5 Ways Order Fulfillment Services Can Help Your Business

Many business owners have realised the value of outsourcing order fulfillment to a third party. Aside from improving the process, an order fulfillment company enables business owners to focus on other important matters and scale the business in a way that was simply not possible without this system.

With this in mind, unless you do not wish to scale your business, outsourcing your fulfillment needs is a conscious step toward a more efficient, productive, and profitable future.

Let’s take a look at five ways in which order fulfillment can help your business:

1. Advanced Tracking Systems to Avoid Delays

Without the inventory, you simply cannot get your orders out in time to the customer. For this reason, it’s important to account for every item that you receive from suppliers and inspect these items to ensure that they are fit for purpose and in line with the initial order.

With in-house fulfillment, this is often the first stumbling point. A typical eCommerce business won’t have the fulfillment software required for rigorous tracking. As a result, discrepancies or faulty products can go unreported and cause problems further down the line, such as order delays or dissatisfied customers.

An eCommerce order fulfillment service will implement a reliable tracking system and ensure there are no delays due to faulty, damaged or inadequate inventory.

In addition to their experience and attention to detail, fulfillment companies will be taking a time-consuming task off your plate. That means no need to drop what you’re doing to inspect products and no delay to the order fulfillment process when you or your team have other priorities.

 

2. Efficient Inventory Management and Order Fulfillment Process

At the same time, an efficient tracking system is not enough to manage order fulfillment. In other words, even the smallest form of mismanagement can hold up the pick and pack process. For example, if the picker is unable to locate a piece of inventory, this will inevitably lead to delays.

This is all too common with in-house inventory storage. Storing inventory is seen as secondary to the main online store business. As a result, inventory management is disorganised or even makeshift.

However, an expert order fulfillment team can use warehouse management systems to categorise products and ensure there are no complications when it comes to locating inventory.

At Autofulfil, everything is checked into our system upon arrival. When orders come in, our order processing management system tells us exactly where stock is located so we can pick, pack, and ship without any delay.

 

3. Removing Human Error Will Ensure More Accuracy

We all know that automation is more accurate and efficient than manual input. More specifically, most companies lose both time and money due to human error, while these mishaps lead to poor customer satisfaction. Needless to say, customers are never happy when they receive the wrong order.

You’ll undoubtedly look for the best staff to manage your fulfillment process. You can even spend hours and days training them, but it won’t eliminate human error. Even the best people will make mistakes when fulfilling orders, which is why it’s important to back them with error-free technology.

With the help of automation, eCommerce fulfillment processes can create an efficient method to remove the risk of human error. For instance, barcodes are used to track inventory which means that one-touch point is enough to double-check labels and products.

Of course, nobody expects an eCommerce store to invest in automation. The cost could cripple them. That’s the bonus of working with a large third-party logistics provider. You gain access to all our resources and technology without having to invest eye-watering sums of money.

 

4. Improved Shipping to Meet Customer Expectations

For many customers, waiting for an order to arrive involves stalking the progress of their product online. In other words, most people know that shipping tends to be unreliable and late delivery is a complaint waiting to happen.

With an in-house order fulfillment process, that might be the case. Firstly, there’s the entire order fulfillment process, which will typically take much longer than it would with most fulfillment providers. 

Then you need to ship orders. Whether it’s local, national, or international shipping, it can be difficult getting products to customers in a timely manner while balancing shipping costs. 

With 90% of shoppers expecting 2-3 day delivery as standard, packing and shipping quickly enough can stand in the way of even the most successful order fulfillment operation.

Order fulfillment services have a wealth of experience in terms of shipping orders. When it comes to cost or the best type of shipping for each product, they know precisely how to proceed. What’s more, order fulfillment teams always place a large focus or emphasis on speed to ensure the customer is never waiting long.

 

5. Customer Service and Growing the Business

An efficient order fulfillment process is all about keeping the customer happy and encouraging them to come back. However, many businesses get caught up in this process and spend most of their time trying to keep up with orders rather than growing the business. It’s a vicious and time-consuming cycle that does not benefit the customer.

With the right fulfillment service, you can forget about order fulfillment processes and focus on growing other areas of the business. What’s more, you can rest assured that these experts know precisely how to manage, pick, and pack your products to the highest possible standard.

Getting customer orders out quickly and accurately can be a competitive advantage when other businesses are still managing each customer purchase in-house. At Autofulfil, we have an order accuracy rate and same-day fulfillment rate of 99.9%, so you can rest assured customers’ expectations will be met every time.

 

Transform Your Order Fulfillment Strategy

It’s true, you could try to improve your current in-house system but outsourcing fulfillment can take this process to the next level and leave you with plenty of free time to focus on growing your business. A robust order fulfillment process will not only take the weight off your shoulders, but could also eliminate many customer service issues and make operational costs more manageable.

If you’re looking to outsource fulfillment, it’s important to find the right fulfillment partner for your business. That’s where Autofulfil comes into play. As a leading third-party fulfillment provider, we can assist with the entire fulfillment process, from managing inventory levels to picking, packing, shipping, and even returns management. That’s paired with specialist fulfillment options like kitting and assembly or custom packaging.

By integrating our warehouse management system with your sales channels, we can fulfill orders without you having to lift a finger. All customers are kept in the loop about fulfillment operations with access to real-time information on stock, orders fulfilled, and more.

To find out more or discuss a streamlined order fulfillment process for your business, contact our team today.