Which e-commerce order fulfillment strategy is best for your business?

DelGate Team
August 3, 2022
3pl-third party logistics

Do you find it a struggle to fulfill orders from customers and provide a leading brand experience? In this article, we want to cover the best order fulfillment strategy and analyze 5 ways to improve your order fulfillment process.
It takes work to build your internet brand. To produce your product, create packaging, design a plan that regularly brings visitors to your online store, and deliver the level of customer service that your customers need, require a tremendously huge amount of effort and attention.

Table of Contents

Order fulfillment KPI

The majority of business owners put a lot of effort into developing amazing products and establishing their brands yet order fulfillment strategy typically ranks quite low on the list of priorities. The act of getting one of your items is the most personal encounter with your brand, although order fulfillment isn’t typically viewed as the most exciting aspect of running a business.

fulfillment service

Common secret sauce among all thriving internet companies

All of them have excellent e-commerce order fulfillment methods. Using tactics that are completely in line with their needs and demands, they can make sure that the customer experience is at the center of everything they do.
The three most effective e-commerce order strategies are used by the most prosperous companies to boost their online success and set themselves apart from the competition. The following factors will determine which is best for your company:

The size of your good
The volume of orders you get
How rapidly do you intend to grow your company

You just need to scroll down the page to find the best strategy for your company. You will be informed completely.

In-house order fulfillment

This practice also referred to as “self-fulfillment” often occurs when businesses maintain their inventory, accept orders through their e-commerce site or marketplace, and then ship the ordered item straight to the buyer, fulfilling the transaction themselves.
The majority of the time, this is how brands begin. It is simple to set up and significantly more affordable while order quantities are still quite low. It simply becomes unsustainable to continue counting on your best friend Sue and your uncle Dave to help you ship orders around the clock as your business expands and the volume of orders increases.

It might be quite challenging to satisfy your customers’ expectations when your order volume truly starts to soar. Do you think it can be your order fulfillment strategy in the future? So, let’s review the pros and cons.

Advantages: You maintain complete control; it should go without saying that an in-house successful fulfillment strategy provides you with more power to shape how customers interact with your business. You ship each order separately, allowing you to personalize each one more thoroughly.
Depending on the size of your business and operations, in-house order fulfillment will save you money because you won’t have to pay for storage and other related costs.

Disadvantage: Time and energy are two resources that most organizations lack, so in-house fulfillment often goes unnoticed or is given low priority since not enough people are dedicated to it.
Less shipping charges are potential.

Third-party logistics companies can negotiate the finest deals and obtain the most affordable shipping rates since they have solid ties with the most reliable carriers around the globe. It is really difficult to achieve the same amount of negotiation leverage as one firm.

Dropshipping

The e-commerce fulfillment technique is where the manufacturer, acting on behalf of the merchant, sends the goods directly to the customer. Dropshipping is a well-liked fulfillment because it allows the store to concentrate solely on marketing and selling the items, minimizing expenses and assuming less risk.

Advantage: Since you don’t have to handle and keep goods, there is no need for a warehouse or staff to fill orders. Your best-selling items and new products may both be evaluated in the market.

Disadvantages: Lack of control over packing and shipping makes it challenging to develop your brand and create an engaging experience that will persuade buyers to buy your items.
Higher fulfillment expenses may be a consequence of drop shipping. When dropship, you are responsible for covering the actual expenses of selecting, packaging, and shipping.
It’s more cutthroat, there’s a low entrance barrier, and many individuals will be selling the same goods. Most of the time, whoever offers the lowest price gets the consumer, and when If a client solely purchases from you based on price, it generates very little long-term brand loyalty.

Third-party order fulfillment strategy

Businesses must make a serious decision about whether to use a third party to fulfill consumer orders. You are entrusting someone else with a crucial aspect of creating a positive client experience and establishing your brand.

However, if you are currently spending most of your time completing orders rather than focusing on your business, it may be time to outsource to a firm with relevant experience and a successful track record.
The correct 3PL may also assist you with growing your company when you enter new markets and distribution channels, such as Amazon FBA preparation or physical storefronts.

Advantages: The only focus will be on time and energy, which leads to growing your business. Also, a third-party order fulfillment strategy has the potential to be a key strategic partner. Besides, there is no need to store your inventory since the providers have flexible warehousing solutions well suited for your business.

Disadvantages: Finding a third-party fulfillment service might be challenging, but that is the only issue you can have. Many third-party fulfillment companies are vying for your business, but it’s vital to pick one that can satisfy your demands and expand your business, especially when those needs alter. The last thing you need is a partnership with a fulfillment company that you will exceed in six months.

How to choose the ideal 3PL for your company order fulfillment strategy

Before making a choice, there are a few important things you should ask any prospective partner if you think it could be time for your company to work with a third-party fulfillment provider.

