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Fulco Fulfillment Celebrates 20 Years with Customized Distribution Solutions

In September 2002, Jennifer Marcello and Anthony Rossi took their love for the fulfillment business and started a new venture. Now, twenty years later, they are proud to celebrate their success and reflect on their journey. It began when the two met while working together at Direct Mail Services, a large mailing and fulfillment business. Their combined leadership and experience drove them forward.

Their first mission was to invest in fulfillment technology and capitalize on Jen’s sales ability and Tony’s production intensity. Enlisting James Duffy and Robert Boyken to join them, they created Fulco Fulfillment, Inc. (FFI). Mr. Duffy and Mr. Boyken provided much-needed IT experience, and the team was able to combine a record of excellent services with advanced technology to manage the fulfillment process. The rest is history.

Location Means Success for Warehousing and Fulfillment

FFI soon expanded its customer base and moved to 26 Richboynton Road in Dover, New Jersey, its current location. This location is key to FFI’s success, strategically located near major highways, 45 minutes from NYC and major Newark shipping ports. Customers clearly appreciate this convenience, and FFI’s thriving warehouse and inventory management 3PL now boasts 143,000 square feet. We own our own buildings and can offer storage rates that are among the lowest in the Northeast.

Smart Fulfillment Solutions Allow for Seamless API Integrations

“Back in the early 1990s we developed and wrote our own in-house warehouse management system, but today’s technology means that customers demand 24/7 real-time visibility,” said Jennifer. After extensive research, they found Veracore Software Solutions, a smart 3PL software order management system, and warehouse management system that perfectly met their clients’ needs. FFI has created a technology foundation that is sustainable and adaptable enabling FFI to thrive in an increasingly digital world. Our systems and methodologies are an integral part of the way fulfillment works in today’s industry, software that fully integrates with leading companies in e-commerce fulfillment.

Streamlining 3PL with a Flexible Workforce

In addition to having an experienced full-time staff for both production and client service management, FFI has developed an innovative temporary labor pool. FFI relies on our existing full-time employees’ friends and relatives to fill the void when additional help is needed. For over twenty years, FFI has avoided hiring inexperienced temporary help and has relied solely on their on-call staff to handle increased production needs. Our facility combines bulk, racked, and high-velocity pick areas for organized storage and efficient picking. Quick-pick areas are replenished on a regular basis to maintain impressive turnaround times, regardless of volume.

“At FFI we strive to ship orders within the same day if received before 1:00 PM. However, nearly all orders will ship before the end of the next business day. Our product is service, and our job is getting our clients’ orders picked, packed, and shipped to arrive at their destination when they need it to be delivered.”

Customer-First 3PL Solutions

Jennifer’s start in the business was in direct mail sales at Direct Mail Services (DMS), following her stint in the corporate world at American Express, Credit Card Marketing Services. Once on board at DMS, Jennifer was trained in all aspects of selling: printing services, direct mail services, presorting services, warehousing, fulfillment, and distributions. Her passion and expertise for warehousing, fulfillment, and distribution services flourished.

Jennifer believes, “Our success comes from our experience and our commitment to taking care of the customer. So, when a customer has a unique need, we take care of it.” FFI takes pride in customer service and never loses sight of the fact that meeting and exceeding our clients’ needs and expectations is what separates us from the pack.

Offering the Best in Warehousing and Fulfillment

FFI has remained innovative in its growth; technology has revolutionized order fulfillment success. With the boom in e-commerce and Amazon, the business model shifted to rely more on e-commerce shopping carts’ auto-generated order file uploads, API integrations, and Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) services.

In the past four years, two other key members have joined Fulco Fulfillment, Inc. in managerial roles. Anthony Marcello, Director of Operations, brings his keen attention to detail, streamlining the warehouse’s efficiencies and continuing to organize operations. Erik J. Mathiesen, Technical Operations Manager, has been instrumental in orchestrating the cloud-based server migration, properly mapping FFI’s shipping stations and now enabling FFI to offer the much-awaited API integrations for their e-commerce customers. As it always has, FFI embraces the challenges ahead and looks forward to giving its customers the best in service for the next 20 years.

