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If you are in the ecommerce business then you know how important it is to have a source for your Ecommerce fulfillment . It will ensure that your customers receive their products on time and that you do not run out of stock. In this article I will go through some of the most common uses for Ecommerce fulfillment services as well as explaining what exactly it involves.

Ecommerce fulfillment is the act of getting orders from a web store (or website) and picking, packaging, and shipping them directly to individual buyers around the world. Many ecommerce businesses use a distribution company to fulfill this order fulfillment function. This company places your orders on their own pick-up truck and delivers the items to the customer. This is very advantageous since you do not have to individually load each item onto your own pickup truck as you would if you were doing your own pick-up and delivery. Instead, your supply chain handles the details so all you have to do is direct your customers to the order fulfillment site.

Another advantage to using an ecommerce fulfillment service is that it helps cut down on the amount of inventory you have to purchase. Most Web stores only purchase a small percentage of their overall merchandise in stock. When you have thousands of products to ship out on a regular basis, you add up to a lot of inventory to buy and manage. In addition, warehouses typically charge a hefty warehouse fee each month just to hold all of the inventory they sell. When you utilize the services of a fulfillment company you eliminate this cost and pass it along to your customers by greatly reducing the number of products you need to warehouse.

Ecommerce fulfillment centers also offer storage options for products that do not qualify for direct shipping. It may be more convenient and cost effective to simply hold the product at the warehouse until you receive an order and can fulfill it yourself. In addition, some warehousing companies offer a drop shipping program. This is great for people who make a little extra money online selling other people’s products, but who don’t want to hassle with shipping products. Drop shipping allows you to have products sent directly to your customer without ever seeing or holding the product in your warehouse.

Many people worry about the reliability of ecommerce fulfillment companies. In most cases they are very reliable and dependable. If a warehouse doesn’t have the required equipment or workers to deliver the products when you’re paying them, they will be held accountable. Many major corporations have several warehouses throughout the country that can meet customer expectations. These warehouses are staffed by professional workers who are very aware of the items that they are carrying and how they are packaged to meet customer expectations. In most cases these warehouses can prove to be much more reliable than your own warehouse.

The downside of using ecommerce fulfillment services isn’t really a downside at all. The biggest drawback is not being able to do everything on your own. Most ecommerce fulfillment services offer support for the full range of operations, which includes picking, packing, shipping, and billing. If you aren’t tech savvy, you might not be able to handle this part on your own.

Another issue you may come across when using an in-house ecommerce fulfillment services is a lack of resources for employees. If you already have an in-house IT staff which does everything from basic web presence to the back end of customer service then using an outside fulfillment company may not be a bad idea. However, if you’re a small business just starting out or you’ve got limited resources, outsourcing your order fulfillment requirements is probably going to be your best bet. You’ll find that the costs are typically far lower than what you would pay to maintain in-house staff. Plus, you can get services for less than half the cost that you would pay an in-house employee.

Ecommerce fulfillment services also allow you to manage your returns process much easier. Since most orders are final once they leave your website, you need to have tracking information to ensure that your products arrive in the same condition as they were shipped. Without tracking information, you could be sending parcels back to your customers with incomplete tracking information or simply never getting your returned packages to you at all. An ecommerce fulfillment company will take care of tracking information for you, so all you have to do is provide your customer service information and shipment details.