The Power of Fulfillment – Your Fulfillment Operation Should Have These In Place (Part 3)
Founder + Partner + CEO
Published Tuesday, May 26, 2020
In the final part of this three-part series, we tie it together with fulfillment and explore capabilities beyond packing and shipping.
Without efficient fulfillment, eCommerce stores will fail. We live in an “Amazon world” where customers expect next day delivery. It may be fine if you can’t deliver goods the next day, but don’t even think about waiting two weeks to get a product out... unless you want to answer hundreds of customer service complaints.
Fulfillment is simply the process of accepting an order, picking it (or in ScreenBroidery’s case, producing it on demand), slapping a label on it, and shipping it with a carrier. Everyone knows this process. But here are some ins and outs that make it more efficient and services that ScreenBroidery does in the fulfillment that goes beyond the pack and pick process.
A good fulfillment operation should have a few things in place:
A good shipping platform. The platform should allow for orders to quickly queue to be fulfilled. It tells the staff what items to pick and automatically prints shipping labels. Once the labels print, a good platform will communicate tracking information to a customer and back to an eCommerce store.
Discounted shipping rates with major shipping carriers. The big three are UPS, FedEx, and USPS. Depending on the size and weight of your products depends on the best carrier to use. A good fulfillment operation will have discounted rates due to high volume. Shipping rates are usually paid by the customer when they check out from your store, and you are collecting the fees. The fulfillment operation pays for the postage on your behalf when they ship out the order. They then bill you back. If the fulfillment operation has great rates they will bill you back for less than what you charged your customer making you additional money on your order. You can use your own shipping number – be advised it is unlikely you have the same volume as a good fulfillment operation and your rates will be higher.
Also know that statistically, things go wrong with shipments. Fulfillment operations with high volume and great carrier relationships make tracking missing or damaged packages much easier. At ScreenBroidery, we take responsibility for missing and damaged packages, replace them at our costs, and work directly with our carrier reps to be reimbursed.
3. Adequate staff. Most fulfillment operations are manual. It is important to make sure the staff is not overloaded and is organized. If not, a lot can go wrong. Orders can be picked incorrectly, item missed, labels can be placed on wrong packages, multiple items in a shipment may be short, etc. Every fulfillment operation should have a capacity and an action plan that allows for additional personnel in peak times.
At ScreenBroidery we offer additional services that enhance your eCommerce stores outside of the traditional pack and pick. In our operation we have adequate space and personnel to offer kitting services. This gives you the ability to put multiple items into a box or package. These are great for new hire kits, customer thank-you’s, VIP experiences, and/or subscription box programs. We have the capabilities to not only manufacture your products but also create custom packaging. We also have space and ability to offer product storage, provide data analytics, ship international, and consult on web store improvements.