Remote Fulfillment is a Reality with Fulco Fulfillment Inc.

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a wrench in the plans of many companies that outsource to third party logistic providers (3PLs), disrupting their places of business in a drastic way. Employees and their teams have had the difficult task of trying to problem-solve new challenges on a daily basis in regards to their personal lives and workplaces.

Despite everything, many are choosing to put the safety and health of their employees as a top priority. As such, many of our fulfillment clients are making the choice to have their non-essential workers complete their tasks at home. No one could have seen this coming, and everyone was treading in unfamiliar waters. With new technologies available to us, running a successful business remotely can be achieved thanks to the advances in cloud-based technology.

The transition has not been achieved without challenges. Businesses that are using older technologies and rely more on on-site equipment have been struggling to keep up. Fortunately, with help from Fulco Fulfillment Inc (FFI), you will be able to have full view and control of your inventory—all accessible from the comfort of your home office.

Is remote fulfillment even possible?

Handling fulfillment from any location can prove to be a daunting task. You will find yourself needing to assist new clients, figure out finances, or look up the status of an order. So it’s important to have the proper tools needed to access all of this information anywhere and anytime, whether that is through your own resources or the resources of a third party logistics provider (3PL) like FFI.

FFI’s essential employees have been faithfully reporting into the warehouse throughout the pandemic to ensure our remote fulfillment customers’ orders get picked, packed, and accurately shipped on-time. This means our customers can access their order information anytime, anywhere, by logging into FFI’s order management system (OMS).

The Key Tools to Remote Fulfillment

Reliable 24-Hour Uptime for Client Order Processing

The focus here is running your business rather than worrying about the reliability of your fulfillment warehouse. With our platform’s access to inventory, user data, and activity, you can run your business remotely in real time. You never have to worry if your orders will be processed because we maintain and meet your fulfillment expectations.

By logging into the OMS, you have access to important information and common tasks necessary to running your business:

Inventory history
Product quantities and usage
Package tracking links
Understock notifications
Order and shipping confirmations
Place online orders
Choose expedited shipping
Run data reports
Estimate average monthly usage

Real-time visibility is critical within our industry. FFI’s client portal gives you access to your data at any time of day.

Is it worth adapting to remote practices with the end of the pandemic in sight?

Work-from-home and virtual access that started abruptly due to the pandemic has now become the new normal. The continuous momentum of both the vaccines and opening of brick-and-mortar establishments has our fulfillment customers evaluating where they want to work. Some are deciding whether to report back to the office 100%, remain partially remote going forward (working 2-3 days a week away from the office), or to go fully remote. Many businesses have become accustomed to this new flexibility. Major establishments have chosen to remain at least partially remote, including tech giants like Facebook, Salesforce, and Microsoft.

The New Normal Needs Flexibility

There’s no going back to the days before on-demand fulfillment management. Trust your business to a 3PL you can rely on with years of experience to show for it. Contact FFI and see for yourself how you can begin the process of remote fulfillment.

Grow Your Health and Beauty Business with e-Commerce Fulfillment

Long before the days of the internet, it was tradition for many to go to retail beauty counters when they needed to refill or refresh their stash of beauty products. Individual experts would come to your aid to determine what products are best for you based on a variety of factors given to them. It has become increasingly obvious that e-commerce health and beauty services are on the rise, and customers are saying goodbye to brick and mortar retail stores. Hence, an increased need for third party logistics (3PL) fulfillment. Fulco Fulfillment, Inc. located in Dover, NJ is here to help your newly revamped health and beauty business grow.

Are you ready to grow your health and beauty business?

