Process
HOW DOES ECOMMERCE FULFILLMENT WORK?
CONSIDER A THIRD-PARTY FULFILLMENT PROVIDER AS AN EXTENSION OF YOUR RETAIL STORE.
The Four Components of the Ecommerce Fulfillment Process:
Integrating eCommerce Store and Fulfillment Center
Receiving and Managing Inventory
Fulfilling Orders
Processing Returns
Integrating Ecommerce Store and Fulfillment Center
When you picture a fulfillment warehouse, you probably imagine shelves and aisles filled with various products. Behind all those rows of shelves actually lies a technology company.
Your eCommerce store must integrate seamlessly with a fulfillment center. The flow of communication needs to be direct between your orders and the people who pack and ship them.
Receiving and Managing Inventory
Your product arrives at a fulfillment warehouse on pallets in bulk. Once arrived, the pallets get logged into inventory, a location is assigned and your product is placed, ready for order.
Having a fast and efficient Receiving department is key for a fulfillment warehouse. The longer your product sits in a receiving area, the longer it takes to get into inventory and available for purchase.
Another challenge to inventory management is shrinkage. Shrinkage is any sort of breakage, loss or theft. A good fulfillment center will provide a certain allowance for shrinkage in their contract, keeping you from bearing the complete burden of lost merchandise. This usually equates to 2%-10% of warehoused inventory.
Fulfilling Orders
Once an order is received from your online retail store, a fulfillment associate will pick the correct items from the warehouse. These items will be packed safely and securely in the appropriately sized box using filler materials where needed. The 3PL service then ships the package directly to your customer. This is the pick, pack, ship process.
With Hubmatrix, having strategically located fulfillment facilities across the nation, shipping direct to your customers is fast. Often within 1-3 days. It is crucial that your 3PL provider be able to turn orders around quickly to ensure these timely deliveries. Accuracy is also important as picking and packing mistakes can make or break a customer-retailer relationship.
Processing Returns
Avoiding returns is impossible. But the ease at which returns can be accepted is very important to online shoppers. This sense of buyer security can be a major factor in driving your sales. Tracking these returns is a vital function of eCommerce fulfillment.
The faster a return gets processed, the sooner your customer will receive their refund. An efficient return system also means that your returned product can be placed back into inventory, available to sell again.
Are you ready to take the next step with Hubmatrix?
Please reach out to our team to discover how we can help you obtain FAST, EFFICIENT, TIMELY, RESULTS as you enhance your D2C relationship.