Making the choice to move your logistics management and order processing and shipping to an independent fulfillment service company can seem foreboding, even intimidating. You know that outsourcing your order fulfillment obligations to a third party logistics management provider is what’s best for your business, because you and your ecommerce business alike will share in the additional resources and expertise the fulfillment service company affords its client businesses. But which fulfillment service company should you choose? There are many available, and some offer drastically different features and lower service fees and percentage deductions than their competitors. Some will actually offer a better fit for your ecommerce business than others. Presented below are a few ideas to consider when choosing your fulfillment service company. The list is not comprehensive, but rather it’s meant to start you in the right direction for making the best fulfillment service company decision for your ecommerce business.
Should Your Fulfillment Service Company Be Close To You?
Your fulfillment service company will handle and manage your inventory and shipping and order fulfillment needs. For this reason alone, many ecommerce business owners hope to find a fulfillment service company that’s within reasonable geographic proximity to their own offices. The fulfillment service company that’s close by, so the reasoning goes, should be more open to collaboration between the fulfillment manager and the ecommerce business owner, allowing the ecommerce business owner more input into the order fulfillment process. Having the fulfillment service company close at hand is convenient, but not necessary. In fact, interfering too much with your fulfillment service company’s day to day operations can actually damage their efficiency in fulfilling your orders.
Should You Use Their Customer Service Staff?
Many fulfillment service companies offer customer service staffing that will respond to customer complaints and inquiries on your behalf. These trained, expert resolution specialists can boost your ecommerce company’s efficiency by helping to encourage repeat conversion while at the same time minimizing product returns and refunds or exchanges.
Where Can You Look Up Customer Reviews?
The best course of action to take when researching your potential fulfillment service company is to look at previous customer testimonials while conducting reputation research online. Forums and chat rooms, as well as message boards are all excellent places to learn how previous customers feel about your potential fulfillment service company. Making an informed choice will help you expedite the order fulfillment outsourcing process.