e-Commerce Fulfillment Archives

Nutraceutical Order Fulfillment

With the nutraceutical market rapidly growing and actively thriving, the need to fulfill orders through 3PLs is quickly rising in response to consumer demands. Your nutraceutical order fulfillment should be handled by a trusted partner who understands nutraceutical warehousing and inventory control, Amazon FBA prep programs, and nutraceutical direct mailings. It is crucial to team up with a 3PL provider partner with experience in the complexities that may come with nutraceutical fulfillment.

Efficient warehousing, inventory management, and distribution are essential for the success of nutraceutical order fulfillment. These three factors ensure product quality, optimized shipping, and customer satisfaction, which are top priorities for nutraceutical fulfillment.

Warehousing for Nutraceuticals

Warehousing plays a vital role in maintaining the integrity of differing nutraceutical products. A well-organized warehouse with proper temperature and humidity control helps to prevent spoilage, degradation, or contamination, ensuring that each product a customer receives is of high quality.

Inventory Management for Sensitive Timelines

Inventory Management is another critical factor in nutraceutical fulfillment. Due to differing lot numbers, expiration dates, and the shelf life of many supplements, proper inventory tracking is necessary to prevent overstocking or understocking. It is helpful for your 3PL of choice to have a powerful order management system (OMS) with capabilities to track versions and expiration dates of nutraceuticals.

Distribution Efficiency Increases Customer Satisfaction

Efficient distribution impacts the delivery of goods as well as customer satisfaction. Fast and accurate distribution not only enhances customer experience but also builds brand trust, which is essential in the particularly competitive landscape of the nutraceutical industry. Choosing the right 3PL partner to ensure seamless order processing, timely dispatch, and reliable carrier partnerships can be difficult.

The right partner will deliver efficient warehousing, inventory management, and distribution in ways that can elevate your nutraceutical fulfillment.

Technology Integration Improves Nutraceutical Fulfillment

The most up-to-date technology integration is essential for optimizing nutraceutical fulfillment, improving efficiency, accuracy, and compliance. Seamless eCommerce integration with platforms such as Shopify, Amazon, and WooCommerce allows clients to automate order processing, reducing manual errors and speeding up the fulfillment process. At FFI, we also provide Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) services, where we handle the receiving, re-labeling, and preparation of full pallet shipments to ensure compliance with Amazon’s exacting requirements.

Outsourcing to FFI eliminates the time-consuming fulfillment process, allowing you to focus on the growth of your business. By leveraging technology, 3PL providers like FFI help nutraceutical companies improve accuracy, shorten fulfillment times, and enhance overall customer satisfaction.

FFI Offers Nutraceutical Companies Cost Savings and Operational Efficiency

A scalable 3PL partner enables nutraceutical brands to expand seamlessly without logistical constraints. Flexible warehousing options allow businesses to scale storage space based on demand, product launches, or market fluctuations, preventing unnecessary overhead costs. By outsourcing your fulfillment to a trusted 3PL like Fulco Fulfillment, Inc., nutraceutical businesses can focus on growth while maintaining an optimized supply chain. Get in contact with the experts at FFI today to learn more!

The Importance of
E-commerce Inventory Management

Inventory management is the process of sourcing, storing, and selling your stock. It involves knowing how much stock you have, what price to sell it, where to store it, and how long it should or can be stored. E-commerce inventory management isn’t much different, focusing exclusively on online products.

Understanding e-commerce inventory management is crucial to any business, big or small. Proper inventory management can reduce waste, save costs, and valuable time. At Fulco Fulfillment Inc. (FFI), we are uniquely positioned to accept your freight, manage inventory, coordinate distribution, and streamline fulfillment logistics because we use the latest technology and order processing software. Trusting your e-commerce fulfillment to FFI will give you systems and integrations that allow your business to improve efficiencies and reduce operational costs.

Why You Need E-commerce Inventory Management

In an online business with a steady flow of orders, it can be challenging to keep up with stock, especially when dealing with multiple SKUs. Inventory management is a crucial aspect of running a successful operation. An effective inventory management system ensures you can monitor stock levels in real-time, preventing scenarios in which you run out of products and disappoint customers. It will help you to determine the correct quantities of products to reorder, avoiding the pitfalls of both overstocking and understocking.

