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The holiday shipping season is already here; It’s a hectic time for ecommerce businesses trying to fulfill and deliver products. Although the holiday shipping season is guaranteed to be a crazy and frantic time of year for any online business, having the correct fulfillment plan in place may go a long way toward making sure that your order fulfillment process runs smoothly and efficiently – even during the chaos. Without further ado, here are nine fulfillment suggestions for a great holiday season for your business!

Maintain a Well-Stocked Inventory

It’s critical to keep your inventory stocked at all times, especially around the holidays. On the other hand, all holiday season stock should be prepared and kept well ahead of the peak shipping period. Maintain communication with your suppliers to know when they can deliver. Order ahead of time to ensure that you have the things you need before your holiday offers begin; this is also critical for warehouse operations efficiency since it leads to better worker staffing to fulfill tasks. Due to effective inventory management, quick order fulfillment is also achievable. Additionally, estimate the number of orders you received in the previous season and procure stock appropriately.

Provide a Reasonable and Easy Returns Policy

Too many times, online businesses become so engrossed in the holiday shipping and fulfillment process that they forget to create a smart, smooth return policy in preparation for the anticipated post-holiday demand; this is a major blunder. Instead, set a reasonable return policy well ahead of the holiday season and convey it to your visitors on your website and product pages. It’s also a good idea to provide prepaid return tags in all of your clients’ orders.

Have Sufficient Shipping Supplies

Consistently acquire enough shipping supplies far ahead of time, in addition to stocking your inventories well before the peak season shipping season. The last thing you want is for your company to run out of shipping supplies during the busiest shopping season, so always restock. It’s also not a bad idea to get what you think will be a spare to be safe.

Keep Communication Lines Open With Customers And Suppliers

It’s vital to have good communication with your clients, vendors, and transporters. If a shipment of orders is postponed due to bad weather or a shortage of shipping materials, notify affected consumers as soon as possible via mailings, social media updates, and blogs. Maintain constant communication with your suppliers and couriers, and discuss concerns such as shipment deadlines, late deliveries, and inventory levels to avoid miscommunications that could sabotage your Holiday shipment and fulfillment operations.

Be Aware of The Shipping Deadlines For The Holiday Season

It’s also critical to be aware of any holiday shipping dates to maintain track of your fulfillment process. Knowing them can guide you in better preparing your fulfillment strategy and planning ahead of time to make the most of your time and resources.

Enlist the Help of a Third Party To Handle Your Fulfillment

The order fulfillment process is time-consuming, costly, and demands a great deal of effort and meticulousness from your staff, as any other online retailer will tell you. Outsourcing the processes to third-party professionals, on the other hand, can enable you to minimize this pressure and spare your time to focus on sales, promotion, and recruiting temporary staff for the holidays, among other things.

Keep Up With The Latest Marketing Trends.

Your Holiday marketing campaign should start far in before the holiday rush. Launch your promotions earlier to make them known to your target audience through newsletters, digital marketing, blog articles, and paid to advertise.

Prepare Before Time

Once it concerns having a successful holiday shipping season, preparedness is the foundation for success compared to keeping a well-stocked inventory. Always run a stress test on your website ahead of time to ensure that it will be able to manage the influx of Holiday purchases. In summary, make sure your site performs smoothly and swiftly, has an easy-to-navigate layout, and has a seamless checkout experience. It’s also a smart option to remind your employees what’s required of them before the holidays, double and that your website has updated and precise information concerning your delivery and return policies.

Maintain a Top-Notch Customer Service

Customer service is crucial when dealing with the holiday shipping pressure. Integrating chatbots and including a FAQ area on your website are both brilliant ideas. Your customer support agent should also have the necessary training and knowledge to deal with any question that comes their way. You can accomplish this with a centralized system for your site, order processing, shipping trackers. Customer service concerns will be addressed swiftly and efficiently once these systems are linked together.

Endnote

There you have it! Above are some insightful tips to handle order fulfillment during the holiday season. Often, it appears like everyone, but online retailers are having a good time over the holidays. Thankfully, enforcing the correct holiday shipping strategy and fulfillment plan can make sure that the busiest fulfillment and shipping period runs seamlessly and successfully.