In the beginning, it may appear feasible to do your own fulfillment services. Your business probably sold products only on one platform, and shipping was possible to do from your living room. However, as you grow, so will your reach, and the audience of people who discover your product won’t be local anymore. If you begin to notice a trend of people ordering in far off locations, then it is important to take that into consideration for your fulfillment growth strategy.

If your successful e-commerce health and beauty company is growing, it may be time to upgrade your fulfillment process. With current demand and trends pushing e-commerce ever forward, it is entirely possible to grow your company at a larger scale through partnering with a fulfillment expert.

Grow your health and beauty business by focusing on marketing and sales, and let FFI manage your inventory, pick, pack, and ship your product.

If there is an increase in orders, it’s time to upgrade fulfillment.

Customer satisfaction, shipping quickly, and staying within budget are the most important factors to consider when taking this leap. If order volume is increasing, it’s probably time to outsource fulfillment to a 3PL.

You will be relieved to know your customers can place an order, and choose their method of shipment through your favorite e-commerce shopping cart. FFI’s order management system integrates seamlessly with many shopping carts: Magento, WooCommerce, and Shopify — just to name a few. You will have 24/7 private web access to your inventory. You can use the web portal to establish access rights for users, set product or budget allocations, manage inventory, and generate reports that allow you to analyze ordering data. Working with FFI frees you up to build your business by marketing, selling, and handling your accounting needs. Partnering with a 3PL like Fulco makes sense since we’re able to offer our clients discounted shipping supplies and freight.

Growing isn’t easy, but FFI is here to help.

To begin, we provide your e-commerce company a transfer plan. It specifically details every step you need to take to get your inventory to Fulco Fulfillment in order to get up and running quickly. We assign a dedicated Customer Service Representative team to your account. Your team are professionals who understand your business and can address urgent needs immediately. Our managers are kept posted on your account and individual needs on a daily basis.

It’s time to upgrade your health and beauty e-commerce business.

It is clear that the newest and coolest health and beauty companies are choosing to take a different type of route in order to build their businesses. Turning into a direct-to-consumer (D2C) through the power of e-commerce is the direction in which the industry is moving.

Simply put, a business that is trying to break into the e-commerce space and thrive will be unable to perform all the tasks listed above successfully—unless they choose to partner with a 3PL like Fulco Fulfillment, Inc. Our established team has over 50 years of combined fulfillment experience. We will be able to guide you through the upscaling process and allow your company to keep up with the growing trends in the health and beauty industry. Contact FFI to help your e-commerce business continue growing.

Warehousing and Distribution for the Holiday Season

The most wonderful time of the year is upon us, but with all those holly jolly times, make sure your 3PL service can handle increased capacity. Holiday fulfillment can make or break your e-commerce business. Great holiday fulfillment is the key to great holiday sales. Already high customer expectations are rightfully higher around the holidays since everyone wants their gift to arrive on time. Standards for expedited turnaround are higher than ever; customers just do not tolerate a backordered inventory. This year especially, we are faced with even more challenges and lots of unknowns due to the coronavirus pandemic. It has reshaped the way consumers shop, increasing online and e-commerce sales. Retailers and e-commerce companies solve this bottleneck by working with a third party logistics company to help them take a load off their busy holiday season. Your holiday fulfillment operations are the key to success during this busy time, and a good partner can make your holiday fulfillment operations run smoothly.

Fulco Fulfillment Inc. is the 3PL service to provide the extra value you need all season long.

Your space may slowly be getting filled with stacked boxes reaching the ceiling in places like your office, hallways, and dare I say it, even your bathroom. When you choose to outsource your holiday warehousing and distribution to give you a safer workspace, that is not at risk of boxes collapsing on top of you and becoming an episode of Hoarders along with the extra staff that is needed so you don’t have to do any heavy lifting yourself. Once partnered with a 3PL service like Fulco Fulfillment Inc. for the big holiday rush that is ahead, then you will be free to order exactly what you are looking for right when you need it without any fear of where you will have to fit it in your cramped space. Maintaining accurate and up-to-date inventory only works when customers are notified of low inventory levels in a timely manner. You need to provide e-commerce customers information quickly to protect them from getting frustrated during a joyful time, so customer service response time is paramount.

