A fulfillment company can do much more than just pack and ship your products. Using a fulfillment center can free you and your staff from all of the tasks associated with online or catalog sales. Fulfillment centers are set up to run as efficiently as any store or office and specialize in handling all of the details that are associated with taking orders, packing and shipping, and warehousing items. In addition to that fulfillment companies give business owners tools that they need to plan out growth, assign dollars to marketing plans, and track the progress of their business. Check out just a few of the extras that come with using a fulfillment service:
Inventory management – Even if you are on the other side of the world from the fulfillment center you can manage the inventory that you have on hand just by logging into the Internet or making a phone call. Fulfillment companies have state of the art inventory management software applications that can remind you to order stock when the amount of products reaches a certain level. You can also set up repeat automatic deliveries, contact suppliers and vendors, and make shipping arrangements to get your products to the fulfillment center all in one place. You can check your inventory 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world. That kind of convenience only comes with using a fulfillment center that has the infrastructure to help you run your business.
Market research – Customer service reps employed by the fulfillment company will already be helping your customers with their orders online or on the phone. If you want more in-depth feedback a fulfillment services company can train customer service reps to ask your customers follow up questions about their purchases and about the ordering process. That kind of valuable direct customer feedback can help improve customer satisfaction and make effective changes so that you are always meeting or exceeding customer expectations.
Cheaper shipping – Shipping costs can be outrageous and often customers balk at paying shipping prices that they perceive to be too high. Don’t eat the cost of shipping just to keep your customers happy. Fulfillment companies have strong relationships with all the major shipping carriers because of the huge amount of shipping volume that they do. Those good relationships translate into great discounts on shipping all over the world that you can benefit from.