Integrating inventory management with other systems, such as your e-commerce platform, can reduce manual errors, save time, and enhance overall operation efficiency. A reliable e-commerce inventory management system not only tracks orders but also generates insightful reports to predict sales trends. These insights allow you to make informed decisions about restocking, especially during peak periods.

At FFI, our system offers a comprehensive suite of standard reports, including inventory on hand, audit summaries, and lead source analysis. These reports are easily downloadable, providing instant access to valuable data right from your desk. This type of effective warehouse and inventory management is key to maintaining smooth operations, customer satisfaction, and positioning your business for sustainable growth. A strong inventory system supports normal day-to-day operations and serves as a strategic tool for long-term success in a competitive e-commerce landscape.

Possible Challenges of E-commerce Inventory Management

E-commerce inventory management is not without its challenges. If a business has the complexity of multiple sales channels, managing inventory in such a landscape can lead to disorganization, overselling, stock-outs, and overstocking. Having your product stocked on shelves waiting to be sold may seem like a good idea, but this can lead to increased carrying costs and dead stock. The profit margin is diminishing every second an item stays in the warehouse. To avoid this, you must keep products, SKUs, and storage organized and utilize an effective e-commerce inventory management software to keep track of the flow.

Inventory visibility is crucial for businesses as it allows them to maintain accurate records of stock levels, locations, and movements, but that kind of visibility can be challenging to achieve. A lack of real-time tracking, poor integration between systems, demand fluctuations, and scalability issues can all obscure the movement of your inventory. Businesses need integrated inventory management systems for centralized data, real-time tracking tools like RFID (radio frequency identification), and smart technology to reduce possible errors.

FFI Offers the Best in E-commerce Inventory Management

E-commerce inventory management is a critical component for the success of online businesses, impacting everything from order fulfillment to customer satisfaction. Fluctuating demand, unpredictable lead times, and rising storage costs can disrupt supply chains, and managing inventory across multiple sales channels can create additional complexity.

At FFI, we see those challenges as opportunities. By offering advanced systems such as real-time tracking, automated replenishment, and data-driven forecasting, our clients can benefit from greater operational efficiency, reduced stock-outs or overstocking, and improved cash flow. We’ve seen how scalable solutions, integrated advanced analytics, and strong communication with suppliers have helped our clients’ businesses grow. Find out how FFI can improve your e-commerce inventory management. Reach out online or call us at 973-361-1700.

Outsourcing
E-commerce Fulfillment Can Help Grow Your Business

E-commerce businesses will find numerous advantages to using a 3PL for their fulfillment rather than keeping those processes in-house. Outsourcing fulfillment helps control costs and reduce expenses by leveraging a 3PL’s buying power, all while benefiting from its expertise.

3 PLs Provide Excellent Scalability

When you outsource inventory management, supervising warehouse staff, and packing and picking, you can then free up your time to focus on scaling your business, generating sales, and growing your customer base. As your business grows, the responsibilities and workload will too, so outsourcing to a reliable fulfillment partner will allow you to devote your time to new product ideas or marketing projects and effectively scale the e-commerce side of your business.

Get Lower Operating Costs with Outsourced Fulfillment

Outsourcing fulfillment comes with a cost, but so does picking and packing in-house. Outsourcing fulfillment can reduce your operational expenses: the man-hours you save packing and shipping eliminates the need to hire employees and manage HR. You can also save on any monthly fees you incur to store your inventory.

Save Time with Outsourced Fulfillment

Your trusted 3PL can store all your inventory for you, so you avoid having to take deliveries, handle the stock, and organize the products. Order fulfillment and logistics take up valuable time and energy that can be better spent in other ways.

Outsourced Fulfillment Provides Quality Returns Management

Managing returns is a major challenge for e-merchants. As with accurate order fulfillment, you need to establish return accuracy to meet customer expectations. Outsourced fulfillment providers are experienced in providing excellent customer service for returns. These providers will take care of and inspect returned orders, especially crucial during peak seasons when sales volumes increase, raising the number of returns as well.

3 PLs Can Lower Your Shipping Costs

Outsourcing fulfillment can also save you money on shipping. As high-volume shippers, third-party logistics companies often receive preferable rates from carriers. These savings can be absorbed or passed on to your customers, who can then be offered cheaper or even free shipping as a sales incentive.

