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If you’re in the business of selling things, whether it’s physical or digital and you want to increase your profit margins, you’ll need to know about fulfillment services. Fulfillment services work on delivery of products to the customer. The most common type of fulfillment service is to send the merchandise directly from the manufacturer to the customer, called fulfillment centers. These are usually in a warehouse, but companies that offer this service can also have fulfillment centers in retail stores and online websites. There are several advantages to using fulfillment companies for fast delivery:

Shipping with a fulfillment partner reduces inventory hold times for many types of ecommerce fulfillment services. This holds down costs for both the customer and the manufacturer. It is especially helpful for companies offering drop shipping services, as they don’t need to keep large amounts of stock on hand in their own warehouses, which can be a storage nightmare.

Drop shipping ecommerce sites often run on low cost per item, wholesaling rates. Fulfillment centers offer the ability to ship items directly from the manufacturer to the customer, cutting out the middleman. This eliminates the cost of holding inventory and the added expense of holding unused inventory. Some warehousing and inventory providers even provide onsite fulfillment centers where the items can be stored until shipping time.

Shipping with a fulfillment company also cuts down on shipping costs for the company. Shipping with a third party greatly reduces the need for packaging, fulfillment, and additional shipping staff. Some providers have sophisticated systems that allow them to package and mail items at a fraction of the cost of traditional packaging methods. They can provide complete packaging solutions for any size order, including couriers such as USPS, FedEx, or UPS. This is an important part of creating a successful online business.

An ecommerce website also benefits from fulfillment because it gives the end customer more options for pricing, selection, and purchasing. An online store cannot accurately display all available products, keep track of available inventory, and process return orders all at once. Proper storage of product inventory is also extremely important to the profitability of any business. Providing adequate storage is an important part of maintaining an accurate inventory level and keeping the end customer satisfied.

Fulfillment centers are able to offer highly efficient and timely service. When an order is placed, the order is processed immediately, so there is no lead time when items are in transit. The logistics staff takes care of all the details, from packing, paperwork, to shipping and delivery. Once the order is on the shelf, the company can offer quick turnarounds, so customers can shop from the site, through an easy to use interface, and have their orders shipped to them in just a few days.

A fulfillment company will also help businesses streamline their supply chain. Many fulfillment services offer a wide variety of on-demand solutions for just about every business function. For example, if a company needs a large number of pallets of tape or large quantities of printed circuit board, there will be a fast and effective solution. There is no need to set up a warehouse to stock these items, and the staff needed to handle returns, damages, and shrinkage would be unnecessary. The logistics staff takes care of all the specifics, and shipbob rolls out thousands of pallets per day, making sure that companies never run out of tape or boards.

Fulfillment centers also provide a number of on-demand services to address other operational issues. Some of these services include order taking, tracking, and even membership management. If an organization has a website, it would be convenient to allow members to purchase goods, and ship them from the fulfillment center using a catalog system. Order taking, which includes receiving, accepting, and shipping orders, can be a time-consuming process if handled by a single warehouse. By allowing affiliates to take care of these tasks through a catalog system, companies save thousands of dollars in storage costs and labor and improve customer relations.