Do you need help with order fulfillment during the holidays? Contact us today at Fulfillman. We provide a wide range of services including Global Fulfillment, China Sourcing, Drop Shipping, Third Party Logistics, and lots more. Our trusted experts will be happy to speak with you and provide suitable answers to your questions and concerns. A fantastic experience awaits you.


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As the holiday shipping season draws closer, ecommerce and dropshipping businesses will face increased pressure to fulfill and deliver orders. Although the holiday season is known to be a crazy and demanding time of the year for many online shops, having the correct fulfillment plan in place can help facilitate your fulfillment process and ensure that everything runs smoothly and efficiently. Without further ado, here are fantastic fulfillment tips for the holiday season for your business:

Maintain a Well-Stocked Inventory

It’s critical to keep your inventory well-stocked at all times, especially during the holiday season. Also, all the holiday season stock should be ordered in advance before the peak shipping season. Maintain contact with your vendors to find out when they will be able to deliver. Order before time to ensure that you have the supplies you need before your seasonal offers begin. This is also crucial for inventory control optimization since it facilitates workers to complete tasks. With effective inventory management, timely order fulfillment is also achievable. Another tip is to estimate the volume of orders you received in the previous season and stock up accordingly.

Maintain Reliable Customer Service

Customer service is crucial when it concerns managing the holiday shipping pressure. Integrating chatbots and including a Faqs section on your site are both excellent ideas. Your customer support agent should also have the necessary skills and knowledge to deal with any concerns that customers may have. You can make this easy by using a single platform for inventory management, sales, and shipment tracking. Customer support complaints will be addressed easily, swiftly, and efficiently once these systems are linked together.

Ensure That You Have Sufficient Shipping Supplies On Hand

As you prepare your inventory for the anticipated busy holiday season, it’s vital to order enough shipping supplies. You would want to be stranded with insufficient shipping supplies during the chaotic period, so it’s best to have enough supply. It would hurt to have surplus rather than inadequate supplies.

Familiarize Yourself With The Year’s Holiday Shipping Deadlines

It’s also critical to be familiar with all holiday shipping dates in order to get the most out of your fulfillment process. Understanding them can assist you in efficiently preparing your fulfillment strategy and planning ahead of time to optimize your time and resources effectively.

Plan Ahead

Once it concerns having a successful Christmas shipping season, planning is even more important than having a well-stocked inventory. Conduct a stress test on your website ahead of time to ensure that it will be able to manage the volume of festive sales. In essence, make sure your site loads seamlessly and fast, has an easy-to-navigate layout and has a smooth checkout procedure. It’s also a smart option to remind your employees of their requirements before the holidays and ensure that your website has updated and comprehensive information about the shipping, delivery, and return policies.

Provide a Logical Refund Policy

Too many times, online business owners get wrapped up in the holiday shipping and fulfillment process that they forget to create a logical, seamless return policy for the inevitable after-holiday surge of product refunds. As a result, it’s best to establish a reasonable returns policy before the holiday season and indicates it on your site and product pages. It’s also a smart move to include prepaid return labels in all of your clients’ orders.

Keep Up With the Market Trends

You should create your marketing strategy and implement it even before the holiday starts. Run special offers and promotions on time and offer them to your target customers through emails, paid ads, and blog posts.

You Can Outsource Your Fulfillment Process

Most online business owners would agree that an order fulfillment process can be expensive, time, and energy-consuming. Getting third-party specialists to handle the fulfillment process can help to lift the pressure while you focus on other important aspects such as marketing, sales, and staffing.

Maintain Effective Communication with Customers, Suppliers, and Shipping Services

Subsequently, keep in touch with your customers, supply chain partners, and logistics providers. If a volume of orders is rescheduled due to bad weather or a shortage of shipping materials, notify affected consumers as soon as possible through emails, social media updates, or even blog posts.

Similarly, maintain regular contact with your suppliers and delivery services and vividly discuss concerns such as shipment deadlines, delivery schedules, and order quantities to avoid discrepancies, which could delay or prevent your Holiday shipping and fulfillment operations.

Endnote

With an effective fulfillment strategy, you can enjoy a happy holiday shipping season. It usually appears like everyone else, but online retailers are having a good time during the holiday seasons. However, having a proper and effective holiday shipping process and fulfillment strategy in place will help ensure you get a seamless and productive fulfillment and shipping season.