Fulco Fulfillment, Inc. Is a Trusted E-commerce Fulfillment Partner

Outsourcing e-commerce fulfillment offers many benefits, including lower operating and shipping costs, scalability, and dependable returns management. Let Fulco handle your fulfillment so you can focus your energy on growing and managing your business.

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.

Four Ways to Handle Order Fulfillment for E-commerce

When you store goods, pick orders, pack orders, and ship your products to your buyers, you are taking part in the act of order fulfillment. If you are an e-commerce business, then order fulfillment is an important, central function that you must focus on. You could handle fulfillment business on your own, but outsourcing to a fulfillment partner will prove to be an efficient, cost-effective operation that will be perfect for growing your business.

Let’s begin by talking about the order fulfillment process, and discuss some options you can take part in.

What is Order Fulfillment?

The term order fulfillment refers to all of the activities that are involved in shipping products to customers. Talking in the form of a workflow, order fulfillment begins with receiving the shipments, sorting stock, then locating inventory for efficient picking. Afterwards, as orders arrive, products are picked, checked for accuracy, packed correctly, and finally labeled for shipping.

Different Ways to Handle Order Fulfillment

Order fulfillment is truly a simple logistical process, but it can also prove to be a time-consuming and labor intensive one. Many of the new and growing e-commerce businesses find that order fulfillment can keep them so busy that it proves hard to perform other necessary tasks such as marketing, product scouting, and website maintenance.

You can go about your order fulfillment in a variety of ways, but here are the four most prominent ways of doing so as an e-commerce business.

In-House Order Fulfillment
You can manage a warehousing and shipping operation in your own facility using your own staff. Many merchants found success fulfilling orders themselves. However, many have also realized they are spending too much time handling order fulfillment to the point where they can’t leave their house without a label printer.
Outsource Your Fulfillment Needs
Your business can use order fulfillment centers like Fulco Fulfillment Inc., a larger-scale Third Party Logistics (3PL) company. We store, stock, pack and ship orders for you. The fastest way to speed up order fulfillment is to outsource it to professionals.
Drop Shipping
Use drop ship suppliers who will ship orders directly to your customers when ordered, and bill you only for the products that you sell.
Hybrid Order Fulfillment Solution
Using a hybrid solution that combines a few — or possibly all — of the above order fulfillment options is a popular solution for a growing business.

The Elements of an Order Fulfillment Operation

When you are selling your products online, you need to have a solid understanding of the order fulfillment process. Knowing how it all works is an essential part of keeping your costs low, whether shipping daily from your own warehouse, or handing it over to a fulfillment partner like Fulco Fulfillment Inc.

Order fulfillment and shipping operations need some important elements to work properly.

A location to receive, organize, and store products that ship

An order fulfillment operation will need organized product storage to make the process work. Make sure to organize your space with shelves, bins, bags, stacked boxes, or whatever is best to keep your products organized and handy for a fast picking process. This area is also known as the “quick pack area” or “flow shelves.”

A place to prepare and pack your orders for the shipping process

Often known as a packing station, this area can be anything from a series of tables/workstations in a warehouse environment to a stockroom counter. Overall, it is a place where packing materials (boxes, mailers, tape, fill and wrap, etc.) are kept and easily accessed.
No matter what the setup is, your picked items are checked for accuracy against a packing slip with the customer’s order details, or with a barcode scanning machine. After these items are checked, they are packed for shipment.

Shipping boxes or mailers

The packaging needs to be reviewed to determine the most efficient box or mailer when handling order fulfillment. FFI will help you choose a carton that will keep your product safe and the rate will be the lowest freight price.

Packing materials

Things such as packing peanuts, foam sheets, air pillows, bubble wrap, kraft paper, and plain newsprint are amongst the most common materials that are used to protect products as well as fill the voids in shipping boxes. After the type of packing material is decided, you will need a way to seal boxes and mailers. A good amount of envelopes and mailers are self-sealing. However, for boxes, you will need to use a strong packing tape and a good dispenser.