On Demand Storage Space

Juggling storage space at this time of year is the worst, but after you have teamed up with a 3PL like Fulco Fulfillment Inc., you are quite literally renting out the space you need only when you need it.

Seasonal Demand

The hiring period during the holidays can be frustrating and highly competitive, but with a 3PL service like FFI by your side, you don’t have to worry about seasonal help. Rather than hiring your own people, you can rely on your 3PL service for some assistance for however long you need it and only when you need it. This ability can save your business a ton of both time and money since the warehouse staff is already trained and experienced at fulfillment, distributions, and pick & pack demands. When it comes to warehousing, e-commerce is continuously the driving force of growth. Planning for surge events like the holidays ensures there is space available. Utilizing past data and analyzing sales history provides insights that will help things run more smoothly. The historical data allows your fulfillment center to plan ahead to have enough staff on hand to anticipate the peaks and troughs of seasonal demand.

Accurate and Up-to-date Inventory

3PL’s like Fulco Fulfillment Inc. use a computerized system that is able to check products in and out of the inventory which provides you with a real-time inventory tracking system to make sure none of the products in the warehouse are out of place. You will not have to struggle with backordering when your company knows the precise moment to restock product.

Customer Service Response Time

During the holiday rush there will always be a few issues in order fulfillment. What is important is how customer service resolves the issues and how quickly. Fulco Fulfillment’s client service managers are extremely reliable and responsive when our customers contact us with questions, requests for assistance, or problems. Every one of our clients has their own dedicated client service support person to pick up the phone and call because customer experience needs to sit at the forefront. Our online order management systems (OMS) provide updates via email throughout the lifecycle of the order so that the customer is kept up to date with the progress of their order. This increases the confidence the customer has with their fulfillment company.

Looking for a 3PL Provider in NJ?

Do you think you will be stuffed with business this holiday season? It may be time to call a reliable 3PL service today, like Fulco Fulfillment Inc. located in Dover, NJ. With our help, we will guarantee that your holiday season will be headache free. Money will be saved, space will be freed, and you will be left feeling merry and bright! Give us a call at 973.361.1700 to discuss your needs.

Why a Third-party Logistics (3PL) Provider Makes Great Sense For Your Business

There are many reasons why your order fulfillment, warehousing and shipping needs may be best served by working with a third-party logistics provider (3PL). A 3PL provider can seamlessly scale to your supply chain demands by handling assembly needs, distribution, warehousing, outsourcing of supplies, order management system integration, fulfillment, inventory management, and shipping and tracking. By using a 3PL you can come closer to streamlining your entire fulfillment chain and utilizing warehousing space at our facility to clear valuable warehousing space at your facility to accommodate more revenue generating business activities.

Among the many key benefits of working with a 3PL is scalability. As your business grows and as your products gain greater distribution in the marketplace, you need a logistics partner that can ramp up services quickly when needed, and scale down when busy seasons subside. In the logistics and supply chain management business, many organizations outsource to a third-party logistics provider to take advantage of numerous elements of their services. Based on client needs, a 3PL can provide a single service to support the supply chain or deliver a bundle of services that can manage the entire process start to finish.

Understanding the 3PL Order Fulfillment Process

The 3PL order fulfillment process includes receiving, storing, picking and packing the order, shipping services and returns. Some 3PL companies also provide other logistics services referred to as value-added services: These include Amazon FBA prep services, kitting and specialty packaging and others. A 3PL provider will allow companies to leverage large networks of resources so they can develop a complete solution for this process.

