Running a business comprises many components. As a business owner, you will have many things to take care of, and honestly, you can only do it if your business is still tiny; this is where a fulfillment center comes in.
A fulfillment center will help take the burden of packaging, delivery of goods, and storage, giving you more time to focus on growing your business. Are you a business owner still deciding whether you should use a fulfillment center? In this article, we will discuss the benefits of using a fulfillment center. Continue reading; you will find this article interesting and helpful. But first of all, let’s briefly explain what a fulfillment center is and what it does.
What is a Fulfillment Company?
A fulfillment company is a facility that offers you a space to store your products and provides services that ensure your goods get to your customers as fast and efficiently as possible. A fulfillment center’s job is to fulfill customers’ orders and ensure they receive the correct products they ordered.
When an order is made and shown on the system, the fulfillment center picks, packages, and ships the product to the customer. It is true that many businesses self-fulfill, but giving the job to a fulfillment center will do you much good. You will need more work to do and be able to focus on expanding your business. Let’s look at the 12 benefits of using a fulfillment center.
About Us – Atlas Packaging Inc
Atlas Packaging & Displays was founded with the vision of manufacturing innovative, value-added packaging materials and products from recycled and renewable materials. We help small businesses, eCommerce companies, and franchises create packaging designs that suit every company. Check out our service page to learn more about our services.
Top 12 Benefits of Using a Fulfillment Company/Service for your Business
1. Expand Your Reach
Do you want to go global in your business? A fulfillment center will make your wish come true. Outsourcing Fulfillment makes it possible to ship your products to any part of the world. When you receive orders from other states or countries, the fulfillment center will take care of those orders and ensure that the products reach the customers.
That way, you will be able to go global; of course, many benefits are associated with going global. Shipping to other countries might need to be clarified as international shipping is more compliant than interstate shipping; this is why many business owners limit shipping their products to their states or countries.
To go global, all you have to do is patronize a fulfillment center that has an international network good enough to ship orders to any part of the world and a full grasp of the rules and regulations guiding other countries. A fulfillment center is what you need to expand your reach and make use of the opportunities available to you globally.
2. Give precise shipping information to customers
Outsourcing fulfillment helps you to be able to give correct shipping information to your customers. Customers like it when sellers have the necessary information they need; they also prefer information that is straight to the point.
Transparency is essential to customers because it assures them that they are patronizing the right vendor. Self-fulfilling can make you not correctly play your roles to your customers, as you most likely have many things to handle.
It would be best if you kept up with customers’ orders. Still, specific issues might arise, and you won’t be able to keep to your promise, which is why you need to outsource fulfillment as they have the workforce and good experience to give accurate information to customers and deliver orders at the right time. Doing this goes a long way to help grow and expand your business and maintain loyal customers.
3. Reduces Shipping Costs
Working with a fulfillment center will help you to ship your products at a cheaper rate. Every business owner likes cheap shipping; I mean, who won’t? Most fulfillment centers are interconnected with national facilities hence eligible for discounts on delivery which is favorable to your business.
And if you ship products in large quantities, it will be more beneficial because it will reduce costs. The discount rates you will get will be way better than what an individual who wants to ship a more petite package will get; it is also better than what business owners who ship themselves will get.
Fulfillment centers ship thousands of packages for many businesses daily. That is a beautiful volume and will lead to a significant discount. All the fulfillment center has to do is negotiate with the carriers, and they will get a discount.
Sometimes, the discount is up to 50% which will not be possible if you are shipping yourself as you wouldn’t be shipping in that large quantity; hence you do not have the negotiating power.
Many businesses do not want to outsource fulfillment because they think it’s expensive, but the truth is that outsourcing fulfillment can save money for you. Outsource for order fulfillment today and take advantage of delivery discounts.
4. Increase the speed of shipping
Fulfillment centers help you ship your packages to buyers at a faster rate. Having multiple orders can make you not to deliver customers’ orders on time. By outsourcing fulfillment, you can deliver orders faster to your customers.
Many customers are very much concerned about the time it takes for their package to arrive. Patronizing a fulfillment center will help you meet up with the high demands of customers. Outsource fulfillment today and take advantage of the speedy shipping it offers.
5. Focus on your business
Business is made up of many components, and managing them is a challenging task. Some business owners make their products, advertise them, take customers’ calls, and source suppliers, amongst many other duties.
Imagine how hectic it will be to add packaging and shipping; this is why many business owners do not meet up with their delivery promise most times. But why do this when you have an option not to? Why go through the stress of packing and shipping when a fulfillment center can do that for you? All those times spent on reprinting labels, packaging customers’ orders, and running around to ship them, can be used to add more effort in growing your business.
