Outsourcing fulfillment management and fulfillment needs to a third-party, independent fulfillment service companies present one of the most promising opportunities for the ecommerce marketplace – and for more ecommerce business owners than you might expect. Even for established businesses, who have traditionally managed their own fulfillment needs and order completion operations, fulfillment service companies offer a way to streamline costs, maximize efficiency, and produce a greater degree of customer satisfaction and repeat conversion.
When you choose to outsource your fulfillment needs to a third party fulfillment service provider, you free your day to day business concerns from a long list of “drudge work” that also eats away at your bottom line while sapping your time and energy. Fulfillment service companies assume control of the lion’s share of “back end” responsibilities on behalf of your business, letting you concentrate on the “front end” development that will help your business improve its market profile and grow its SEO footprint.
More and More Outsourcing
As competition within the ecommerce arena grows with the proliferation of new businesses, fulfillment outsourcing will likely become a necessity for smaller operations anxious to keep their competitive edge. Outsourcing fulfillment can provide solutions to many problems growing businesses face, from the high costs of warehousing and staff training to the logistical problems associated with shipping, tracking, and order processing.
Especially for high-end products sold online, the expenses associated with the packaging and shipping materials alone can amount to a considerable sum. By outsourcing to a fulfillment center, smaller businesses need not worry about such costs. Staffing, too, can present long and time-consuming problems that are nevertheless resolved by consigning them to the fulfillment service company’s supervision.
Gaining Additional Services
Some fulfillment service companies offer their client businesses services related to order fulfillment beyond the warehousing, shipping, and product processing fulfillment themselves. A number of fulfillment service companies feature mail order fulfillment, which helps businesses expand their marketing strategies by providing postage processing and shipping for mail order catalogues, newsletters, and other printed promotional material. These are shipped directly from the fulfillment service company’s facilities, streamlining the entire mail order fulfillment process.
Finally, some fulfillment service companies also offer customer service staff to field customer questions and complaints. These staff members are trained according to the client ecommerce business’ guidelines, and answer all phones as if representing the client company.