Increasingly, firms are selling online. Across the world consumers prefer to buy products via the web. They find it more convenient to do so and can use downtime such as their commute to work to get their shopping done. Unsurprisingly, this is a trend that is expected to increase therefore it is vital that firms get their e-fulfilment right.
Most firms get the first part right
Electronic checkouts on websites rarely, if ever, fail. The problems seem to occur when it comes to picking, packing and delivering products to customers. At this stage, many firms struggle to provide a consistently reliable service. Most cope well at quite times, but fail to meet all orders in a timely fashion when demand is high. Most firms cannot afford to have empty warehousing or pickers sitting around just in case they have a surge of orders, but this means they also do not have the flexibility to respond to increases in demand.
Third party fulfilment services
Fortunately, there is an answer and that is to use a third party fulfilment service. These services are extremely flexible. They take on the whole picking, packing and despatching process. Their warehouses are vast and workforce is huge. Many of their workers are contracted part time, so can work extra hours when asked to do so to meet peaks in demand.
Third party fulfilment services are not only more convenient and efficient than most in-house order fulfilment. Over the long term, they also work out far cheaper this allows firms to make more profit per item.