Invoices and/or packing slips

Having a printed invoice or packing slip that shows all the items that have been ordered is useful as a checklist for pulling out orders and checking for accuracy. A major difference between these two things is that invoices include prices, while packing slips do not. Whichever you use, you can print them from your e-commerce platform’s order manager or from a back-end order management software system.

A way to create and print shipping labels

The last order fulfillment step is printing shipping labels for packed boxes. For this you can use carrier websites, carrier-specific shipping software, or perhaps something like shipping rate comparison software that will let you find the best price for each shipment. Most of these sites and software support all types of printers: laser, inkjet, or thermal label printers.

An Order Fulfillment E-Commerce Partner is Crucial

Handling order fulfillment and its process is just as important as the sale itself. Retailers don’t want to hurt their reputation and sales if their products arrive late or packages go missing. To learn more about order fulfillment, fill out our contact form or give us a call at 973-361-1700. We will be more than happy to help you find the perfect order fulfillment solution that serves your business.

The Art of Flawless Order Fulfillment

Creating a smooth fulfillment process is ideal when striving for a foundation that leads to a positive business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) relationship. The term “fulfillment” encapsulates the whole procedure of processing, picking and shipping an order to a client or customer. There are a variety of methods to handle this whether it is by the company actually creating the product or alternatively having the process handled by a third-party logistics/3PL provider. No matter what the business itself classifies as there is an art to flawless order fulfillment.

But how do you begin? Start with a positive ecommerce fulfillment plan. This is imperative to the achievement of success in a competitive marketplace. Next, create a foundation of customer confidence. Obviously not every company is the same and possesses their own goals and needs so there is no universal fulfillment strategy that can be used for every situation. Because of this, there are a variety of factors that must be considered when deciding on what the best selection is for your company.

When Thinking about Fulfillment, Consider Your Sales Volume and Business Size

Every business should keep in mind the amount of products being offered in addition to the order size when it comes to determining which order fulfillment solution will be the best for your business.

Things to keep in mind:

How many products are being sold?
Are the products being sold through business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C) or a mixture of the two?
How many orders are being fulfilled month to month?
What is the prediction of growth for your products and orders over both the next quarter and year?
What are your product storage requirements?

For example, if you have a low volume of orders then it would not be the best decision to outsource your fulfillment process. Instead, you could opt to fill the orders on your own.

However, if you are predicting that your business is anticipating an uptick in order volume you need a plan to keep up with this increase in orders. With increased orders it may become difficult to maintain a self-fulfillment structure and eventually it will become near impossible to fulfill products flawlessly and in quick succession. This is the moment to switch and have a 3PL provider, like Fulco Fulfillment by your side.

Order Fulfillment Technology and Sales Channels

Things to keep in mind

What type of ecommerce platform are you using?
Is a marketplace, website, shopping portal or alternative type of online store/shopping being used? Perhaps instead you are using a combination of these or including a physical storefront?

Your fulfillment strategy should be capable of providing the necessary support for your different sales channels. This especially comes into play when using technology. This technology can assist your business with becoming both more cost-effective and efficient in addition to enhancing the customer experience and satisfaction of your customers. The implemented technology being used as a part of the order processing plan should complete the goal of making things easier rather than making things more difficult.

Once the technology has become integrated, it should have the capability of streamlining the process. An API integration is a reliable way to be sure that as soon as order has been placed it will seamlessly be available to your 3PL provider to then be picked, packed, and shipped as soon as possible.

It is also important to consider that your fulfillment process is using the correct type of inventory management software. An inventory management system should be able to report on all available inventory levels across all locations. Safeguards can also be put into place that will alert you if you are running out of stock.

Keep in mind also that warehouse management software or a WMS can assist controlling the daily warehouse operation which includes shipping, sorting, storage and inventory management. Your order fulfillment software of choice can assist with the difficult and time-consuming duties of inventory and warehouse management, order picking and processing, shipping and tracking and returns processing (reverse logistics).

Flawless Order Fulfillment Leads to Satisfied Customers

Discovering the art of flawless order fulfillment can happen inside your organization or outsourcing to 3PL provider. At the top of that list should be building a positive ecommerce fulfillment plan and creating a foundation of customer confidence. This will ensure the satisfaction of your customers.

