The process of receiving, packaging, and shipping a customer’s order is known as order fulfillment in the supply chain. It begins when a buyer places their order and comes to an accomplishment when the order gets shipped.
Employees may order fulfillment in a business’s warehouse or get outsourced fulfillment from 3PL companies. If done in-house, the automated approaches might help your eCommerce fulfillment team’s workload as you grow.
What Is eCommerce Order Fulfillment?
Order fulfillment in eCommerce is the exact process as other fulfillment processes but starts when the customer places an order through an online store.
These orders are usually placed on a website run using a headless eCommerce platform or through an online marketplace. It allows you to sell and manage B2B and B2C (B2B vs. B2C) orders in a single platform.
Fulfilling these orders is a significant revenue driver and can increase eCommerce sales. Following the eCommerce order fulfillment process carefully blurs the chances of failure. Order fulfillment systems are used for tracking the processes such as shipping orders.
Describing the process of order fulfillment
The order fulfillment process involves accepting, packaging, and dispatching a customer’s order. This process may contain other steps depending on your product’s nature and the scale of your eCommerce business.
The most anticipated stage for many firms is gathering or combining materials for various subscription boxes, such as the bakery subscription box, meat subscription box, and coffee bag subscription through product kitting. Another stage is to run a credit check on a B2B customer based on their order volume or size (or a prior billing issue).
The key to the order fulfillment process is that your fulfillment team, inventory control manager, or a third-party fulfillment provider practically fully handles it.
Drop Shipping vs. Order Fulfillment
Drop shipping is an option if you need more space or staff to fulfill orders independently. Drop shipping is a business concept in which you sell things to your consumers from a supplier without ever stocking them yourself.
There are several advantages to employing drop shipping:
- It requires little initial investment because you never own things so you may start and expand your business.
- It lowers overhead costs because you don’t need to pay for a warehouse or employees.
- The fulfillment process is automated, and dropshipping vendors/suppliers are well-versed in shipping and tracking.
There are some disadvantages. First and foremost, you rely entirely on your supplier(s) to check, package, and send products to your clients. If there are any problems during the procedure, you should resolve them on your own. Second, you will be limited to the products that the provider can send. If your clients request additional product varieties, this can make expansion challenging.
Types of Order Fulfillment
Businesses use four primary order fulfillment models to get products to their consumers: in-house, third-party, drop shipping, and hybrid. Every model has its benefits and flaws that are crucial to consider before determining which is right for your business.
In-house fulfillment
When a business manages all aspects of order fulfillment, from manufacturing to customer service and everything in between, That is accepting orders, storing them, forwarding or delivering. The key blessing of in-house fulfillment is that it gives you complete control over every part of the process and permits you to respond quickly to shifts in customer demand. The drawback is that setting up and maintaining an in-house fulfillment operation can be expensive, particularly when you have few orders.
Third-party fulfillment
When a company outsources all or part of its fulfillment operations to a third party, the main advantage of working with a third-party fulfillment service is that you may save on labor and other costs associated with running a fulfillment operation. The disadvantage is that you will have less control over your fulfillment process and may face lengthier shipping times.
Drop shipping
When a company hires a third-party fulfillment service to ship products directly to customers on its behalf, the fundamental advantage of drop shipping is that it eliminates the need for a company to keep inventory or manage shipment operations. The disadvantage is that you will have less control over the quality of your products and may face lengthier shipment times.
Hybrid fulfillment
It is a combination of the three models above and can be customized to fit the exact needs of a business. The main benefit of hybrid fulfillment is that it lets companies benefit from each model’s best features. The downside is that it can be more pricey and complicated to set up and handle a hybrid fulfillment operation.
Reasons to choose Shipive as your fulfillment partner.
Quick Service :
Every business demands its services to go efficiently and smoothly. We are all set to provide you with customized 3PL services that are perfect for catering to your business needs.
No hidden charges:
Many 3PL fulfillment warehousing services charge hidden charges that make the final bill a real disappointment. At Shipive, we ensure flat charges til the overall storage period.
Careful Workflow:
The proper logistics channel is followed at Shipive. We store your items in the most secure way possible and hand them over to the nearest fulfillment center for the final proceedings.
To enhance your business with unbeatable revenue figures, connect with Shipive and get the proper, secure, and quality warehousing solution.