Part of operating a business is knowing how to delegate effectively. Because let’s face it – we simply cannot manage it all even if we try our best. This is particularly true when it comes to order fulfillment, which is one of the most time-consuming and challenging parts of an ecommerce business.
Nevertheless, letting go of some tasks is crucial. It frees up your precious time and enables you to pay attention to tasks that add value to your business.
It might be difficult for you to rely on other individuals to work on the business that you’ve built with so much love and care. In some cases, you might also feel restricted by your budget.
The good news is that outsourcing fulfillment can help you expand your retail business and even cut down costs in the long term. In this article, we will look at the top 5 benefits of using an ecommerce fulfillment company for your retail business.
Top 5 Benefits of Using an Ecommerce Fulfillment Company
To stay competitive and ensure a positive customer experience, it is important to partner with a trustworthy and reliable order fulfillment company.
1. You Can Sell More
The most obvious advantage of outsourcing fulfillment is that you won’t have to take care of it anymore. This means you can reinvest the time you spend taping boxes and printing labels into your business.
Even though order fulfillment is relatively easier for small businesses, it becomes quite resource-intensive and challenging as you scale up. As you get orders from different channels, you might find that you don’t have time to focus on other areas of your job.
When you use an ecommerce fulfillment company, you can let them do the heavy lifting for you and spend more time on value-adding work such as marketing, sales, and design.
2. Enhance Your Customer Service
It’s easier to retain customers than to acquire new ones. Moreover, a study revealed that companies lose almost $62 billion every year because of poor customer service. The good news is that customer service is one way through which e-commerce businesses can differentiate themselves. Plenty of order fulfillment companies provide 24/7 support through phone or email, resulting in easy returns, exchanges, and refunds.
In addition, an order fulfillment company can also give you same-day delivery options and specified delivery dates. Again, this helps to improve their customer experience.
3. Reduce Shipping Costs
Several businessowners avoid outsourcing fulfillment as they consider it an added expense. But the truth is that ecommerce fulfillment companies can help you cut down costs in various areas, such as shipping.
Firstly, a fulfillment company will have warehouses spread all over the country. By keeping your inventory across this network of warehouses, they make sure your products are located close to your customers. Distributing inventory in this manner can lower shipping costs by 25 percent.
In addition, as a high-volume shipper, ecommerce fulfillment companies usually get preferable rates from carriers. Even though it depends on the company, you can generally save 15 to 35 percent on published shipping rates. These companies even have access to software that enables them to check shipping rates from different carriers and choose the most cost-effective price for every order.
4. Keep Customers Updated with Precise Shipping Information
Transparency and consistency are extremely important for the online shopper as it gives them the confidence to press Checkout.
As per a particular study, a little more than 60 percent of shoppers are more likely to buy if they can see when the product will be delivered. This transparency works the other way round as well. Around 47 percent of shoppers will avoid ordering again from a business if there is a lack of delivery transparency.
Using an ecommerce fulfillment allows you to provide precise delivery details at Checkout. When you fulfil orders on your own, you can face multiple challenges. For instance, a snowstorm, a delivery van breaking down, or a hectic day at the store could easily influence your ability to meet a delivery promise. However, your fulfillment partner needs to be very robust. They have the manpower, experience, and contingencies required to offer precise shipping information and make timely deliveries throughout the year.
5. Quicker Delivery
If you do order fulfillment in-house, the chances are you do it from a convenient location for you. However, there might be a possibility that your business isn’t situated at a location that offers optimal transit times and costs to your buyers.
Working with an order fulfillment company will allow you to save on shipping costs and speed up the delivery of orders to your customers. The benefit of having several warehouses across the country applies to shipping speed. By locating inventory near your customers, using an ecommerce fulfillment company enables you to offer quick delivery.
This is a huge benefit for ecommerce businesses. Almost 70 percent of American consumers expect their products to be delivered in two days or less. A well-reputed fulfillment partner might be the only way for you to fulfil those extensive demands and compete with the country’s largest chain retailers.
Last Few Words
If you are planning to use an ecommerce fulfillment company, you have to make an informed decision keeping your long-term business goals and objective in mind. The right companies will become like a colleague, facilitate your ecommerce brand’s growth, help you with identifying the challenges associated with supply chain and ecommerce logistics, and lastly, ensure your customers stay happy by getting your products to them accurately and rapidly.
All in all, in an ever evolving and increasingly competitive online market, order fulfillment has to move just as fast as ecommerce businesses themselves. Along with the 5 benefits of using an ecommerce fulfillment company, you can depend on 3PL Bridge for complete transparency into the fulfillment process using our cutting-edge fulfillment software.
We are revolutionizing the way ecommerce fulfillment is managed! To find out more about how we can help your ecommerce business enhance its customer experience and boost efficiency as your end-to-end fulfillment partner, get in touch with us today!
