6 Benefits to Outsourcing eCommerce Order Fulfillment

Not sure if outsourcing eCommerce order fulfillment is the best choice for your online store? Aside from getting a lot of day-to-day tasks and challenges off your plate, working with a third-party logistics warehouse that specializes in online retail fulfillment is a great way to save money and significantly improve service levels and the brand experience to your customers.

Here are 6 reasons why you should consider outsourcing your eCommerce fulfillment:

Shipping costs are a big expense for online retailers. Since shipping rates are driven by order volume, working with a third party eCommerce fulfillment partner gets you access to better freight rates. Most providers will allow you to piggy back on their rates, which means you’ll benefit from the collective shipping volume of the entire warehouse. Outsourcing fulfillment also gives you more buying power when it comes to packing and shipping materials.

If you do fulfillment in-house, chances are it’s done from a location that’s convenient for you. But, chances are also good that your facility is not in a location that provides optimal cost and transit times to your customers. Working with a centrally located warehouse in the middle of the U.S. is how you’ll save on shipping costs and accelerate order delivery to your customers.

When you run your own warehouse operation, every expense is yours. When you use a third party, many expenses become shared among all the customers using the facility – including labor, rent, equipment, utilities and other overhead. Plus, you save yourself from the responsibility of hiring, training and managing warehouse employees.

As we previously mentioned, running your own warehouse includes a lot of fixed overhead expenses. And most expenses need to be paid each month – regardless of whether you ship 100 or 1,000,000 customer orders. However, pricing from a third party eCommerce fulfillment partner is typically activity based. This means you only incur costs when you have an order. Plus, you’re not locked into building leases or other long-term financial commitments.

A good third-party order fulfillment warehouse will have the industry leadership, experience and technology to make your business run better. This includes seamless integration with your sales channels and other management tools that optimize tasks like carrier selection and inventory optimization.

Customer service and returns take up a huge amount of your time. But when working with a third-party fulfillment center, they provide the customer support and an efficient returns process. That means you get improved customer service and a better reverse logistics operation.

There you have it. Outsourcing your eCommerce order fulfillment is a great way to get considerable cost savings and improve service levels to your customers. To learn more about how PFC Fulfillment can dynamically improve your eCommerce and web fulfillment, connect with us today.