Time for Outsourced Fulfilment?

As any eCommerce entrepreneur will tell you, it’s one thing getting sales through your website and marketplace channels, it’s a whole other thing being able to fulfil those orders 100{6dae46da24e999607385e9be7950c1d4589f4b4e796c45b1daf9b427a72e91a2} accurately and swiftly, to ensure maximum customer satisfaction and the building of your online reputation.

It’s often the case, that as your business grows, so does your requirement for storage and adequate areas for packing and dispatch. If the pace of this doesn’t match the progress of your growth in orders, then it can result in lapses of accuracy, or missing deadlines due to simply having too much manual handling to take care of.

With positive customer reviews being so important to every eCommerce business, it doesn’t make sense for any business to risk its reputation due to poor order fulfilment. You can be sure that your customers will shout it loud and clear when they are unhappy, so it’s well worth plugging any gaps at a very early stage.

So, if you are struggling with the sheer volume of orders and getting them processed and products shipped every day, a growing option is to outsource the fulfilment of your business to a third party, effectively removing this headache from your hands.

Granted, it can be a very hard decision when your business has been your baby for so long and you have been used to closely running every single aspect of it in minute detail, but the fact is that today’s outsourced services can be of a very high standard and can run in complete collaboration with your business.

A quality outsourced eCommerce fulfilment company will take the time to get to know both you and your business, your systems, the way you do things understanding that no two businesses are the same.

Often you will be provided with a single point of contact, or a small dedicated team who can update you in real-time on the progress of your orders and dispatch, so even if you are running your business miles away, you can feel as if they are in the same building and part of your management team.

Cloud based reporting means that you can have accurate real-time information and data, effectively wherever you are in the world. All of the manual tasks like printing of dispatch notes, picking, packing and shipping are taken care of for you.

The net result should be you having much more time to actually run your business, time to plan your growth and marketing strategies and less time spent doing the low-value manual tasks that can take you away from what really matters – being fully in control of your business.

Many eCommerce businesses considering outsourcing fulfilment worry about how it will integrate with their own online ordering and third-party delivery companies. In practice, a professional eCommerce fulfilment company will cover these aspects fully and offer full integration, as well as being able to work with your preferred haulier, negotiating the best possible rates on your behalf for same day, overnight or next-day delivery of your orders.

One of the main benefits of outsourcing is that you don’t have to outlay on capital expenditure for storage, buildings, equipment and employing staff. Therefore, it saves money and is completely scalable as your business grows and your requirements change.

In terms of visibility, you should rightfully expect full transparency of your transactions and be able to drill down to specific data upon request. Again, this is the high standard that modern outsourced fulfilment can provide for you.

seoBusiness are a specialist outsourced eCommerce fulfilment company, providing this and a range of other services for UK eCommerce operators since 1998, also running their own, highly successful multi-million pound online business. Read more about our fulfilment services.