Order Fulfillment Solutions: Guide and Tips to Enhance Your Ecommerce Business

What are Order Fulfillment Solutions?

Order fulfillment solutions are a set of processes and technologies used by ecommerce businesses to efficiently send – deliver – receive products to customers. These solutions integrate many different content and tasks, often including: inventory management, order processing, picking speed management, packaging and shipping. All aim to create a seamless, synchronized and unified workflow in each step, while optimizing operations and efficiency by taking advantage of advanced technology and automation.

A specific example of this could be the case where you are operating a handmade jewelry business on the global ecommerce platform like Shopify. Instead of doing each process manually, you choose to cooperate with a provider that provides a complete range of order fulfillment solutions, helping you do all-in-one steps according to a specific process: automatically recording orders when customers place – automatically send notification to warehouse to check quantity and specific notification on web – warehouse staff locate, pack and create shipping label – hand over to carrier – continuously update and track orders on the app.

It’s all done automatically and quickly on one platform, and as an ecommerce business owner, you can operate it remotely without wasting time traveling, worrying or having to mobilize too many operational personnels.

Types of Order Fulfillment Models

Before deciding to use order fulfillment solutions, you should have a certain understanding of order fulfillment models. From there, you can choose the type with the features and operation that best suits the nature of your business. Some popular types of order fulfillment models:

• In-house fulfillment: The ecommerce business will manage all aspects of order fulfillment, from receiving orders to shipping goods. This model allows businesses to have 100% control over order processing, but means that it will require significant investment in warehouse space, employees, and operating technology platforms.
• Outsourced fulfillment: Businesses choose to partner with third-party order fulfillment solutions providers to handle order fulfillment. The provider is responsible for consulting, operating and reporting all parameters and results related to the business’s ecommerce order fulfillment, doing everything from A to Z. This choice helps you focus more on other core activities, and benefit from the high expertise and infrastructure of the 3rd provider.
• Dropshipping: Choosing this method, you and your business will collaborate directly with the units shipping products to customers when ordering. This model eliminates the worry of inventory management, as well as the upfront investment in renting warehouse space, but can result in low margins and less control over the ecommerce order fulfillment process.

Why are Order Fulfillment Solutions Important?

Order fulfillment is a factor that needs special attention, any business owner must admit that, including you. In the context of fierce competition in the ecommerce market, and “grabbing” customers at every stage is gradually becoming a race, using order fulfillment solutions is gradually becoming a pioneering and increasingly popular choice, affirming their core roles for ecommerce business.

• Enhance customer satisfaction: Processing and shipping orders in a timely and accurate manner is extremely important to ensure not only satisfaction, but also return rates and customer loyalty, both old and new (the data given above proves it). Not only stopping at on-time delivery after a seamless ecommerce checkout process delivering earlier than expected with optimal services for customer experience is the key point that every ecommerce business needs to look for when using order fulfillment solutions.
• Enhance competitiveness: Seamless processing, delivery and distribution of orders can help you save maximum time and effort during business operations. This can partly promote operational and business efficiency (because you do not need to spend too much time and worry on tasks related to order delivery, you can focus on macro factors related to the long-distance journey of the business).
• Cost-effective: Order fulfillment solutions can optimize overall costs thanks to technology that integrates all processes in an all-in-one format. For example, on the same platform, for the same fee, you can simultaneously manage inventory, order processing and shipping, thereby saving maximum personnel, storage and transportation costs.
• Growth and scalability: Most current order fulfillment solutions are scalable and advanced, allowing ecommerce businesses to easily increase order volume or expand into new markets, with new customer files without restrictions. You can confidently expand and grow your business to its full potential without worrying about growth opportunities with order fulfillment solutions.

Step 1: Receive and process orders

Customers of ecommerce businesses often tend to place orders through the company’s official website, by phone or by email. At this time, your team needs to clearly understand order information by automatically updating detailed information into the general management system. This system will verify the availability of items, and also check for personalized customer requests (if any) such as gift wrapping, or specific delivery dates.

This step needs to be checked carefully to prevent errors in performing the next steps in order processing.

Step 2: Inventory management and product selection

Next step, you need to get the ordered items from the warehouse. At this point, the inventory management system plays an important role because it determines the available quantity of items in the warehouse and creates picking lists for employees. This list includes items to select based on customer order requirements and their respective locations in the warehouse. Warehouse workers from order fulfillment solutions are responsible for collecting items, double-checking them for accuracy, and preparing them for packaging.

