Friday, June 15, 2018

Use A Contract Fulfillment Warehouse To Streamline Your Business

By Scott Wagner


Many people design products that they want to sell in order to become their own boss and make money. Some open brick and mortar stores where they interact with customers and try to get them to buy. But in an increasingly competitive marketplace, it is better to reach much further than locally to find clients. To really succeed, you need to have an online storefront, which means you will also need a contract fulfillment warehouse to get those orders to your customers.

A fulfillment warehouse allows you to ship out those products to customers without having to do any of the work yourself. They do the order processing, all the packaging and of course the shipping for your orders. This is for your normal inventory, but they can also handle special orders, sweepstakes and giveaway fulfillment and much more.

You simply have to get the product to them, and they take care of the rest. You can do this yourself, either delivering directly to them if you are nearby, or shipping the products to the warehouse using a carrier. Some companies will even take care of this part for you, using their own transportation fleet to pickup the boxes from you and delivering them to the fulfillment center themselves.

Once in the center, the products are then packaged in boxes or envelopes and carefully packed with bubble wrap, Styrofoam or whatever materials are appropriate. This ensures the items get to your customers in perfect condition. If you want to add a thank-you card or note, or a special bonus sample, the workers can do that for you as well. If the items are fragile, they can affix the proper stickers to make sure it is handled with care.

Each package is then shipped according to the customer's instructions. If you give them options during the checkout process, then that is the method that is used. If not, then they will ship via whatever carrier you designate. That way, everyone is happy and the packages get to customers as quickly as possible.

Tracking software is used every step of the fulfillment process to keep track of your inventory. You can login and see what has been shipped and how much stock the warehouse has on hand, so you know what is selling and when you need to send them a new shipment of product.

In addition to fulfilling individual orders, these centers can send out large ones to retailers as well. This is important if you get a retailer to sell your products in their store, as you will need to ship the items to them directly. If you decide to sell overseas, they can package items in crates or freight boxes so they can be put on a cargo plane or ship as well.

In an effort to provide a custom fit with your needs, some centers will even let you rent space in their warehouses to hold your inventory, but allow you to use your own employees for the actual packaging and fulfillment process. Whatever your needs, they will help you get the job done with minimal effort on your part so you can focus on growing your business.




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1 comment:

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