyal to a company for the rest of their lives, if it offered absolute transparency. In addition, 81 percent said they’d be willing to try a brand’s entire product line when they were satisfied with the level of transparency.
The fulfillment procedure you use is a key element of transparency – 88% of customers say that it is important to monitor shipments in real-time is essential, and 69 percent believe they’re less likely to purchase from an online retailer in the future if the purchase was not delivered within 2 days of the date that was promised. A promise is a commitment and if you’re unable to keep it (literally) it’s not a good idea to promise it.