Outsourcing your order fulfillment has several advantages. The right order fulfillment partner can help reduce your shipping cost, lower operating costs, and extend your reach. Also, your order fulfillment company can help improve your customer services and streamline the order fulfillment process using technology. This is why choosing the right order fulfillment partner is crucial for your dropshipping business.Furthermore, these fulfillment companies are charged with storing, inventory management, packing, and delivering items to customers. Topics such as hoarding, excessive increment in the price of goods, uncontrollable dumping of scrupulous products, fraud, and scams, are quite rampant in the order fulfillment process. Therefore, the need to scrutinize and subject the fulfillment service providers to thorough investigation and consideration is crucial. In this post, we will be discussing some essential questions to ask before choosing an order fulfillment partner:

What Areas Does The Company Serve?

One of the major things that are often considered when choosing an order fulfillment company is the location and coverage areas. The areas served by the order fulfillment company is crucial. Choose majorly those with warehouses in countries or areas where your customers are concentrated. Having a close warehouse ensures the timely arrival of packages. With this, you can deliver items to customers on time.

Is The Shipping Rate Affordable?

The main aim of a business is to make profits. Therefore, this is a fundamental question to ask. Make inquiries about which of the order fulfillment companies offer the lowest rate and how soon it takes to get them cleared. These two would give an edge in your market space. Carefully access their carriers and range of shipping they bring to the table.However, shipping fees have proven to be one of the main factors enhancing the practice of cart abandonment. These two factors are the fastest way to turn people's attention to their store. According to Statista, 63% of online shoppers blame the abandonment of carted goods on expensive shipping fees. Directly, this inflates the price of products, and those whose fulfillment companies offer affordable shipping rates tend to have more sales.

Is The Price Fair?

Furthermore, the price of goods tends to have a proportionate effect on the type of product sold. Always be on the lookout for the marginal or average rate in the market and be prepared to bargain. The strategy to go about that is putting your attention majorly on goods you want to purchase against the price. Make sure also to check carefully if there are no other hidden additional charges on the carted products. Always put your instinct and brilliance in deciding which to go for among the order fulfillment companies.

Is The Company Big Enough to Accommodate Your Dropshipping Business Needs?

These hinges on the size of your business and orders. Get varieties of options and check which best suits your dropshipping business. In the course of doing this, put into consideration which can handle your requests effectively. In case of potential huge orders, choose a partner that would take it without any issues.

Does Your Need Align With The Service They Provide?

Furthermore, make sure you choose an order fulfillment company whose services align with your business needs. If there is a need for business expansion or diversification, your preferred partner should have an ideal solution for you. Therefore, analyze your needs and plan to devise practical solutions to them.

How Well Do They Attend To Emergency Issues through Their Customer Support?

Sometimes, there is a need for clarity or negotiation, which goes a long way to affect the business and agreement. The importance of accessing the credibility and availability of customer care is also vital. These are all advised to be put into consideration during the selection of a partner. The approach to issues and suggestions on ways of calming the tension before figuring out solutions is fundamental. You want to work with an order fulfillment company with reliable and efficient customer support.

Is the Company's Philosophy Mutual?

When selecting a preferred choice, it is essential to choose those that are highly analytical as you. As a dropshipping business owner, you probably see beyond the surface and current happenings because you are critical and always careful of each decision. For this reason, it is highly advisable to work with a company that is goal-oriented and futuristic like you. Remember, the consequences of each business decision could either be negative or positive. Having an order fulfillment company with mutual philosophy can help you make perfect choices.

What is Your Minimum or Maximum Order Volume Requirements?

In addition, your order fulfillment partner should provide you with an estimate regarding the minimum or maximum amount of orders the company is able to handle. Several order fulfillment companies will "out price" you if you fail to meet the minimum requirements while others will restrict the growth of your dropshipping business by not allowing you to exceed a pre-set volume. Conversely, the ideal order fulfillment partner will be willing to contract with you and help your business grow.

Is There A Long-Term Commitment?

Lastly, you should never sign a long-term contract or agreement with an order fulfillment partner unless there is a way out if the service becomes unacceptable. The right strategy is to have a month-to-month contract or a short-term renewable agreement. With this, you can easily walk away if the services provided by the company becomes undesirable.There you have it! Above are some important questions to ask before choosing an order fulfillment partner. Your outsourced order fulfillment company is crucial to the success of your dropshipping business. Ensure that you choose a partner that can help lower operating costs, reduce shipping costs, and help your business grow.Do you need a reliable order fulfillment company for your dropshipping business? Contact us today at Fulfillman. We specialize in providing excellent Drop Shipping services, Order Fulfilment, Warehouse fulfillment, China sourcing, Third Party Logistics, and so forth. Our dedicated experts will be available to speak with you and discuss the options available to you. We guarantee you get quality and excellent services that give 100% client satisfaction.