In case you will like to know more about our services, contact us today at Fulfillman. Our dedicated team will be available to speak with you. We will provide suitable answers to your questions and concerns. An amazing experience awaits you.


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The ecommerce business comprises a series of phases from the moment a customer indicates interest in one of your products to the minute the product is delivered. A lot of challenges can occur between both points. These challenges-known as ecommerce fulfillment challenges-have the potential to damage your business reputation and cost you lots of money and even lead to the collapse of a once-thriving business. Since it is an inevitable part of the business, we have come up with some practices to help you correct such issues if they arise.

Inventory Management

A poorly managed warehouse can lead to problems with inventory management. Here is a situation where your products are no longer in stock, damaged, or difficult to locate and package.

How to Fix It

You’d need to develop an inventory management strategy that involves making your warehouse staff aware of the importance of proper inventory. It is also crucial to have real-time data with updates for your online store

If you don’t have a warehouse, you have the option of working with reputable third parties (for example, end-to-end fulfillment or logistics (3PL) solutions). They have the experience and resources to manage your inventory optimally.

Product Packaging

A poorly packaged product makes a shipped package more vulnerable to damage and loss.

How to Fix

You must use suitable packaging materials. After the product has been well packaged, you can then seal the carton with premium packing tape that keeps the package tight and all. When moving the carton(s), always ensure that it is stacked adequately on a pallet(s)(plastic or wooden) or in wooden crates depending on the size and number of cartons.

Shipping Notification Issues

Most customers love to monitor the movements of their orders after paying for them. So they expect notifications and updates from you. Given the nature of shipping, it can be challenging to give these, leading to some possible friction between you and your customers.

How To Fix It

Your best bet in such a situation would be to set up a messaging system that alerts your customers of the movement of their orders. To do this, you could opt for automated texts or emails that get delivered to your clients once they have made payments.

Installing order tracking plugins is another way to go as it allows your customers to check the status of their package from your site. Always ensure that you provide accurate tracking numbers or codes from your carrier.

Billing Information

Inaccurate billing information details can be a big problem. So you want to ensure that details such as the weight, freight class, description, payor of the transit of the freight, and accessorials, among others, are always accurate.

How to Fix It

Confirm the billing information details. Cross-check them as many times as possible. If you get the details wrong, call your broker to contact your carrier. You might need a letter of authorization, though.

International Order Fulfillment

An integral aspect of ecommerce is international shipping, which requires paperwork, taxes, and customs fees. There are also complications with ports, customs, and local and foreign inspections. All these make international order fulfillment challenging to manage in some situations.

How to Fix It

You would need to find a way to master international shipping with minimal hassles. One of the best ways to do this is to partner with reliable and seasoned fulfillment partners and shipping carriers with a reputation for delivering products to the locations you intend to ship products.

You can then back these shipping solutions with a reliable return policy and regular updates about any changes in the shipping schedules or pickups.

Damaged Or Lost Packages

There are so many phases in the process, and at any given point in time, a customer’s package can get lost or damaged.

How To Fix It

The best way to fix this issue is to ensure your shipment will cater to problems that might arise. You could get insurance from a third-party company if you cannot find a carrier that provides insurance coverage.

You also want to offer a return policy that is clear on issues of damaged or lost packages. The idea is to tackle this issue head-on as soon as possible.

Customer Service

Order fulfillment is tedious in itself, and efficient and professional customer service often smoothens it. However, there are some situations where poor customer service becomes an obstacle itself.

How to Fix It

Constant training of your customer service personnel will go a long way in fixing any customer service issues. Regular training is essential because there is a myriad of things that could go wrong with an order. It prepares them for the worst-case scenarios. The better trained they are, the more likely they are to manage any fulfillment problems that might arise.

Takeaway

Fulfillment challenges are part of the ecommerce business, so you are better off getting ready for them because they are inevitable. This article has described solutions to some of the most common fulfillment challenges that might arise in the course of your ecommerce business.

At Fulfillman, we provide a wide range of services including Global Fulfillment & Dropshipping services, Sourcing from China, Branding, And Product Photography Services for Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon, eBay and more! Contact us today to get started.


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For every business, whether established or a start-up, the building of its customer base is paramount for its growth. One way to build up a base of loyal customers and increase sales is to improve the experience of your customers. This is one thing that fulfillment centers will help you achieve. Utilizing the assistance of fulfillment centers is an efficient business strategy that a business can employ to form a wonderful relationship with its customers and stoke its growth.