Having a 3PL should give you the capability of supporting the growth of your business and assist with the navigation of the complexities that are oftentimes associated with supply chain and logistics. Most importantly, flawless order fulfilment will give your customers peace of mind by getting products into their hands as efficiently and accurately as possible. If you need help with order fulfilment, contact Fulco Fulfillment.

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.

Seamless Order Fulfillment Services and Ecommerce Fulfillment Services

Consumers want the products they order online delivered to their doors quickly and with the least bit of hassle. Are your order fulfillment services tasked to meet customers’ expectations for speed and no- or low-cost shipping?

If you’re a seller, it is difficult to meet those demands if you don’t have the processes and infrastructure in place to fulfill those orders quickly. Furthermore, once your customers get to their shopping cart, the sale can still be in jeopardy if the checkout experience is clumsy and time consuming. Consider:

Shoppers will abandon their shopping cart if shipping, taxes or other fees are too high.
Speed of delivery is an important factor in getting shoppers to click “Submit.”
A poor delivery and return experience will chase a customer away for good.
Shoppers are an impatient breed and will be more likely to cancel their order if there are slow delivery speeds or unexpected delays.

Are Order Fulfillment Services Right for Your Company?

If you’re trying to fulfill orders in-house and you’re running into problems because either volume is too high (which is a good thing), or your fulfillment team is stretched too thin and finding the right employees is difficult, it might be time for you to consider outsourcing your fulfillment services.

Why is Outsourcing Order Fulfillment Services a Good Idea?

Order fulfillment services for ecommerce sales consists of physically labor intensive processes that need to be handled efficiently to assure that your profit margin is not eaten up by wasted hours or temporary staff increases.

Order fulfillment services include storing inventory, picking and packing the products, and then shipping online orders to customers. A small ecommerce company with manageable orders taken might be able to handle this in house. However, as demand grows, calling upon a third-party logistics provider (3PL) such as Fulco Fulfillment Inc. is a more cost-effective option which can free you to concentrate on the other parts of running your business that can lead to continued growth.

The ecommerce order fulfillment process applies to both business-to-business (B2B) orders (where large quantities of product are shipped to big box retailers) as well as business-to-consumer (B2C) orders that are shipped directly to a shopper’s home.

When it comes to B2C orders, the consumer may place an order on the website of the merchant or through an online marketplace. Once the customer finishes their purchase, the fulfillment process kicks in and getting the order ready for shipment becomes the priority.

What is Your Order Fulfillment Services Strategy?

Every ecommerce business needs an order fulfillment services strategy to handle present orders and prepare for future growth so that infrastructure is in place to meet demand as the business grows.

These are some of the key considerations you’ll want to address:

Consider your location to optimize fulfillment.

Just because your business mostly runs online doesn’t mean that your physical location can make a huge difference in streamlining your ecommerce processes.

Besides the size of your storage, the location where you fulfill your orders is an important aspect that contributes to delivery costs and speed, and ultimately, customer satisfaction.

Optimizing your fulfillment operation based on where your customers reside will help you reach all the people you need to reach in the most cost-efficient manner.

For example, shipping orders to customers in the U.S. from overseas can take large amounts of time unless the customers are willing to pay significantly more for faster delivery. Focusing the shipping zone or how far a package travels will more often than not reduce the cost of shipping and the amount of time it takes to ship a package.

A fulfillment center such as Fulco Fulfillment Inc. is close to New York City and points all along the East Coast. This makes for affordable shipping to customers in areas where populations are concentrated. Taking it farther afield, it’s also possible to optimize fulfillment by distributing the inventory to multiple locations that are in the closest proximity to your customers. The more fulfillment resources that are near common shipping destinations the more ground shipping can be leveraged. This is significantly cheaper than any expedited air and much faster than shipping from a further distance.

Order fulfillment technology that integrates platforms is critical.

Software that integrates with an ecommerce platform and online marketplace, such as the technology available at Fulco Fulfillment Inc., can help your business manage orders across any sales channels without the need to manually upload or duplicate data entries. The Fulco Fulfillment, Inc. IT team works directly with EDI and API service providers to ensure seamless delivery of products to large retailers. As soon as an order is placed online, the fulfillment staff will quickly be alerted on their devices to pick, pack, and ship any items needed to the customer.

