The Ultimate Guide to Order Fulfillment

What is Order Fulfillment?

When a customer places an order it is good news for any business, but the work is not done until the order is fulfilled, and the customer receives the order. Order Fulfillment is a crucial task of assembling the order and shipping it to the customer and also the processes involved in those tasks. This blog is the Ultimate Guide to Order Fulfillment.

The entire order fulfillment cycle is made up of five primary steps starting with strategic sourcing and ending with shipping/delivery to the customer. Inventory management, supply chain management, order processing, quality control, and customer support are all a part of order fulfillment and many eCommerce businesses include them under one umbrella.

Order Fulfillment is the process of receiving a new order and delivering it to the customer’s doorstep. It involves processes like warehousing, picking, and packing the product, shipping it, and informing the customer through an automated email that their order is in transit.?

A lot of the order fulfillment process can take place under one roof in a well-organized warehouse, depending on the size of the business. Small businesses manage their order fulfillment in-house through simple processes. But with huge companies, it becomes more complex to handle the processes in-house. But in either case, the main goal is to efficiently deliver the products the customer ordered as quickly, reliably, and inexpensively as possible.

Steps Involved In Order Fulfillment

1. Receiving Inventory: An eCommerce business can choose either of the two ways to handle its inventory. It can choose to receive and stock the inventory in-house or it can outsource an order fulfillment company to take care of its stock and other related activities.If the eCommerce company chooses the first option, it will be liable for taking stock, examining the inventory, labeling, and managing the inventory system. If the company chooses the second option, all these tasks will be managed by the fulfillment company.?
2. Storing Inventory: If you choose to warehouse the inventory yourself, there will be a list of tasks awaiting on receiving the inventory. The major tasks will be to store the items in the inventory and keep a strict watch on what items come in and what goes out so that the shipping is done without any delays.?

1. Processing the Order: Businesses that outsource order fulfillment are not required to know much about order processing because once they partner with a fulfillment company, they can rely completely on the fulfillment provider to manage all the processes.?For businesses that manage their own inventory, this is the part where the order is picked from the shelves, sent off to the packing station, examined for any damages, placed in boxes, and moved to the shipping location.
2. Shipping the Order: Depending on the size, weight, and specific requirements of the order, the suitable shipping method is determined. Usually, a third party is chosen to fulfill this step.

1. Handling Returns: For online buyers, the return of the product is a major factor in the buying operation. In order to keep the process of returning items as efficient as possible, you need to make a clear return policy for the customers so that it makes it easy for both the buyers and the staff. Having this step automated can help you avoid any unwanted errors.

Why is Order Fulfillment important?

Order Fulfillment is the heart of every business. It is how companies complete their sales. Companies make money by selling their products to other businesses or directly to the customer. Whether you’re B2B or D2C, the sale is not completed until the sold items are not received by the customer. That’s how the companies are able to make money and if the sales are not completed, it becomes difficult to sustain the market.

In order to create a positive shopping experience, businesses must invest effort into reducing order fulfillment time, even though this may result in increased expenses. Let's examine Amazon's fulfillment strategy and its associated expenditures over the years as an example.

Order Fulfillment Challenges

Order fulfillment challenges range from supply shortages and inventory management issues to failure in demand and logistics planning.

1. Inventory Management: Customer unhappiness, failures in the whole customer experience, and brand reputation are all consequences of running out of stock. It is tough for businesses to restore the damage once it has occurred.?However, there are certain exceptions: Customers are more understanding when shortages and delays are caused by widespread weather damage or natural disasters.?
2. Demand Planning: Keeping too many goods in the inventory, on the other hand, raises storage and transportation costs. It also raises your risk because demand for those things may fall before you sell them.It's critical to carefully forecast and plan for demand levels in order to keep appropriate supplies on hand without ever running out or storing too much of any given item.
3. Logistics Planning: Slow or missed deliveries, broken products, and damaged or wet packaging can all harm a company's reputation and future sales, and thus its profitability.?It is therefore critical to carefully manage logistics so that shipping does not go wrong and items are not destroyed.?
4. Supply Chain Execution: Developing a supply chain strategy requires weighing cost vs. benefit tradeoffs in operational decisions. For example, a company may select a single supplier for a specific product in order to benefit from price cuts due to increased volume.?That's also an excellent method for gaining priority status with the vendor, which can make a difference in delivering things on time during high-demand seasons. Using a singular supplier strategy, on the other hand, might backfire if anything goes wrong for that vendor, from employee strikes to natural calamities to their own supply problems.

How Do You Choose an Order Fulfillment Strategy?

When choosing an order fulfillment plan, businesses have various options. Depending on your company's capabilities and resources, you may pick in-house fulfillment or outsourced fulfillment.

By conducting fulfillment in-house, you gain more control over operations and expenses if you have the resources. If your company's in-house expertise and resources are somewhere in the center, you can consider a hybrid strategy to get some of the best of both worlds.

If fulfillment and logistics abilities and resources are limited, you may be better off totally outsourcing order fulfillment. This allows your staff to concentrate its efforts on manufacturing and marketing the product, and it frequently results in greater predictability. In-house fulfillment requires you to employ people, own the warehouse, and ensure that every item is delivered flawlessly. Many of these issues are eliminated when you outsource order fulfillment.

Examine the goods, prospective fulfillment choices, and fulfillment prices to determine the best decision for your company. A thorough financial analysis should point you in the right direction.

Improve your Order Fulfillment with Fulfillment Plus

Fulfillment Plus has been in the fulfillment industry for more than 40 years serving its customers with the best fulfillment services throughout New York.?

Being one of the best fulfillment companies in New York, Fulfillment Plus never leaves you disappointed whether it is storing your inventory, shipping the products, or delivering undamaged products to the customers.?

Our 99.8% accuracy rate of delivering the products to the customers timely is what we take pride in because no matter what your ultimate partner is here to take care of everything you desire in a fulfillment partner.?

Choose your trusted and reliable partner today to worry-free yourself from unwanted business activities.

For more information get in touch with us at 888-256-7790.