Order Fulfillment outsourcing is a relatively new trend that is being considered and adopted by many businesses today, especially ecommerce businesses. The main reason for its popularity is the fact that most businesses lack the expertise to carry the functions of this department causing errors in this process resulting in angry and lost customers.

Customers are every business' priority and for a relatively new business, the few clients that they have, are precious. No business would like to lose these customers due to their lack of expertise. This becomes the basis for outsourcing fulfillments services to a more experienced and advanced fulfillment service provider.

Simply put, these fulfillment services are your business' back end. Your warehouse, shipping and delivery operations are all carried out by them. Your products will be stored, picked, packed, shipped and delivered to the customer by them. Inventory control and shopping cart integration is controlled by them and some vendors even provide damage warranty services.

More of What You Know

Outsourcing allows you to focus more on what you know and less on the unfamiliar order fulfillment processes. Managing a business is not an easy task. There are hundreds of dimensions to a business, but managing a department that is not your core competency will not only increase costs but it leaves space for errors. Many business men choose to outsource it to the experts, understanding that an expert will do a better job than they could possibly do, while choosing to focus on the product and business strategies rather than the nitty gritties of product deliveries.

Order flexibility

When starting a new business, you have only estimates or a rough idea of what your sales ratio will be. At the beginner's level, sales are unpredictable that may increase or decrease due to many known and unknown factors. That is why as a beginner or even a small business, you might get large seasonal orders. For handling these orders it is best to use outside help through order fulfillment vendors.
Intangible Medium Tangible costs.

For ecommerce businesses that use an intangible medium, the costs that are incurred in order fulfillment are very tangible. These costs include warehouse rent, utility bills, storage costs, delivery and shipping costs and packing costs etc. Using a fulfillment service gives you the flexibility to vary the costs incurred according to the sales amount. If carrying out your own order fulfillment, all these costs are fixed costs that have to be paid no matter how much profit you are making. In such a case it makes sense to outsource order fulfillment services.

Order fulfillment services can be the key to success in most businesses as they offer a lot in terms of cost reductions and time saved.

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This article was contributed by Fusion Fulfillment to educate businesses about the benefits of outsourcing Order Fulfillment Services.