One of the biggest challenges of any eCommerce business is order fulfillment.
Although it’s exciting to think about setting up an online storefront and selling products globally, there are some serious challenges when it comes to keeping your customers happy.
Shipping overseas can be a lengthy process:
Your products need to pass inspection and adhere to regional regulations. The longer it takes for your shipments to get into the hands of your customers, the more likely they are to express discontent and take their business elsewhere.
(On the flipside, if you are doing B2C, find out how you can avoid the hassle described in the above paragraph and ship globally from Hong Kong at near domestic rates to anywhere in the world–most of the time, without the need for time intensive inspections and duties. Fill out the form here to find out how.)
Fortunately, there are worthwhile solutions.
For example, eCommerce fulfillment services can be used to get your shipments delivered to customers in a timely manner. Because they know the ins and outs of transporting goods to different regions, they’ll be able to bypass a lot of the hassle.
Here’s how you can keep your customers happy using eCommerce fulfillment services:
By Outsourcing Fulfillment, You Can Stay Focused On High Level Business Tasks
With order fulfillment off of your plate, you can focus on more important tasks like marketing, sales, building strategic partnerships, improving your website, and of course, customer service.
There are many logistical concerns and expenses that have to be dealt with when you are fulfilling orders directly:
- Staffing
- Storage
- Warehousing
- Receiving and moving
- Inventory
- Packing
- Shipping
- And so on.
As you can see, this is time and effort intensive work.
If you’d like to spend more time talking to your customers and doing what you do best, then hiring a fulfillment service makes a lot of sense.
By Hiring A Fulfillment Service, You Can Reduce Your Overhead
Yes, outsourcing can actually be quite cost-effective. Of course, this may not be readily apparent unless you can see the bigger picture.
What is your time worth?
Imagine, you as a business owner handling everything from packing to shipping of products. You would basically be doing low level tasks at a higher cost, which is a very expensive way of fulfilling orders.
You also need to think about the costs of warehousing, equipment, staffing, packing supplies, insurance, security, software, and much more.
If you outsource to a fulfillment center, you only pay for the services they perform on your behalf. This means that your fulfillment costs will fluctuate less, and your expenses will remain much more predictable.
Assuming your fulfillment service knows what they’re doing, products will also be distributed to a variety of different locations without a hitch, which means happier customers.
By Outsourcing Fulfillment, You Can Stay Far More Agile & Flexible
Are you looking to add products to your inventory? Are you planning on running limited-time discounts or holiday promotions?
Constant change is the name of the game in eCommerce.
However, if you have to deal with order fulfillment, you may need to hire more staff, purchase new equipment, or learn about the specific regulations of the regions you will be shipping to. Keeping up with promotions could very quickly turn nightmarish.
With the help of a fulfillment center, you can focus on what’s important to you:
You can stay flexible in your approach and offer the products your customers really want.
This also help with keeping your customers happy since you can continue to add new offerings to your store without the added headache of shipping challenges.
Final Thoughts
Order fulfillment is bar none one of the toughest aspects of maintaining a profitable eCommerce business.
By hiring a fulfillment service, you can really free yourself up to focus on what’s most important: your customers.
Not only will your customers be happier, you will be too, because your company will be far more profitable, and you won’t have to deal with a lot of the challenges associated with maintaining and shipping your inventory.
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