On the surface it seems like order fulfillment should be pretty simple. A customer places an order and you mail that order to the customer. Pretty simple right? Unfortunately, there’s a lot more to it than that. When you’re trying to grow your business order fulfillment can just get in the way.
That’s why it’s a good idea to partner with an order fulfillment company, like Ship Central. We take care of the entire order fulfillment process and make it simple for you to understand.
5 Steps in the Order Fulfillment Process
There are a lot of elements that go into order fulfillment: software, equipment, materials, negotiating shipping prices, etc. All of these things can add up to one big headache for you. When you partner with a third-party order fulfillment company you don’t need to worry about any of that.
On the other hand, we know you want to understand how the order fulfillment process works. So here are the 5 main steps involved in that process.
1. Receiving
The first step in the order fulfillment process is receiving. After all we wouldn’t be able to fulfill orders if we didn’t have anything to fulfill them with. We offer free standard receiving to all our customers. One of the requirements to receive this benefit is that all of your products are labeled with a barcode. This helps us with all the other steps in this process.
2. Inventory Storage
Once we receive a shipment the next step is to properly store the inventory. We make sure to follow the best practices in inventory management like first in, first out. This ensures that your inventory is properly rotated and that newer inventory doesn’t get sold before the older stuff. This can help prevent losing inventory due to expiration dates.
This is another area in which barcodes come in handy. They help keep inventory numbers accurate and up to date. You can even check your inventory in real time!
3. Order Processing
Each order is hand-picked and -packed and each item is scanned to ensure accuracy. We strive to treat every business like our own so you can trust that each order is packaged with care. Our accuracy rate is over 99% thanks to the training we provide each employee.
4. Shipping
After an order is packed up it is ready to ship off. We guarantee that each order is shipped within 24 business hours of when it is received. The faster an order can be processed and shipped the faster it gets to your customer. Customer expectations are higher than ever these days so shipping orders quickly is a crucial part of the order fulfillment process.
Also remember that when you partner with a third-party order fulfillment company you can potentially save big money on shipping. We get better rates than an individual business — especially if you’re a small business or startup — and we pass those savings on to you.
5. Returns Processing
We all know that returns are pretty much inevitable no matter how perfect your business is. The last step in the order fulfillment process is returns processing. Most orders do not get returned but we’re here to help with those that do.
The Takeaway
There’s a lot more that goes into order fulfillment but this is the basic order fulfillment process. Knowing how the order fulfillment process works can help you feel more comfortable with partnering with a company like Ship Central. Each step along the way we have your best interest in mind because we’re dedicated to helping your business grow.