Quick Guide to Outsourced Fulfillment For your Online Business

Like most business owners, if you also believe in having complete control over every aspect of your business, then this blog is not for you. But if you are part of the ‘Smartwork Club’, you have landed in just the right place. Here, you will know what outsourced fulfillment is and how it will help you experience business growth. Also, make sure you read it thoroughly to get tips on choosing the right outsourced fulfillment partner. 

What Is Outsourced Fulfillment in eCommerce?

Outsourcing fulfillment refers to handing the fulfillment responsibilities to third-party logistics (3PL) providers. Hence, the 3PL provider takes over the entire fulfillment procedure while the seller just focuses on the product and its marketing. Apart from this, a high-end third-party logistics provider also takes care of warehousing, packaging, storing, and inventory management. Outsourcing fulfillment processing facilitates business with multiple benefits, and the most promising one is global expansion. 

Key responsibilities handled by a 3PL provider include:

• Warehousing and storage of products
• Packaging and order processing
• Shipping and delivery management
• Inventory tracking and management

Tips for Sellers: Note the geographical locations being served by the 3PL support and match it with your target markets. So that you can reach as many consumers as possible to gain maximum sales volume and profits in turn.

Benefits of Outsourced Fulfillment

Outsourced fulfillment helps the seller to outshine competitors as it offers multiple advantages to the seller, allowing them to streamline their fulfillment process. Here’s the list of benefits offered by fulfillment outsourcing:   

1. Scale Business Growth

As the business grows, the number of orders grows, and the responsibility of fulfillment grows alongside. 3PL allows the sellers to expand their business freely without having to worry about the delivery of the products. Also, outsourcing fulfillment allows the sellers to expand into multiple nations as the service provider takes care of the delivery in different countries. 

2. Professional Support

The right 3PL partner brings along the much-needed expertise in fulfillment that allows the seller to provide best-in-class services to the end consumers. Also, they employ the latest technology in the field to provide seamless service with every delivery. With expert help comes customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. 

3. Efficient Order Fulfillment

Self-fulfillment needs the seller to process every step of the procedure, which leads to delay, as the seller has a lot of other tasks to do. With an outsourced fulfillment partner, the seller is free from this worry, and the partner takes complete responsibility for the fulfillment, leading to faster delivery of goods and ultimately consumer satisfaction. 

4. Optimized Operational Costs

When a seller fulfills its orders on its own, they have to engage multiple resources. Also, there is involvement of employees who will need a salary.  Also, in-house fulfillment may lead to errors due to a lack of expertise, which is an additional cost. On the other hand, when a seller employs 3PL, they cover everything at minimal cost, increasing the profit margins. 

5. Improved Order Accuracy

Orders need to be accurate to build customer loyalty and trust. Fulfillment outsourcing allows e-commerce sellers to deliver the products accurately within the time frames promised to the consumers. Customers’ expectations from businesses are nothing but accuracy and 3PL partnership helps businesses leverage the same. 

Tips for Sellers: Cost is a major factor that must influence the decision of the sellers as they choose an outsourced fulfillment for their business. While the service provider must be able to expand at the pace of the business, it mustn’t take a considerable part of the profit. Rather, it should be a resource that fosters revenue.

Key Services offered By Outsourced Fulfillment Provider 

There’s a lot that an outsourced fulfillment center does, so you don't have to worry about anything related to the order fulfillment process. Here’s a list of everything: 

1. Warehousing & Storage Solutions

The 3PL service providers do not limit their assistance to delivery; they start from product storage. Products need to be stored securely before the customers order them, and they are off to delivery. Also, the warehouses provided organized setups like FIFO (First in First out) to ensure that situations like dead inventory do not appear. 

2. Real-Time Inventory Management

Storing the inventory safely is not enough; one needs to have complete knowledge of the inventory. So that the business does not run out of stock while a customer requires the same. Also, the business owners need to know what sells the most and least, so the re-stocking is done accordingly. 

3. End-to-End Order Fulfillment & Shipping 

Ecommerce fulfillment is the most relentless task for sellers across the online marketplace. Outsourced fulfillment provides seamless delivery options to the seller, including everything from picking and packing to final delivery. Apart from this, e-commerce 3PL service providers also look after the tracking of orders. 

4. Returns & Reverse Logistics Management

Outsourcing order fulfillment also allows businesses to leverage their reverse logistics. Hence, returns and refunds are tackled without a mess. While this step is not always there in the fulfillment process, this helps in building a rapport with the customers. Hence, the brands become trustworthy. 

Tips for Sellers: As the business grows, the sales volume increases. Hence, the seller must be capable of growing at the pace at which the business is growing. Changing 3PL service partners often is not feasible for the business, as it takes time to incorporate the working of the third-party solutions.

In-House vs Outsourced Fulfillment

Conclusion

If you have reached this part of the blog, then you are definitely impressed by how outsourced fulfillment can revolutionize the way you do business. In a nutshell, it will take over all the fulfillment-related operations, and you will just have to focus on the actual selling. Also, the scope of selling is much wider with a 3PL on the side. 

After this tip, you ought to be worried about looking for the right software, but worry not! This is not so much of an issue, as MapMyChannel is the ultimate solution for sellers looking for an 3L integration software. This is a smartly curated application that is capable of connecting your sales channel with more than a hundred 3PL partners. So, you go ahead and outsource fulfillment and concentrate on actual business growth.

Choose a compatible 3PL integrator plug-in application that links the sales channel with your choice of outsourced fulfillment partner. The right application with not just streamline the order processing but also support better services with automation.