If you’re in the process of growing your business, a fulfillment center can help you streamline customer service, free up valuable time, and save money.
Building a brand is incredibly time-consuming, even without the added hassle of order fulfillment; but how do you know when it’s time to make the switch to a fulfillment company? We’re here to help you find out.
Keep reading to learn more about how outsourcing your fulfillment can take your business to new heights.
Benefits of a Fulfillment Center
- Fulfillment Companies Improve Customer Service
Customer service is at the center of any business. Excellent customer service can set your business apart from the competition. There are two ways to grow a customer base: finding new customers and keeping existing customers returning. Maintaining current customers is much easier than creating a new customer base.
Fulfillment centers can improve any business’s customer service through their fast, accurate, and efficient shipping services. Fulfillment centers make it easier to help with customer needs such as returns, exchanges, and refunds. Most centers provide 24-hour help to ensure customers’ needs are being met at all times. Additionally, centers provide exact order dates and same-day deliveries.
- You’ll Need Fewer Employees
Employee relations such as hiring and training require a lot of time, money, and stress; time, money, and stress that many businesses cannot afford. Fulfillment centers carry their own employees who can lift that major stressor off your shoulders.
A fulfillment center offers a resolution to take the ordering process off your plate. When the ordering process is taken care of, you are able to allocate all of those resources to improve your organization. Consequently, you’ll have more time to focus on your products and ensure you have enough to meet demand.
- Focus on Your Company’s Purpose
Order shipments can be demanding and complex. As your company grows, you can find yourself in the weeds of order fulfillments, exchanges, and refunds. When your focus is on the logistics of orders, other aspects of your business that need your attention will begin to suffer. The stress of focusing on the nuts and bolts of orders can lead you to start losing sight of why you started your business in the first place.
Fulfillment centers will take care of the nitty-gritty details of your company so you can focus your time and energy on other essential aspects of your business. Once you can focus again, you can concentrate on your products, marketing, and different ways you can grow your business.
- Lower Shipping Costs
Order fulfillment can be expensive. Searching and hiring employees, training those employees, paying for shipping materials, maintaining quality control, and warehouse dues make that bill rise fast. Considering a fulfillment center can help you with order fulfillment saving you both valuable time and money.
Fulfillment centers leverage the combined shipping volume of all their customers to negotiate optimal shipping costs with their carriers. With that negotiating, they can offer low-rate options to their customers. Many centers also provide a flat fee for only your services. Set costs make it easier to budget and use those funds for other aspects of your company to help it grow.
- Seasonal Changes
Many businesses provide services that can fluctuate throughout the year. This is very normal but can create a major headache with order fulfillment. Fulfillment centers can help with these changes in order volume while helping you mentally and financially. Center can change to meet your shipping demands, no matter the time of year.
- Company Growth
Growth and expansion are the overall goals of any business. Expansion can lead to your company reaching more people and helping them out in certain aspects of their lives. This growth doesn’t come without a cost, though. Using a fulfillment company will help you with your expansion goals. Without help, this can be costly; teaming up with a fulfillment service can make it easier to take risks without the fear of losing revenue.
Benefits of In-House Fulfillment
- Small Businesses
If you are a new startup and are just getting your feet off of the ground, using in-house fulfillment options is often the best way to go. Usually, if you are shipping 10 items or less a day, it’s more affordable to fulfill in-house.
As a small startup, you may not have your products sent in stone and may want to offer different products. As you are figuring out the best combination of products, in-house shipping will help you see if those combinations work or not. You can really refine your business during this stage.
- Large-Scale Businesses
Now that we have touched on start-ups let’s talk about large-scale businesses. If your company has seen a lot of success, you might be able to create your own order fulfillment department. There are many costs attributed to order fulfillment, such as warehouse rent, insurance, utilities, labor, supplies, distribution geographics, and seasonal changes. If you are in a position where you can easily cover those costs, in-house shipping might serve you well.
If you are able to cover the costs of your own department, you are able to be in total control of your shipment options without dealing with another company. You can create your own criteria of what criteria you would like in your order fulfillment department. You can hand select your employees and provide specific training to ensure your orders are being fulfilled to your liking.
Let MintFulfill Take Your Business to New Heights
If you’re ready to take your business to the next level with an esteemed fulfillment center, MintFulfill is here for you! Our system automatically fulfills orders so you can focus on scaling your business. You can choose a custom fulfillment plan that best fits your needs for as little as one dollar.
We’re eager to become a vital part of your shipping team! Reach out today with any questions and to get started.