Put simply, a fulfilment service is the process of delivering goods from your online store to your customers. This process starts at receiving the initial order through your website, progressing the packing and shipping of goods to making sure that the correct products are delivered to your customers on time. Ensuring that this process is done correctly and as quickly as possible is imperative to keeping customers happy; it can even be the difference between creating loyal customers, and those that decide to go elsewhere. Now you know why fulfilment is important, but what are the benefits of outsourcing the e-commerce fulfilment process rather than handling it in-house? Continue reading to find out more…
1. Free up more time
Outsourcing your fulfilment leaves you with more time to focus on your core business, essentially leaving you with more time to spend on what you love about your business! People tend to underestimate the time it takes to sort the day-to-day activities, especially in the case of fulfilment services. The time you’ll spend on managing orders, packing orders, shipping and tracking will soon quickly add up, and will really impact you as a growing business. By outsourcing your ecommerce fulfilment service, you can ensure timely delivery and free up more of your time to spend on what you do best – growing your business!
2. It’s more cost-effective
If you decide to try and manage your fulfilment services in-house you have two options:
- Do everything yourself – Remember time is money, so whilst you’re spending time packing orders you’re not working ON the business; or
- Hire a team to do it for you. This doesn’t come cheap; recruitment, wages, storage, insurance… Everything you’ll have to pay on an ongoing basis, regardless of demand and seasonal fluctuations.
By choosing to outsource the process instead, you don’t have to worry about this. Save on leasing, staffing and insurance costs, and use the company only when you need us. If you know you’re going through a quiet period, you don’t have to pay a team with little work to do.
3. Lower shipping costs
Another benefit around outsourcing is that you can benefit from lower shipping costs. Most fulfilment centres like ourselves have got a much greater shipping volume, allowing us to benefit from reduced rates using carriers. As well as this, our warehouses are located in the best places possible to keep shipping costs low and reduce shipping time to customers – making the process as efficient as possible. For the customer, this can result in more attractive shipping options, appealing to more customers!
4. Utilise the best technology
Because order fulfilment is the sole function of a fulfilment company like ourselves; we invest heavily in the very best technology for the most effective process and delivery times. This process involves management & tracking systems, shipping management and using highly trained staff; luckily we specialize in these areas so that you don’t have to. Having the best technology at our disposal means you can be kept in the loop at all times. Not only will you have full visibility over to check stock availability as well as the status of an order, but your customers will also benefit from the very best, and quickest service.
5. Expand into new markets
One of the key benefits of outsourcing your e-commerce fulfilment service is that we are able to easily ship your products all over the world. This allows you to expand into new markets, and reach customers around the globe. If you decide to handle this in house, not only can this be a lengthy process, it can also be a costly one. Outsource instead, and let your fulfilment company handle it with ease.
If you have any questions about our e-commerce fulfilment process or are interested in finding out how we can help your business, get in touch with our team today. We offer a trial period, letting you try UK Fulfillment Service for free to see if we are the right partner for you. Why not find out more today?