Fulco Fulfillment Inc. will send back any tracking information to the platform or marketplace that will then be shared with the customer, as well as track inventory quantities across fulfillment locations so you always know where you stand.

Leveraging platform integrations is critical to connecting upstream activities such as purchasing and manufacturing with downstream activities like sales and product demand so your business can make a more accurate purchasing and production decision when the time comes.

Looking to Incorporate Order Fulfillment Services into Your Ecommerce Business?

Call Fulco Fulfillment at 973-361-1700 to schedule your free consultation. We look forward to working with you in the future in expanding your business.

Successful Outsourced Order Fulfillment Processes for E-Commerce Businesses

Transparent, efficient order fulfillment is one of the keys to success for an e-commerce business. Understanding each step of order fulfillment will help you choose the right 3PL for your business and customers.

Better E-Commerce Fulfillment Starts With Systems Integration

At Fulco Fulfillment, Inc. (FFI) orders are received from e-commerce businesses and sellers through a variety of methods. Most commonly, FFI receives its orders through an application programming interface or API. With an API, any online shopping cart can be connected directly to our fulfillment facility in Dover, NJ. The orders can then be picked, packed and shipped at a moment’s notice.

After we receive an order from a client’s e-commerce system, we automatically respond with pertinent information such as tracking data and the level of remaining inventory. This automation is one of the main drivers of our successful fulfillment process.

FFI Offers Many Order Management Solutions

Although most of our clients typically use an API solution, FFI can receive orders in a variety of ways.

Batch Download
CSV Order File
Manual Order Entry

Manual order entry can be used for auto-ship or continuity programs like subscriptions. For the CSV method, it is important to send an updated list of subscribers each month including their corresponding orders. This method is useful for pharmaceuticals and magazines. Direct integration with a client’s online inventory is the most efficient way to work with us, but we are happy to work with any method a client prefers: email, fax or mail order.

Good Warehouse Management Streamlines Fulfillment

After the orders are received, they are printed and organized according to the method of shipping, i.e., two-day, expedited, etc. This allows us to correctly prioritize shipping times. Orders are then categorized by product type and sent to one of our warehouse sorting areas to be unpacked and packed in the preferred method of the client.

Orders are checked for any specific pick and pack instructions such as plastic wrapping or a particularly specified box size.

Throughout the pick, pack and ship process, frequent quality control checks are performed to be sure that each order is accurate. Typically each product is put into a small box or container and given the appropriate protection to avoid breakage during delivery. Smaller boxes with appropriate protection lower the dimensional weight of each package and will help save the client some money.

Efficient Shipping and Inventory Management

Labels for the orders, including shipping instructions, are organized by shipping location. When the orders have been labeled, they are put onto a pallet to prepare for their final journey.

Once the orders are shipped, clients have live access to tracking activity through our Order Management System portal. FFI can even have tracking numbers sent to the client’s e-commerce system automatically.

Clients can customize their under-stock notification level. An email is sent to the client notifying them that it is time to re-stock, and another email is generated when inventory reaches zero. Since inventory is updated the moment items are shipped, the end customer will know immediately if their order is not available.

Flexible, Effective Fulfillment Helps Businesses Succeed

FFI has taken control of fulfillment and streamlined this potentially complicated process through software integration, efficient inventory and warehousing capabilities, and superior customer service. If you are looking to optimize your fulfillment process, we would love to work with you. We have solutions for all types of businesses! Give us a call at 973-361-1700 or fill out our contact form.

Fulco Fulfillment and Ecommerce Fulfillment

Fulco Fulfillment Inc’s order management system is the back end of your shopping cart for a pre-built web site to integrate any ecommerce fulfillment program. Ecommerce fulfillment is great for promotional product campaigns or established web presence start-up shopping cart stores. Fulco Fulfillment Inc. can warehouse and manage inventory for the ecommerce fulfillment customer.

Fulco Fulfillment’s order fulfillment can make ecommerce fulfillment a simple and easy process for any business. Our warehouse fulfillment services work in tandem with the ecommerce fulfillment process which often times can involve a variety of vendors and different schedules that need to be lined up. With Fulco Fulfillment Inc’s ecommerce fulfillment process, these seemingly difficult parts of the fulfillment process can be made easy and simple for your business.

What is ecommerce fulfillment?

