The Best E-Commerce Fulfillment Services

The success of any business is dependent on the continuity of the provision of services and products to clients. All systems and processes must coordinate seamlessly if you want to achieve this continuity. Naturally, therefore, a central part of any business is logistics. Many companies, to focus their time, energy, and resources on their core business, often outsource logistic functions from external partners such as Sherpack eComm fulfillment services. This is a great way to conduct business only if your external partner is reliable and efficient.

Processes of fulfillment services

1. Managing orders

All e-commerce service companies have to keep track of client orders. To avoid confusion, the companies have to record and process important information regarding each order that a client places online. For instance, to properly manage an order, information such as the client location, product name, product quantity, desired time of delivery, among others, have to be processed. 

Given the bulk of orders that such companies handle daily, it is clear that improperly managed orders will create chaos and confusion on a massive scale. This will lead to the loss of clients around the world due to inconvenience.

1. Managing inventory

Keeping stock of inventory is important for the optimal functioning of any shipping company. Any medium to large-sized distribution company is bound to have dozens to hundreds of warehouses across the globe. It is important to keep track of what comes in or goes out of these warehouses to enable them to keep up with numerous client orders at once. Ecommerce warehouse logistics play a major role in its success.

Also, part of inventory management involves monitoring the flow of goods through thousands of distribution centers in many countries worldwide. Nowadays, many companies do their inventory tracking and management online. This is to improve efficiency and accountability while saving time and money.

1. Shipping

Shipping is the main service provided by fulfillment services. Depending on consumer orders, a shipping company will deliver goods from the producers to consumers. It is worth noting that shipping not only involves moving items from one country to another (often by sea or air), as many people may be led to believe. It also involves moving things over shorter distances, such as between warehouses or distribution centers. As such, an elaborate transport network is necessary for a product to reach its final destination.

1. Delivery

This is the final step of every order for a shipping service. There are two modes of delivery employed by such companies:

1. Door delivery – This is way more convenient for the client but takes a little more effort on the shipping company. As the name suggests, buying a door delivery service will get your package to your doorstep.
2. Delivery centers – Many issues may make door delivery difficult hence the need for this second option. For instance, the client may find the cost of door delivery services a bit high or poor transport networks in a particular area. In this option, the shipping company delivers the product to the nearest distribution center for pickup by the client.

How To Identify A Reliable And Efficient Fulfillment Partner For Your Business

Are they willing to compromise?

Every once in a while, short order deliveries may require urgent shipping. When this happens, An efficient fulfillment partner must be willing to fix you in their schedules, however tight, and make the deliveries. This is the price to pay to keep clients coming back.

How fast do they deliver?

Speed is paramount for shipping companies the world over. Clients would like to have products delivered within the shortest time possible. Issues such as poor order management and or poor inventory management can slow down delivery speeds significantly. When selecting a shipping company, you need to know that they deliver fast.

Are they insured?

Accidents can occur when goods are transported from one place to another. When this happens, you need to be fully covered from incurring losses as a result of damages. Reputable shipping companies are insured against such. Besides checking for insurance, you need to check the company’s safety records. This will give you a good idea of the company you are about to do business with.

Software integration with other e-commerce platforms

With everything going online nowadays, fulfillment companies use e-commerce software to manage their businesses. There are several such software out there, and some are incompatible with each other. You need to pick a shipping company whose e-commerce software is compatible with yours for your business to run smoothly.