What is Order Fulfillment? Fulfillment Service in E-com

In this article, we will focus on e-commerce fulfillment service, which is one of the most important concepts for e-commerce trade. You would find replies to the below questions What is fulfillment? How to Choose the Best Fulfillment Company? Four Important Steps For Fulfillment, Benefits of Getting Fulfillment Service in E-Commerce.

What is Fulfillment?

The burden on the seller is quite high in e-commerce, so the sellers need systems to alleviate this. The fulfillment system helps the companies in this regard. Fulfillment is the collection of the process from the receipt of the order in the e-commerce businesses to the delivery to the customer in a single system. This process includes operations such as taking and storing inventory, processing orders, picking, packing, quality control, and shipping.

Fulfillment supports companies in software, technical hardware, and design issues that should be found in an e-commerce process. Moreover, it provides more time for the other business operations of the company. In this way, the company can increase customer satisfaction by adding value to its products and business. We offer a great solution with the SPEETTA mobile application to one of the fulfillment steps which is delivery.

Four Important Steps For Fulfillment

Four steps of fulfillment are warehouse management, logistics management, order management, and customer relations. But not all of these steps have to be implemented according to the needs of the company. After the needs analysis of the products belonging to the company, it can be selected which service will be applied and to what extent.

1.Warehouse Management (We suggest you read our article about WMS)

It is the storage of inventory in a specific place until the order stage. In warehouse management, stock status, used area, and transportation equipment are checked. In this way, all warehouse processes are fulfilled with a fulfillment system. This provides faster order processing and increases customer satisfaction.

2.Logistics Management (We suggest you read our article about logistics management)

After the orders, the product is packaged with a specific packaging system and set out to be delivered to the customer. The supplier doesn't have to waste their own time because they do not deal with packaging and transportation. They also save on costs.

3.Order Management 

It includes pricing, stock control, keeping documents, order tracking, and delivery tracking. With the e-commerce fulfillment service, sellers don’t have to deal with these responsibilities. They don't waste their extra time and effort and their costs are reduced.

4.Customer Relations

It is a system that includes activities such as informing the customer at what stage of the product delivery process is, communicating with the customer during the return and exchange processes, and answering the customer's questions. With the e-commerce fulfillment system, these activities are carried out with SMS, e-mail, or call center support.

Benefits of Getting Fulfillment Service in E-Commerce

By collecting all transactions in e-commerce in a single system, time and cost savings are provided. The company, which undertakes all services instead of the seller, plans the necessary preparations. During the preparation process, warehouse management and stock management are provided along with the technical requirements.

It is difficult to manage a physical space for retailers who have not previously operated in a real place. Therefore, many e-commerce companies do not want to deal with operations such as stock management, packaging, and storage. Fulfillment would be a great solution for these companies. In addition, companies with increasing order volumes do not deal with the fulfillment service and packaging and mailing, and they have more time to enlarge their business.

With fulfillment service these are possible; Answer to customer complaints and suggestions instantly, Focusing on brand goals, Increasing sales, Creating different strategies for the growth of the brand

It is quite difficult to manage all these complicated operations, so it would be beneficial for the supplier to get a fulfillment service.

How to Choose the Best Fulfillment Company?

Shipping and order fulfillment are critical stages in the e-commerce business to stay competitive. Third-party fulfillment companies manage these processes quickly. Firms must choose what are the perfect replenishment features in order to choose the right fulfillment company. These features are described below.

1.Related Services

The service package offered by a fulfillment company should be relevant to the businesses to partner with. Basic elements (storage, logistics, and order management) should be carried out as standard. In addition, there may be additional requirements that the business needs. For example, food delivery businesses that handle perishable food should pay attention to cold storage capacity beyond just storage.

When evaluating every potential company, don't just look at their current offers. All the plans they may have for future expansions must be known. Because this helps businesses understand whether they can become a reliable partner.

2.Customer Support

The problems faced by the customer are inevitable, the important thing is to have a system to solve them effectively. The level of customer support received from the Fulfillment partner will directly affect how customers perceive the business. Customers are not aware of the receipt of third-party logistics services (3PL) when there is a problem they may experience that will affect the company.

Does the Fulfillment partner contact a company? How do they support the customer in case of any problem? Do they offer 24/7 access? Is there live support in case of increasing customer problems? These are all questions that should be asked.

3.Scalability

A fulfillment partner is an outsourced part of business activities. Companies have expansion plans in their services the fulfillment partner must also have the same scaling capacity as the company.

Does the potential fulfillment company have an employee structure to handle sudden increases in orders? Can it manage to scale its shipments up and down to match its growth trajectory? Questions like these are questions that should be asked of potential fulfillment companies.

The last thing to come across is having to change partners during the boom in orders due to the lack of capacity of the current fulfillment company.

4. Flexible Partnership Process

Some third-party fulfillment partners make their companies make an irreversible decision with a clause in the contract. A company must choose that allows the services to be tested, if necessary, offers the option to cancel in case of change of opinion.

5. Technology Transition Level

We live in a one-click world and it is easy to assume that every fulfillment partner has a similar technological infrastructure.

A critical part of differentiating the business is the simplicity the customer can expect when ordering products. Customers who can fulfill their order with the minimum problem will likely shop again. Thus, the average customer life per customer will increase.

In addition, fulfillment firms must provide tracking services to the seller and the seller's customers. Before signing the contract, a demo account must be requested to see how a typical order will behave.

6. Pricing

An excellent fulfillment partner will offer transparency on pricing. They can show you not only how much they are taking, but they can also show you what to bill. If there are hidden costs, such as recurring fees, that are not previously informed, this could indicate a bad relationship.

We hope that article about some key points of e-commerce fulfillment service is useful for you. Please check our blog post that may help you to understand some important topics. Please share your comments and give your valuable feedback.

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