You have to decide not to do those strenuous jobs again and outsource order fulfillment. Delivering orders may not be stressful to you if you are a small business owner, but you will likely need to focus more on growing your business as your business grows.
Doing everything yourself might be stressful and time-consuming, and you might need more time to take care of other essential parts of your business. Time is an important asset to every business owner, so you should save time on resource-intensive tasks that a fulfillment center can take off.
6. Improve Your Customer Service
Keeping customers is way easier than finding new ones; hence when you get them, endeavor to work hard to keep them. Lousy customer service can lead to a considerable loss. With so many businesses competing with yours, it is essential that you ensure your customer service can make your customers come back after patronizing you.
At times, you will not be able to keep a good customer relationship if you have a lot to take care of, which is why it is beneficial for you to outsource fulfillment. Most fulfillment companies offer customer support through text messages or email; This makes it easy for customers to exchange products or return them. It also makes refunds easier. The goal is to make customers happy and also ensure their loyalty.
7. Increases Scalability
Small businesses or companies can handle their order fulfillment as the industry is still tiny, but managing the business can become burdensome as the businesses grow. They begin to flop in delivering customers’ orders on time. Shipping customers’ demands become more complex when you ship your products to different states and countries.
With the many processes involved in receiving and delivering an order to your customers, it will take much work to fulfill customer orders; this is why it is advisable to outsource order fulfillment. Fulfillment centers have employees who can pick and pack your customers’ demands for you, thereby relieving you of the stress that comes with selecting and packaging the products yourself.
Sometimes, as a seller, people might place too many orders that you need help to meet up with on your own, but when you outsource order fulfillment, they will ensure your products get out to customers as promised. Making use of a fulfillment center will go a long way to relieve you of much work, thereby reducing stress and increasing efficiency on the other hand. You will also be able to handle a massive increase in orders.
8. You Will not need a Warehouse
You won’t need warehousing for your products when you outsource order fulfillment; This will save you money as getting a warehouse can be very expensive as you do not just pay for a warehouse but for everything going on in it.
You might have to pay for the boxes used in packing your products, the racks in the warehouse, conveyor belts, and forklifts. You may also be required to pay for computers, order management software, printers needed for printing slips and labels, and warehouse management software. All these depend on the size of your business or company and the number of orders you receive. By using a fulfillment center, you no longer need a warehouse.
9. Offer Customized Packaging
A fulfillment center helps you upgrade your packaging and create customized shipping boxes and coupons; this makes your packaging more attractive to customers when they make a purchase. Fulfillment centers do this by considering the customers’ choice of products, demographics, and birthdays; this will enable them to know when to do touch-ups on a customer’s package, making them happy. If you want your customers to be loyal to you, you need to do this.
10. Reduce operating costs
Hiring staff, renting a space, performing your shipping, and buying package supplies are very expensive and time intensive. It would be best to have a fulfillment center to reduce the cost of doing all these, as you will share space and expenses with other sellers. With a fulfillment center, you can do these at lower prices and only pay for the services you use.
The good thing about outsourcing fulfillment is that you won’t have to pay for additional operating costs, which you would have paid if you were self-fulfilling. If you want to reduce the cost of operating your business or company, have enough time for your business, then source for fulfillment today, you won’t regret it.
11. Distribution and Storing of Goods Effectively
Outsourcing fulfillment helps you to store and ship your buyers’ orders more effectively. A fulfillment center does the work of storing, shipping, receiving, and managing your products. It also allows you to monitor the level or quantity of stock you have left.
With a fulfillment center, you are assured of accuracy when shipping. Fulfillment centers have inventory technology, automated processes, streamlined pick and pack methods, and advanced return and receiving procedures. These features help ensure that fulfillment centers do their job smoothly. If you want adequate storage and delivery of your orders, outsource order fulfillment today.
12. Access the best inventory management and technology
Outsourcing order fulfillment gives you access to a better technology experience that will help you run your business more effectively. A good amount of order fulfillment companies use state-of-the-art software for tracking shipments, inventory monitoring, and accounting platforms. And when you patronize them, you are given access to the best software available for a small fee. A fulfillment center allows business owners to take measures to benefit their businesses.
Summary
Outsourcing order fulfillment for your business will do you much good. The benefits of a fulfillment center should be more emphasized, from giving you a more organized company to effectively handling the crucial part of your business. But if you decide to outsource fulfillment to a fulfillment center, ensure you do your research.
About Us – Atlas Packaging Inc
Atlas Packaging & Displays was founded with the vision of manufacturing innovative, value-added packaging materials and products from recycled and renewable materials. We help small businesses, eCommerce companies and franchises create packaging designs that suit every company. Check out our service page to learn more about our services.
