Order fulfillment services are third-party vendors that fulfill orders for other companies such as online sellers. Outsourced fulfillment services can work with companies that do not possess warehouse and distribution facilities. The service helps reduce infrastructure and logistical costs as well as improve operational efficiency of merchants and retailing businesses. Essentially, order fulfillment services provide receiving, processing and delivery services on behalf of a client company. This service extends to a wide array of transactions, ranging from large business-to-business to individual direct-to-consumer orders. For many companies, fulfillment service providers are key to moving, storing and delivering their goods to their customers.
For eCommerce or online merchants, fulfillment is a big task and responsibility as it involves time–consuming. It is also resource-intensive and includes taking orders, packaging, processing payment to shipment and delivery. Add to these the hassles of complying with regulatory requirements, computing for sales taxes, and handling refunds and returns, all of which will require your undivided attention. There are a thousand and one chores that you may not have time to handle. The fact is marketing and selling are only half of the equation in an online business, the other half is getting your product to customers. The challenge with fulfillment is that the more customers and orders you get the more complicated logistics becomes. A fulfillment service takes care of those.
Fulfillment Pros and Cons
Some of the PROS of using a 3rd party online fulfillment service is you’ll be able to:
- Focus on your core capabilities
- Lower your overhead costs
- Lower your shipping costs
- Improve your speed and dependability
- Improve your scalability
Some of the CONS include:
- Loss of control
- Lack of customization
- Potentially higher costs
If you are interested in using an online fulfillment center, following is a list of the top 5 fulfillment centers and links.
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