Warehouse capacity
Advanced technology
Cut-off time for the next delivery
Offered services in a full range
Customer support
Price

Read more about: Amazon FBA: Pros and Cons, Which one is the best?

5 ways to improve your order fulfillment process

Once an order is placed for a company, whole efforts are taken to fulfill it with as much perfection as possible. improving the order fulfillment process is of course the main way to provide the perfect service and let the customer have the best purchase experience. But improving this process is not easy as no company or business affair is easy to do, while if it is not more important than the other factors, it’s not for sure less than others.

How can I improve my order fulfillment?

The fulfillment process affects directly the timing and the timing subsequently affects the customer feedback; considering a well-organized setting to perform this process boosts the feedback and increases the probability of purchase repeat. Here in this article, some efficient strategies and tips are listed to improve the fulfillment process.
order fulfillment process example:

Outsourcing the order fulfillment process

An efficient strategy to improve the fulfillment process is to assign this mission to a third party and then you feel free to focus more on the core content of your business. This strategy is called 3PL or third-party logistics and this is done by a 3PL service provider which handles the whole fulfillment process by picking your product, packing it according to the customer’s desire, and shipping it to the customer with some excess services.

If you benefit from a 3PL provider, you may expect to improve the order fulfillment process, because the whole order is performed by a specialized team, which ensures you the quality of packing and faster shipping service.

Of course, you should keep an eye on your inventory in the warehouse of the third party, and support the item whenever you run short of inventory.

Organizing the warehouse and inventory

If your company owns a warehouse, you should be able to track and find the ordered item easily in that and mediate it into the packing step. The warehouse organization needs a coherent setting and management to keep the inventory up to date and predict the storing costs and when you are going short of an item.

One efficient and low-cost way to manage the warehouse is through the relevant software and applications. Using software causes the use of less energy and time for counting and tracking the items in the warehouse. The database should be always up to date and whenever an order is placed the software would subtract the quantity of the cart from your inventory.

Another important strategy is to use barcodes on the stored products. This helps you track the ordered product in your warehouse according to the preset units. The faster you pick your item, the faster you may prepare it to ship.

Quality packing

The first thing that your customer sees is the package of the parcel. It is clear that the first impression has a significant effect on the customer’s opinion. If your company seeks a high rate of satisfaction, never ignore this step in the fulfillment process.

The rate of packing depends on your facilities, but the faster you pack the orders, the faster you prepare for dispatching them. Use a professional team specialized in packing and offering various packing options to the customer.

Choosing the best pack is a key factor in this step. You have a wide variety and choices but you should consider the optimum one to keep the packing step still less costly. The parcel may be palletized and secured with bubble wrap. Other choices are available and depend on the order of content.

Economization of the fulfillment process

It would help if you always tried to keep the costs of the fulfillment process as low as possible. It depends on the staff, the weight of the order, the distance, and the shipping service you use. So you should have a complete plan for all of them and how to save money during these processes.

As said before, you need an organized warehouse and in order to have this, you should use a warehouse management system that reports every essential data about your inventory. For reducing your costs and finding an order fulfillment strategy to do so, using software instead of labor lessens significantly your costs.

If you don’t own a warehouse, you need to choose a warehouse that suits your budget. Also if you use a distributor that supports the whole supply chain, would cost you less.

e-commerce order fulfillment strategy is best for your business

Shipping management

Reducing the delivery surcharges is so important in the economization of fulfillment costs. Your shipping rates should vary depending on the different options that you provide for your customer, for example, express shipping or delivery services like tracking the parcel in every step of the order fulfillment.

The best way to lessen your shipping cost is to work with a 3PL and find the best order fulfillment strategy, which manages and handles the shipping affairs and offers various options to your customer to fund your shipping costs. Using a 3PL provider would let you get rid of shipping complexities and affairs, while a 3PL company uses a professional team to set the optimum prices for shipping, for example setting high rates for low volumes of orders.

In order to keep the shipping rate low, you may store some of your products in warehouses near your significant client base. In this case, you undergo less dispatching fee as most of your customers live near the forecasted logistics. This option depends on the volume of your inventory.

Also if you produce a spoiling item, you may not be able to store it for a long time near your client base just to lessen the shipping fees. Moreover, you should manage the long-distance warehouse inventory counts to avoid any order failures due to a lack of goods.

Learn more about: Courier Service in Canada

The final word

If you have any questions or doubts about how to improve your order fulfillment process and find the best order fulfillment strategy and make it optimum, feel free to contact the Delgate company which offers you quality solutions and consultations that are personalized for your own business. You can enjoy the experienced staff of the Delgate group who are professional in the order fulfillment process affairs and would do their bests to offer you the consultation services that boost your company.