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Have you ever sent away for something, only to wait weeks or months for it to arrive? Have you ever had to complain to a business, to your local post office, or to a shipping company because your shipment was lost or otherwise disappeared? In the mail order sector there is no greater impediment to business growth than unfulfilled orders.
They create problems within the supply chain, divert staffing and warehousing resources away from other tasks, erode the company’s profit margin, and create cynicism among the customer base. Orders simply must be fulfilled, no matter what obstacles or problems that may present themselves.
Perhaps the safest and most reliable way for small businesses to vastly improve their order fulfillment capabilities is to outsource them to a third party logistics management service provider. These provider companies are located throughout the country and can service small businesses, even home-based businesses, from any distance away.
Fulfillment service providers assume supervision of the warehousing, processing, and shipment preparation duties of their client businesses, working tirelessly to increase their order fulfillment processes in order to better serve them. Consider the following ways businesses can benefit by using a third party service provider:
Warehousing- Independent logistics management and fulfillment companies can offer businesses state of the art, climate controlled warehouse facilities that are designed and built for maximum efficiency and protection against both theft and the elements. These warehouse facilities are typically adjacent to and part of the greater order processing center.
Customer Service – The processing center of a fulfillment company is staffed and maintained by a trained, efficient employees who works to make sure that every product shipped is packaged and prepared to arrive safely and intact. Client businesses can save on the costs of hiring, human resources, payroll expenses and payroll taxes, and workplace management and compliance. This savings comes on top of the savings presented by outsourcing the warehousing needs and expenses, including the costs of site maintenance and utilities, that grow quickly as a company’s warehouse needs expand.
Service provider companies typically charge a percentage of each product sold as their service fee. But this also gives them a powerful incentive to ably represent their client businesses’ needs: the more products they are able to successfully fulfill, the greater their own profits.
