Most brand-new ecommerce businesses usually handle fulfillment services in-house. When your sales volume is relatively low starting out, order fulfillment is rather straightforward. All it takes is your time and some minimal costs. As you scale however, order fulfillment becomes a different beast entirely. If your fulfillment is not properly optimized, it could severely affect your brand and sales.
That is why many ecommerce businesses turn to third-party logistics companies (3PLs). 3PLs can handle their fulfillment needs and empower them to focus on growing their business.
Here are 3 signs of a world-class online fulfillment service you should look out for when choosing a 3PL partner.
#1 Rapid Order Fulfillment
When was the last time you abandoned your cart at checkout because of long delivery times? Did you know 25% of shoppers have done so because they weren’t offered one- or two-day shipping?
While this sounds intuitive, it bears repeating. E-commerce customers want to receive what they ordered online quickly and as cheap as possible. The benefits of delivering orders quickly go beyond just happy customers. If done right, you can on customer loyalty similar to what Amazon does with their Amazon Prime membership.
As such, a world-class online fulfillment service should be able to offer you the option of same-day shipping (or better) at a reasonable cost.
SnT Global is a 3PL company renowned for their delivery speed. In addition to their existing partnerships with local couriers, they recently partnered with CollectCo to form a nationwide Pick Up Drop Off (PUDO) network that further improved their speed of order fulfillment.
#2 Low Error Rate
While the cost-per-fulfillment-error might not be high, these errors can be costly if you factor in the possibility of losing customers as a result of these errors. After all, 38% of shoppers in a study indicated they would take their business elsewhere if they experience poor delivery.
One way to avoid this is to use radio-frequency (RF) technology. Using RF technology, your warehouse workers can confirm the right product has been picked up quickly and accurately. By reducing the amount of time spent manually checking each product, your fulfillment service becomes more efficient.
This is not a novel solution; large 3PLs are already implementing this as we speak. For example, SnT Global has successfully incorporated RF technology into their proprietary eHUB warehouse management system. Through the use of barcode scanning, it generates time stamps at each key stage of the fulfillment process, which is stored for further review if needed.
#3 Flexibility
Metaphorically, a world-class online fulfillment service should be like a belt. You should be able to tighten it up or loosen it after a big meal or weight loss. Similarly, a fulfillment center should offer you cost flexibility as the demand for your goods fluctuates, such that your logistic costs move in tandem with the revenue you’re seeing.
In layman’s terms, they should have the capacity to handle large volumes and varieties of SKUs. Their system should be modular and responsive to change, so that they can modify capacity rapidly and cost-effectively without jeopardizing order delivery. This enables them to scale with the growth of their client, just like loosening or tightening a belt.
For some e-commerce businesses, personalization is a huge part of their marketing strategy. As such, they require that their fulfillment service partner have the flexibility to accommodate a wide range of demands.
In this regard, SnT Global is currently leading the pack. Whether you need to insert a seasonal greeting card for your customers, flexible packaging design tailored to your brand, or accommodate inevitable last minute changes like a mother who ordered the wrong-colored bag for her daughter, SnT Global has you covered with its eCARE system. Through their eCARE ticketing system, you can put in a request for a wide range of flexible value-add services (such as 24 hour express or 48 hour economical shipping) that is handled promptly by SnT Global. These issues are also recorded as data, which provides you the analytic capability to take the appropriate steps moving forward.
Want To Experience World-Class Fulfillment Service?
With their state-of-the-art eFulfillment system, SnT Global can help their clients reach their fulfillment goals with the three traits mentioned above.
Contact them now to find out how they can help you meet the logistics needs of your business and your customers at an unbeatable rate.