Believe or not, your business no matter how small it may be has always been taking part in the ecommerce fulfillment process. With your growing business, you have looked to outsource the fulfillment to a third-part logistics (3PL) service such as Fulco Fulfillment Inc.

Fulco Fulfillment Inc. wants to bring that process to a much larger scale and make warehousing, inventory management and fulfillment and order fulfillment easier for you as well.

Ecommerce fulfillment can be divided into 4 easy steps. Step one is ecommerce data management and fulfillment center integration. Step two is receiving materials and inventory management. Following that is step three, order fulfillment. Pick, Pack Ship, Repeat. The final and fourth step is return processing. Through Fulco Fulfillment Inc. these four steps will appear fluid and easy for your growing business.

PICK, PACK, SHIP, REPEAT

Ecommerce data management and fulfillment center integration.

At first glance every fulfillment warehouse may appear to be simply storing a bunch of boxes on giant shelves, but Fulco Fulfillment Inc. provides so much more than that. An ecommerce fulfillment center such as Fulco Fulfillment Inc. is in fact a technological warehouse ready to communicate with our hardworking employees at anytime about the next task on hand, to get your product from point A to point B promptly and efficiently. Your ecommerce store will be perfectly integrated into our fulfillment center and our employees will be ready to send them out on a moment’s notice.

Our IT department will be ready to handle any ecommerce fulfillment issues that may arise throughout the process. Fulco Fulfillment Inc. strives for customer satisfaction and will work to fill your ecommerce fulfillment needs however it may be possible for us to do so.

Receiving and Inventory Management

Pallets upon pallets of your products will be kept in our fulfillment warehouse and added to our database, each of the products are kept track of so nothing is out of order and so we’re ready to fill out any orders that are being placed.

Fulco Fulfillment’s pick and pack services make sure to bring the receiving process straight to our inventory. After all, without the product being in inventory there is no way any of the products can be properly shipped. Fulco Fulfillment will have that completely covered quickly and efficiently.

Using ecommerce fulfillment services, Fulco Fulfillment will be able to view our inventory and management system to check on the products at hand with care. Fulco Fulfillment takes pride in making sure no items are lost or broken in the process and any missing or broken products will be reported back to you. We wish to provide the most minimal shrinkage possible and want to provide satisfaction for our customers.

Pick, Pack and Ship Order Fulfillment

All items going through Fulco Fulfillment Inc. are picked and packed carefully and efficiently to make sure that the right items are going through to the buyers. These items will then be shipped in a timely manner right to their destination using various shipping services.

Fulco Fulfillment Inc. is the third party logistics (3PL) provider that will bring your products out of the tiny and cramped spaces, into something more spacious that will make the fulfillment process seem much simpler than before.

Fulco Fulfillment Inc. will ship throughout the tri-state area quickly and beyond so that the orders being made are brought to their destination in a timely manner. Picking and Packing inventory is done with great care into each and everyone of FFIs products are shipped with care.

Key Terms: Fulfillment Glossary

3PL: See third-party logistics.
E-Fulfillment: Warehousing and processing of eCommerce orders.
E-Logistics: The data management part of third-party logistics operations.
ECommerce Fulfillment: Fulfillment of online orders, also referred to as e-fulfillment.
Inventory: The products you have in stock at any given time.
Inventory Accuracy: The match (or mismatch) between the inventory that the computer says the warehouse has and what’s actually on the shelves.
Inventory Management: Supervision of inventory and stock items, Data is used to keep track of goods as they move through the process.
Order Fulfillment: This refers to everything needed to send out an order, from receiving the order through picking and packing to shipping.
Pallet: A platform of wood slats onto which products are stacked. Pallets are designed so that forklift prongs can be inserted in the middle to lift and move goods. The amount of merchandise that can be placed on one pallet is also sometimes referred to as a pallet.
Pick and Pack: Picking the items to be shipped together in one order. Rather than shipping each item individually, orders are picked and packed into a single box to save shipping costs and get inventory to buyers most efficiently.
Shrinkage: The loss of inventory stored in a fulfillment warehouse due to breakage, theft, being misplaced, and other types of damage.
Third-Party Logistics: Outsourcing your warehousing, packing, and shipping to a third-party vendor who specializes in logistics.