Receiving

Pallet loaded receipts, UPS/FedEx/USPS small packages or floor-loaded containers are physically received at the warehouse and all material arrives with a packing list. Product IDs, quantities and descriptions are entered into the order management system (OMS) by the 3PL’s client service manager. A receiving report notification is automatically generated via email so all parties involved in the process are made aware of receipt.

Storage

Products are stored on flow shelves for ease of picking and any overflow is stored on full pallets. Storage combines bulk, racked and high-velocity pick areas for efficient storage and picking.

Picking and Packing

After orders are received and entered into the order management system a pick slip is generated. This indicates the products’ location so the picker can easily pick the order and pack it into the appropriately sized carton. A packing slip is also packed into the carton to indicate the contents before a label is applied with shipping information.

Shipping

Your 3PL should look for the best shipping rates on every package that leaves the warehouse. This requires them to be aware of the best current rates from all carriers including FedEx, UPS, USPS or LTL freight.

Returns

Returns can be a hassle if you don’t have the capacity or order management system in place to handle items ordered by mistake, damaged during the shipping process, or other various reasons. Handling returns with ease should be part of your part of your 3PL’s process and an important part of the customer experience.

Taking Advantage of value-added 3PL services

Kitting and Assembly

Kitting and assembly are often required for distributions that a client may have. You can rely on a 3PL such as Fulco Fulfillment, Inc. to execute and manage the kitting flawlessly.

Specialty Packaging

Your 3PL is experienced in dealing with a variety of packages, so they can help you save money through their established network of material suppliers. They know how to make your package secure and make sure the contents are protected during shipping.

Amazon FBA Prep Services

Is your business selling on Amazon? Fulco Fulfillment are specialists in dealing with confusing Amazon processes and can walk you through best practices and make sure you are meeting all of the FBA requirements.

A 3PL like Fulco Fulfillment, Inc. will Save your Organization Time & Money

Many forward-thinking companies realize the benefits of outsourcing to a 3PL. By not spending money on extra square footage and warehousing, and by investing in a partnership with a reliable 3PL they can expect to save money. Having more space in your office building is another benefit of a 3PL. Overflow storage kept at a 3PL warehouse eliminates office clutter and chaos. Outsourcing to a 3PL can mean significant benefits for a business as it grows and faces more complex supply-chain management and logistics challenges. This partnership eliminates the need to buy or rent warehouse space. Without this partnership and continued company growth, internal costs would continue to escalate including order management system, equipment costs, employee insurance, etc.

Save Time

Time consuming events that can be eliminated, including: packing boxes, arranging logistics, LTL and transportation, setting up technologies and hiring additional labor can free your organization up so you can focus more time on your core business.

As your business expands, managing the supply chain can become difficult and costly. Mistakes made in logistics can damage the customer experience, stunt your business’ growth, and eat into your profits. That’s why it’s important to select a 3PL partner with outstanding references and a substantial track record of success.

Making the most of Peak Seasons

If holiday or other peak seasons are your busiest and most important times of the year, a 3PL provider can manage the processes seamlessly so you can maximize profits during your peak seasons. Regardless of when that peak season occurs, taking orders, picking them, packing them, and shipping them can be extremely time consuming, especially while trying to run your business as a whole. The stress of keeping on top of shipments, along with everything else, can really put a damper on your business. The easiest, and most efficient, way to get through the peak season rush is with a 3PL provider. Preparing for this in advance, and understanding why a 3PL provider is so important, will put your business ahead of the game, and it will allow you to get everything in order before the holiday seasons really begin.

Fulco Fulfillment, Inc. Helps Business Succeed Year-round

While it might feel strange relinquishing control of the fulfillment process to an outside company, by working with an experienced 3PL such as Fulco Fulfillment, Inc. you can leave all the operational details to us, freeing you up to focus more on other aspects of your supply chain and your core business goals. Let’s discuss your logistics needs. Our warehouse is conveniently located in Northern New Jersey near major highways easily accessible from New England to the Mid-Atlantic. To learn more, call 973.361.1700 or request a quote by filling out the contact form.