Step 3: Pack the goods and label

Once products are picked, they are moved to the packaging area. The packaging process often includes choosing the appropriate packaging material based on the specific size, shape, and fragility of the product (can use boxes, bubble wrap, or other materials that can protect the product).

Each package will need to be properly labeled, ensuring the product is delivered to the correct address, while allowing the delivery person to easily identify and check throughout the process.

Step 4: Shipping and continuous tracking

Packages that have been safely packaged and labeled will be officially shipped to customers. Depending on the process of selecting and working with a provider based on factors such as cost, speed and reliability, you will choose to cooperate with the appropriate carrier.

Throughout the shipping process, the order management system – sure, you will do it all on one software rather than manually tracking – will continuously update the order status to business owners, co-workers, and business owners while providing tracking information to customers. This brings peace of mind to both parties, as customers can also directly track the progress of their shipments in real time and know when their order will arrive.

Step 5: Deliver and receive feedback from customers

The final step in the order fulfillment solutions process is delivery to the customer. Consumers need to make sure the item they receive matches what they ordered. If there are any discrepancies, customers should easily contact the ecommerce business support team for immediate assistance.

You also need to regularly monitor customer feedback to continually improve the overall experience and encourage repeat business – a key element of your business.

Good scalability and flexibility

A good order fulfillment solutions provider that can accompany you over the long haul needs to adapt and offer flexible solutions to fluctuations in order volume, changes in peak seasons, and when there is a need to expand to new markets. You also need to be clear from the beginning that the supplier can expand its infrastructure, warehouse space and technology platform for growth in the near future without affecting efficiency or service quality.

Transparency in cost planning

You need to consider your cost structure as well as your pricing model to ensure it fits the budget your business is setting. Some types of costs you need to pay attention to include storage fees, picking fees, packaging fees, as well as how to price shipping costs to calculate the average fulfillment cost for each order. Make sure there are no additional costs (something you need to make clear in the contract), and negotiate prices based on your specific, tailor-made requirements to maximize profits.

Strong service level agreements (SLAs)

Right at the step of finding a partner for order fulfillment solutions, you should specify the service levels that this provider can bring, for example in terms of order quality after shipping or maximum shipping time. Providers are also required to have clear performance goals (that you can measure) and penalties for non-compliance.

Thoroughly evaluate the supplier network

To ensure you have the most suitable options for your ecommerce business, you need to choose order fulfillment solutions that offer a variety of shipping options. These options may include, but are not exhaustive: shipping standards, domestic/international shipping capabilities, to meet different customer needs. You should also consider providers that have long-term relationships with major carriers, such as FedEX, USPS or UPS, to access discounted rates and reliable delivery services.

Shopify Fulfillment Network

Shopify Fulfillment Network is an order fulfillment software for ecommerce businesses, exclusively for merchants using Shopify as an ecommerce shopping cart software. It provides inventory storage, efficient order routing, and optimized real-time order tracking for easy order management, while improving delivery times. This network has access to strategic fulfillment centers and advanced technology, helping your business scale effectively, while still keeping control of your operations.

Magestore Order Management

Magestore Order Management provides powerful and consistent order fulfillment solutions, designed for Magento merchants. It offers advanced and comprehensive features such as centralized order processing, inventory order management, multi-channel integration for seamless customer experience, streamlining the order fulfillment process, and enhancing operational efficiency on the business’s ecommerce platform.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)

This is one of the prominent names when it comes to order fulfillment solutions providers, provided by Amazon. FBA is responsible for a fully integrated service system, from picking, packing, and shipping to customers for orders through the Amazon marketplace. This order fulfillment software for ecommerce businesses provides huge access to Amazon’s vast customer base, offering Prime shipping benefits with a global delivery network. These superior advantages help your business easily expand its reach and optimize order fulfillment activities.

Flexport

Flexport is a modern freight forwarding and logistics platform, providing comprehensive supply chain solutions for businesses of all sizes. Regardless of spatial and geographical factors, Flexport can display, control and optimize the entire transportation process from sea and air freight, to customs clearance and storage. Featuring a modern digital platform and a dedicated support team, Flexport helps your business confidently enter the globalized world without worry.

ShipHero

ShipHero is a cloud-based order fulfillment solutions platform that provides basic to advanced features in warehouse and order management such as inventory control, thorough auditing of picking and packing processes, and automate shipping to streamline fulfillment processes and improve order accuracy. ShipHero is fully integrated with leading ecommerce platforms and shipping carriers, helping your business fulfill orders quickly, accurately, and cost-effectively.