So your online business is booming. You’ve hit on a winning formula and your products are really popular. But with this success comes a problem – you are now spending more time packing and sending parcels than running the business itself. If you continue spending this amount of time on fulfilment, the business will stop growing.
So what do you do? An increasingly popular – and affordable – option is to outsource your order fulfilment. It’s not an option only for large businesses; small and medium businesses are also seeing the benefits. Picking the right fulfilment firm is crucial, however. The order fulfilment process is extremely important for your profit margin and your overall customer satisfaction. Here are a few tips for picking the best outsourced fulfilment solution.
1. Is the Company Respected and Trustworthy?
With the boom in online businesses, more and more fulfilment companies have popped up to offer this outsourced solution. Some of them are better than others, so you need to look for the firm that is respected and professional. Look for reviews and testimonials. If they do not have the reviews on their site, ask the company if you can see some feedback from customers.
2. Do They Have Sufficient Experience?
Check out how long the company has been operating. While the firm does not need to have been operating for decades, it is a good idea to choose someone with a good level of experience. In fact, if a company has decades of experience it is a good idea to check that they are up-to-date with their process and their equipment is all modern.
3. Are They Integrated with all eCommerce Systems?
A fulfilment company should work effectively with ecommerce programs so that you access the system seamlessly and the whole process works well from order to shipping. Ask how much you will be able to see of the process and what data you will be able to see, which will give you valuable insight into how well your products are selling and where.
4. Does the Company Offer Superior Support?
Setting up a fulfilment service is a big job and you need to know that there will be someone on hand to help you with any questions you have, or to talk you through the process. You need to be able to communicate well with the company and be able to discuss any issues that you may have. Good customer service is often overlooked but it is really important in an outsourced area like this.
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