There are varieties of ways that fulfillment centers can help you enhance customer experience, build a loyal customer base, boost sales and grow your brand. They include:

Deal with Market Fluctuations

The market is volatile and no business is invulnerable from experiencing its fluctuations. It can happen as time goes on at any particular time of the year. Fulfillment centers are well equipped to assist businesses, especially startups, in dealing with the drastic changes in the market. Most business organizations are not informed on how to handle the unexpected changes in the market leading them to run on fumes. This affects their capacity to meet up with demand and supply.

Fulfillment centers help businesses to take precautionary measures for any eventuality in the market. They ensure the sales is increased or maintained or that the customer experience of your customers is not disturbed during the market fluctuations.

Improve Customer Satisfaction

Shipping wrong packages to a customer and making late deliveries are all part of the issues that deteriorate customer experience. These problems could arise from the inability of a company to handle the influx of orders. Giving access to a third-party expert to deliver packages to your customers aids you to avoid any hiccup in the process. Fulfillment centers do take a great time and care to ensure that nothing goes wrong in your supply chain. This, in turn, helps you build a satisfied and loyal customer base.

Allocates More Time to Your Business

Businesses need time to carry out their marketing campaign, engage with the customers, and ensuring that orders are fulfilled. Especially when it is a small or Startup Company, handling all these can prove too difficult most times without the efficiency and effectiveness of one of them becoming affected.

Outsourcing the order delivery aspect to a fulfillment center ensures that enough time is freed up for you to attend to other areas of your business. You will be guaranteed that your customers’ needs are met while you are not at it.

Take Care of Inventory

There is a lot of work in creating an inventory for a business. So much time and resources go into equipping the inventory with the right items, shipping out the right item and replacing an item returned by a customer. Setting up and managing an inventory by a small business may be a burden.

Fulfillment centers are known to have an inventory containing all the items you are offering and ensure that the items are up-to-date. They manage your inventory take care of the packaging and shipping, getting the load off your back, while you operate other areas of your business.

Saves Operating Costs

Fulfillment centers help you to decrease your company’s expenditure, saving up capital that you can be channeled into other areas of the business to encourage its growth. The capital freed up could be used to add more items to your inventory, run advertisement campaigns that ensure your customer base is built and the business is developed.

Saves Time

The supply chain could be suffering when you have do not have enough time devoted to it. This does not help in improving the customer experience, as their need will be poorly catered for. You can outsource the distribution to a third-party entity while you focus on running other logistics of your business. This way, you are ensuring that an efficient supply chain is maintained.

Reach Bigger Audience

A fulfillment center serves as a bridge between a business and its customers. Your customers can be at any part of the world. When you receive an order from them, a fulfillment center has the appropriate machinery in place to ensure that you reach out to them. You can go into new markets, reach out to a broader audience, grow your customer base and improve your business through a fulfillment center.

Enhance Customer Relationship

A better customer relationship is pivotal for any business that wants to boost sales and grow. When customers are satisfied with your service, they are likely to stick with you. This loyal customer will continuously purchase from you. They also will help in broadcasting your brand to new customers. A fulfillment center ensures that you form a great customer relationship with your customers to take your business to greater heights.

Impressive Turnarounds

Fulfillment centers ensure that there is a fast turnaround between when a customer orders for a product and when it is delivered. Having less time between when the product is ordered and when the customer gets them at their doorstep is one way to make them become satisfied with your services. In the long run, it makes you have a spike in sales and see your company reach great heights.

There you have it! Fulfillment centers enable you to run your business efficiently while you reach the height that you are aiming for.  Use the services of a fulfillment center today that suits the needs of your company.

Contact us today at Fulfillman if you need a reputable fulfillment services company for your ecommerce business. We are a leading provider of various services including Warehouse fulfillment, Drop Shipping, Third Party Logistics, Crowdfunding Fulfillment, China sourcing, and so forth. Our trusted experts will be available to speak with you and discuss your needs. We will provide suitable answers to your questions and concerns. With us, you are guaranteed to get quality and excellent services that give complete client satisfactoin.


