No matter the shape, the size, or the industry, if you own and operate an e-commerce business, you know that order fulfillment is vital to your success. In fact, not only is it vital for your success, it’s essential to the very foundation of your business. Without order fulfillment processes, your business wouldn’t exist. Have you recently increased the products you’re offering or do you plan to expand your business? If you want your ecommerce business to be as successful as possible, consider outsourcing order fulfillment to a 3PL provider.
How 3PL Helps Expand Your Business
What is a 3PL Provider?
Short for third-party logistics, 3PL providers specialize in supply chain management. This includes management of inventory, warehousing, and order fulfillment. Third-party logistics companies aim to streamline shipping by improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the process for their clients. However, shipping out orders isn’t the only service that 3PL providers offer. While options vary, additional services may also include the procurement of goods, managing and syncing clients’ inventory with their ecommerce shops, as well as IT system integration, reporting, and data exchange.
The capacities for receiving, storing, and fulfilling inventory vary from each 3PL company. However, regardless of their capacities, the services a reputable 3PL company offers will be highly flexible. They can take over the management of a single part of warehousing, distribution, supply chain, or order fulfillment requirements. A 3PL company can also take over an entire branch, or they can take charge of the entire order fulfillment needs for your ecommerce business.
How Can a 3PL Expand the Success of Your Business?
How does outsourcing to a 3PL company help you expand and allow your ecommerce business to succeed? Here’s a look at just some of the ways a 3PL company can help expand your business.
Cost Savings
For small ecommerce operations, the price of in-house order fulfillment can be unreasonable. When you outsource to a 3PL company, you won’t need the extra warehouse space, labor, or technology that in-house order fulfillment requires. Moreover, a 3PL company will help to minimize auxiliary expenses. For example, the cost of liability insurance and purchasing warehouse management software.
Time Savings
A 3PL company saves you a substantial amount of money and also helps save you time. A 3PL company can develop and implement processes and systems that will streamline the order fulfillment operations of your ecommerce business. In fact, a reputable 3PL provider will be current with the latest trends in industry logistics and efficiencies. This will most certainly be beneficial to your company. Rather than spending precious time analyzing the details of shipping, packing goods, printing out labels, and putting them in the mail, you’ll be able to focus on growing your business. This includes developing or adding new products or services, marketing, and improving customer service.
Related Resource: How Auto-fulfillment Can Make Your Business More Efficient (Small Business Administration)
Expanded reach
Oftentimes, small and medium-sized ecommerce businesses that take care of logistics on their own don’t have the scale that’s needed to promptly deliver products to their clients located far from their operations. However, reliable and experienced 3PL companies typically have several distribution centers in various locations. Therefore, they make use of delivery systems that have been optimized. As such, a 3PL company will be able to get orders delivered to your clients a lot faster, no matter where they are located.
Increased customer satisfaction
Since you’ll be able to offer more and higher quality products, you’ll be able to communicate with and better meet the needs of your clients. Also, since orders will get to your clients faster, customer satisfaction will increase when you use a 3PL company. As we all know, customer satisfaction is vital for the success of your business.
Additional Reading: Choosing a 3PL Warehouse Facility
Ship Fortress LLC | Best Reefer Truckload | 3PL Warehouse Facility & Logistics in Milwaukee
Ship Fortress in Milwaukee understands every business has its own specific requirements. We customize and create solutions to meet each business’s unique needs. We truly do provide our clients with
- cost-effective delivery services
- flexible
- high-quality logistics solutions & LTL services
As a seamless extension of our clients’ business, we have a passion for exceptional customer service. Our experience and expertise allow us to provide multiple layers of client support services to propel businesses forward. Contact us for a FREE Quote.
