7 Reasons You Should Consider Outsourcing Order Fulfillment
So you’ve started an e-commerce business. Orders are coming in and business is growing. You’ve heard about online fulfillment centers and are wondering if it makes sense for your business. If you’re wondering “why outsource fulfillment?” here are 7 reasons you may want to consider.
1. Save Time for Your Business
You’ve heard the saying… “time is money”. Well, it’s true. If you are filling your own e-commerce orders it’s costing you time that you could otherwise spend on activities to help propel your business forward.
For example, spending your time on additional marketing efforts could help increase sales. Or, time spent on developing new products or services could provide for additional revenue for your business.
If you are spending your time shipping orders, that’s time you are not spending on growing your business. Outsourcing your fulfillment can allow you to spend more time on efforts that will increase your bottom line.
2. Outsource Fulfillment to Save Money
Let’s say that your business has grown and you hired employees to help you pick and pack your orders. Great! You’re not taking your personal time to fill orders.
However, the cost of adding staff to your business can be much greater than the cost of simply outsourcing your order fulfillment. Additional employees can require additional expenses, benefits, recruiting efforts, training time, and more.
When you outsource your fulfillment, you let the third party fulfillment center deal with hiring, training and covering the payroll expenses for the individuals picking and packing your product.
3. Eliminate the Need for Warehouse and Storage Space
What about the physical storage of your product? Where are you storing it? How are you keeping it organized? How are you monitoring inventory? When you’re filling your own orders you need to consider all of these questions.
Depending on the size of the product you’re selling, holding inventory can require additional warehousing space and/or warehouse equipment to move the items around.
When you outsource your fulfillment, a third party handles these logistics for you. An order fulfillment center will receive the product, unload it from the truck, store it in their warehouse, maneuver it with their warehouse equipment, and access what is needed to pick and pack your orders. Since these logistic providers are experienced at dealing with inventory, they are able to manage your inventory safely and efficiently with minimal losses.
4. Give Yourself a Break!
What if your business is a one-man show? The internet and recent technological tools have enabled many people to build their own businesses and operate them successfully independently!
However, what if you want to take a break? Need a vacation? Have a family emergency?
What happens to your business when you aren’t available 24/7?
If you’re the only one fulfilling orders, orders will be delayed, you’ll have unhappy customers, and get negative reviews.
If you outsource fulfillment, you can avoid business interruption. You can take that vacation and relax comfortably knowing that your orders are being fulfilled and shipped out the same day they are received.
5. Utilizing a Fulfillment Center Allows you to Reduce Overhead Expenses
buying in bulk can be very cost-effective. So it’s tempting to save money on your packaging supplies by purchasing them in bulk. But depending on the frequency of your orders, it can be difficult to shell out the initial cost of these supplies. In addition, storing pallets of shipping boxes and packing tape isn’t always ideal.
When you work with in order fulfillment center, you can potentially reduce the cost of your overhead as the logistics provider may have greater purchasing power and/or contracts with suppliers. The cost of some overhead expenses like packaging supplies can be minimized.
6. Orders Packed by a 3PL Provider Look Professionally Packed
Orders packed by a third-party logistics provider look professionally packaged, because they are.
While some business owners are able to pack their products in a professional looking manner, it’s not always easy to do so. Having the right supplies and tools to put together a presentable package and label can require tools and services that are not always affordable to small businesses.
Logistics companies are experts at packaging materials and work it shipping companies to print professional looking shipping labels.
7. Reduce Shipping Time and Costs
Location, location, location. Shipping takes time and costs money. Utilizing an order fulfillment center closer to your customers and/or closer to your suppliers can potentially reduce your shipping costs and time associated with shipping.
For example, let’s say you operate a business whose primary customers are on the East Coast but you operate from the West Coast. By placing your product in the hands of a fulfillment center in New York your product will be closer to its customer base, shipping costs will be lower, and their product will arrive faster than if you were shipping from the West Coast.
These 7 reasons to outsource fulfillment save your business time and money.
Utilizing an order fulfillment center is one small change that can lead to big changes in your bottom line!
If you’re considering outsourcing fulfillment and would like to learn more, we’d love to discuss Captech Logistics’ capabilities with you. Give us a call or contact us today.