Any retailer ready to dive into e-commerce has to decide the best way to get their product into their customers’ hands—easily and affordably. Packing and shipping orders yourself is a more flexible process, but if your budget allows for outsourcing, fulfillment companies can help free up a considerable amount of a small business owner’s time.
If your orders tend to be higher at seasonal times, hiring a fulfillment company also makes more sense than paying to staff a warehouse year round. When choosing a company, find one that has experience working with similar businesses to yours, rather than making price the deciding factor—it will save you time and money in the
long run.
Once you’ve selected your partner, it’s important to understand how these services work. Here’s an easy step-by-step guide:
1. SET UP YOUR ACCOUNT
Once you choose the right service for your business, your provider will establish a connection with your web store. This will allow them to create unique product SKUs, receive purchase orders, align your preferred shipping services and manage your shipping.
Make sure your company can handle large orders (if needed), and that their software is sophisticated and flexible enough to suit your needs. Most companies should be able to offer a demonstration of their system.
2. INTEGRATE YOUR POS SYSTEM
Your fulfillment company can use your number system for ordering, or you can implement their SKU system,labeling your products with barcode labels. Either way, once your data is uploaded, your fulfillment company should be able to track your sales over time, allowing them to tailor the storage of your product as well as forecast your inventory purchases.
3. DELIVER PRODUCT TO THEIR FULFILLMENT CENTER
Now it’s time to deliver your product to your company’s warehouse. Most companies will require a PO (purchase order) listing every item in a shipment, as well as your standards of how much inspection is required once the products arrive. More inspection may equal more cost, but you’ll save yourself incorrect product counts or unidentified damage in the long run.
After your goods are checked in and labeled, they’ll move to storage, with high volume items stored nearest to the packing area for quick picking. Your fulfillment house should have a process to send you alerts when SKUs get low so that their inventory always matches the stock you offer on your site!
4. DECIDE ON YOUR STANDARDS FOR PRINT AND PACKAGING
Do you prefer a custom box or gift-wrap? Is it essential to include promotional materials or discount offers? Elevated packaging can often be a tipping point for customer satisfaction. Fulfillment centers should offer custom labels, inserts, and boxes—ask about their options before you commit.
5. CHOOSE A PREFERRED SHIPPING OPTION
It’s important to rate shop ahead of time to find out the lowest rates and fastest delivery times for your products. Because fulfillment centers ship in higher volume, whatever carrier you prefer should offer you a lower rate than you might receive shipping on your own.
Choose from standard shipping options including USPS, UPS, and FedEx. Shop for the best rates, and decide whether you want your fulfillment center to send you tracking information in bulk (typically at the end of the day)for you to follow up with tracking emails to your clients, or if you prefer the center to send the emails directly from their system in real time.
6. DECIDE ON WHO IS HANDLING RETURNS
Most fulfillment companies offer returns, but be aware that some charge extra for the service. If your products have a high return rate for situations such as sizing, it’s good to address this issue ahead of time so that processing and restocking fees don’t add up.
Decide if you will add re-sellable goods back to your inventory, or inventory discontinued items for a clearance sale or donation. After you set your return policy, list your fulfillment company’s address on your website and order paperwork, and they’ll unpack and examine goods to make sure they’re in returnable condition.
7. PROCESS YOUR CUSTOMERS ORDERS
Now that your inventory is delivered and stored, your orders are ready to be shipped to your customers. Fulfillment company staff will pick orders from their storage area, scan and check them for accuracy, then move them to the packing area to prepare the shipment.
After being packed, orders will be sealed, weighed and shipped with your preferred carrier. Allowing a fulfillment company to handle these time-consuming tasks will let you focus on marketing and product development, giving your business the greatest chance to grow.