What are Fulfillment Services & Why They are Essential to Ecommerce
Ecommerce companies can expand their business, increase sales, and serve more people by using fulfillment services. Order fulfillment services provide benefits to all ecommerce companies, regardless of size. It saves business owners time by taking care of supply chain logistics from start to finish. Learn what product fulfillment services are and why they are essential to ecommerce businesses around the world.
What are Order Fulfillment Services?
Third-party logistics (3PL) companies provide order fulfillment services to small businesses and large ecommerce companies. These logistical services include inventory management, warehousing, storage, picking, packing, and shipping orders on behalf of their clients. The main objective for all product fulfillment services is to get online orders to customers as fast as possible while relieving the ecommerce companies of managing this tedious, challenging, yet crucial process.
Order Fulfillment Services in Detail
Whether you own a small ecommerce store or run a large company, order fulfillment services can assist with inventory, warehousing, and shipping logistics, enabling you to focus on running your business while saving time and money. Here are some details regarding what takes place in and around fulfillment services.
Product Fulfillment Services: Receiving
The 3PL must have inventory on hand to ship out orders. Most 3PLs accept incoming stock and store it in their warehouse. Once an ecommerce order is placed, the product fulfillment service provider knows the type and number of products being received and ready them for shipment.
Product Fulfillment Services: Warehousing
As soon as a fulfillment center receives the inventory, each product or SKU has a dedicated storage location within the warehouse. Order fulfillment services help your business scale fast because they can increase space, labor, and transportation based on inventory needs.
Product Fulfillment Services: Picking
The order fulfillment process begins when a customer places an order. Some 3PLs require ecommerce businesses to upload orders to their system manually. Others provide more sophisticated operating systems that can integrate directly with the ecommerce business they are servicing. For example, Reconnx integrates with Shopify stores for automatic fulfillment. Regardless, the fulfillment center picks the correct items once a customer places an order.
Product Fulfillment Services: Packing
Packaging the products safely and securely for shipping gets the order one step closer to being received by the customer. Each 3PL may use different packing materials, so it’s essential to confirm that the order fulfillment services provider can handle your specific products. The most commonly used packing materials include:
- Unbranded Boxes
- Polyurethane Bags - Poly mailers are sturdy, lightweight alternatives to boxes with self-sealing foldover lips. They do not require any tape, and the shipping label can be directly applied to the bag.
- Shipping Labels
- Packing Tape
- Dunnage - Crinkle paper, kraft paper, bubble wrap, plastic bracing, fillers, planks, etc.
Not all 3PLs include packing materials in their service packages. Packing materials may be a separate line item when being billed.
Product Fulfillment Services: Inventory Management and Returns
Long gone are the days of manually managing inventory. Most 3PLs allow for real-time viewing of inventory levels, making inventory management easy and efficient. Some 3PLs also offer return processing services. This can include processing the returns and restocking or disposing of the item contingent upon specific preferences and policies. This allows for convenient and fast return processing for your business and customers.