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To run a successful ecommerce business, you have to get things right on the front-end as well as the back-end of your business operation. Many new retailers on the ecommerce space focus their attentions on giving the customers great shopping experience. They ensure that their sites look great and easy to navigate. They also take extra steps to ensure that customers find what they want quickly, pay for them as quickly as possible and get all the help they need. While this is very important, it is only one aspect of what makes buyers happy. The joy of any buyer will only be complete when the product is delivered how and where they want it. That is where fulfillment services companies come in.

Unless you are a supply chain and logistic expert like Amazon (unlikely), you may need the services of a fulfillment company to handle the delivery aspect of your business. Micromanaging may be viable at the early stage of your business but once you start getting more orders, it will be necessary to engage a fulfillment provider. Finding the best company to handle this aspect of your business can be hard. To help you achieve that, we will briefly discuss some helpful tips:

Look For Certified Companies

It is always better to work with companies that are certified by some relevant bodies for the services they provide. In the case of fulfillment services companies, the bodies that may certify a company include American Purchasing Society, the International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA), and the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC). A company that is certified by any of these organizations can be trusted to perform well.

Consider Experienced Companies

Choosing an experienced company is also very important. Companies that have been operating in the sector for a while will most likely have the necessary software and hardware to handle the delivery aspect of your business in the best possible manner. An experienced fulfillment provider is also less prone to mistakes which will be a good thing for your business.

Consider the Distribution Network of the Company

This is one of the reasons you need to understand your customer base. It will be helpful to choose a fulfillment provider that has the right distribution network to handle your orders. If you sell to people within a particular state, you can choose a company that is very strong in that particular state or region. If most of your customers are overseas, you should consider only companies with global reach.

Choose Companies with Clear Terms and Conditions

It is important that you clearly understand the terms and conditions of any company you are dealing with. The agreement you will enter needs to clearly state what you will get and what you will pay. Read the fine prints carefully and clarify such points as minimum and maximum volume the company will handle at a time. You also need to know the service guarantee you get as their customer.

Avoid Companies That Will Try to Lock You In

You need to be careful to avoid being locked into an unfavorable contract. In fact, it is important that you avoid being locked into any kind of contract at all. There are great fulfillment services companies that allow you to cancel at any time and those are the companies you should work with.

Consider the Pricing Structure

Pricing is one important aspect you shouldn’t joke with since it will significantly influence your profitability. It is important that you understand the pricing structure proposed by a fulfillment services company before entering into agreement. Understand exactly how they will bill you. It is also important that you avoid large monthly and annual retainers. A low flat-rate pricing structure is always better.

Consider All Applicable Fees and Rules

Asides your regularly service cost, there are some extra fees that may apply to the services you will enjoy from your fulfillment services company. It is critical that you consider such fees and rules that apply. Some may charge for storage: choose companies that charge low rate for storage capacity and offer flexibility in terms of how long your goods can stay in their warehouse.

Consider the Possibility for Scaling

As a business owner, you should always plan for growth. You also have to consider this while choosing a fulfillment services company. You need a company that will accommodate your growth. This means that the company must have a warehouse with the capacity to accommodate increased volume from you. It is possible that your products may go viral and you don’t want to start looking for a bigger company when this happens. If you plan adding new lines of products, you also have to consider a company that can handle the new products perfectly.

Software and Automation

The whole point of ecommerce is to make buying and selling easier through technology. As you make things easier for your customers, your fulfillment provider should also make things easy for you. This will basically depend on their software. It is important that you work with a company that lets you send product orders automatically from your ecommerce platform. The software should also be able to automatically update inventory and statuses. You should be able to see what is happening with your orders. If you can test a demo account to see how things work, that will be great.

Consider Reviews from Their Past and Present Clients

It is also important that you consider the reputation of the company you are going to work with. One simple way to do this is to check the reviews from their past and present clients. It should not be hard to find helpful reviews on Google and Yelp.

Using the services of a product fulfillment company will definitely attract extra cost for your ecommerce business but the benefits it offers is often massive. It will make your business more efficient in terms of order delivery. The satisfaction of your customers should be your priority and that is what a fulfillment services company can help you achieve.

Do you need a reputable fulfillment services company for your ecommerce business? Contact us today at Fulfillman. We provide a wide range of services including Warehouse fulfillment, Drop Shipping, China sourcing, Third Party Logistics, and many more. Our dedicated team will be available to discuss with you and provide suitable answers to your questions and concerns. We guarantee you excellent services.