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If you’re already running a brick and mortar store but you want to expand your business to include online sales ecommerce fulfillment is the best way to expand your business without taking on huge costs. Ecommerce fulfillment companies can store your products, process orders around the clock, and ship them to customers. This eliminates many of the hassles that business owners face when trying to add online sales to their existing store such as:
Fixed storage space – When you have an existing brick and mortar shop your storage space is limited. Adding enough stock to accommodate online sales can be expensive and it can be a hassle because you will probably have to store some of your products off site depending on how much available space you have. When you hire an ecommerce fulfillment company you will be able to get as much storage space as you need without having your items scattered at several different locations.
Order processing – Most brick and mortar stores are not set up for processing, packing and shipping online orders. If you have the space to store, assemble and pack items you will still need to hire additional staff to prepare the packages for mailing, make sure that each items i sent, and make sure the tracking number is shared with the customer. You will also need to invest in a high quality printer and good quality shipping materials and packing materials to make sure the item reaches the customer safely. An ecommerce fulfillment center can handle all of the packing and shipping of items for you so that you can concentrate on running your store.
Helping customers in two locations – Your Internet customers might need help at the same time that your in-store customers need help. Is your staff trained to deal with customers that are the phone, online, and in the store? Customers in all three places might not feel that they are getting enough of your attention which can cause them to sour on your business. Because word of mouth advertising is so important it’s a smart business move to hire an ecommerce fulfillment company so that you can be sure your customers are getting the attention they want. A customer that is happy with the service that he or she receives can be your best adverting, so hire a fulfillment services company to make sure your online and phone customers get the same stellar person that in person visitors get.
