Choose the right eCommerce fulfillment center and make the most of this festive season.
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Festival season is around the corner. The excitement and hurry can be seen everywhere. Offering the best deals, merchants are doing everything in their power to spread every bit of happiness and satisfaction to their customers. With so many strategies to sell effectively, merchants need to focus on the eCommerce fulfillment centers or services that will fulfil the orders placed on the marketplaces in time.
Making sales is a half battle won. To win ultimately, you need to deliver products quickly and without friction. Above all, customers look for fast, cheap shipping and easy returns. If you are offering all these, you are likely the best choice for customers. Thus, your significant difficulty lies in choosing the most effective and fast fulfillment service.
A fulfillment center is a place where a third-party logistics provider provides order fulfillment, warehouse management and arranges quick delivery of your products to the customers. It certainly, allows you to scale your business operations without investing in extra employees and warehousing space. The logistic provider will pick, store, package, and ship your products from the fulfillment center and manage returns as well. The core aim of any eCommerce fulfillment center is to save time and effort.
Role of Fulfillment Centers
Why would you want to use a logistics provider or a fulfillment center? These are the services you should expect from a fulfillment center to provide –
- Inventory receiving and storage – The supplier or manufacturer should ship products directly to the fulfillment center.
- Shipping and delivery coordination – Whenever an order is placed, the fulfillment center gets notified, picks the order, packages it, and ships it via the appropriate carrier.
- Returns Management – The logistics center will also take care of return services, process undamaged items back into inventory, and bring them back to the warehouse. A fulfillment center will process the exchanges and ship the customer a replacement item quickly.
Things to keep in mind while choosing a fulfillment center
While opting for any fulfillment center, see whether that is compatible enough for your current needs and grow with your business. Look for the following factors before finalizing your fulfillment center.
- Fees – Different fulfillment centers have different fee structures. See which fee structure you are willing to opt for.
- Multiple fulfillment centers – Many fulfillment providers offer multiple strategic fulfillment center locations, both national and international.
- Multi-Channel fulfillment – If you are not selling on multiple channels, leave the option open. Specific fulfillment centers offer support for various sales channels and marketplaces.
Therefore, being mindful of these necessities, let us now look at the best fulfillment centers that will help make the selling process a successful deal.
Here are the Best eCommerce Fulfillment Centers!
Amazon FBA
One of the best fulfillment centers for sellers on Amazon is Fulfillment by Amazon. Products fulfilled by Amazon get automatically eligible for Prime shipping at zero additional cost. It also offers multi-channel fulfillment, which means Amazon can fulfil orders from your website or another marketplace at a different price.
ShipBob
It is one of the best 3PL providers for small businesses. ShipBob offers excellent market services like dedicated account representatives, a nationwide warehouse network in the US, and a full range of services. In addition, it also accepts batch shipments and emphasizes simplicity and transparency.
FedEx Fulfillment
It offers full-service fulfillment centers to store, pick, and pack orders, also strengthening a massive logistics network. You get access to a giant fulfillment network without high costs.
Deliverr
It specializes in two-day multi-channel fulfillment. It offers FBA’s ease of use and transparency by providing a flat and per-order rate on products that includes all shipping fees and fulfillment. Above all you can estimate fees with its cost calculator and offer a wide range of integrations and management softwares. This center, however, offers affordable two-day delivery services.
Whitebox
Whitebox is a unique fulfillment provider that offers end-to-end services and warehouses across the US to make two-day shipping more convenient and affordable. Its marketplace management tools are the most significant advantage that offers product listing and advertising services for Amazon and Walmart marketplaces that drive more sales.
Red Stag Fulfillment
It is one of the best providers for handling fragile, oversized products or other packaging services. The Red Stag fulfillment works for small businesses and provides excellent customer services. Its fee is competitive as compared to other services.
Walmart Fulfillment Services
This fulfillment service is only available for sellers selling on Walmart marketplaces. It is a cost-effective method to offer guaranteed two-day shipping, which will boost Buy box share and search ranking on Walmart.
Fulfillment Centers – An Investment for your Future Business!
However, fulfillment centers are one of the most significant investments that any business can make to scale. It eases your efforts and saves time. Staying conscious of your competitors’ tactics, you can easily design your business strategy and manage things more efficiently. Thus, choose the most suitable fulfillment center by keeping in mind the core aim of your business.