An E-commerce fulfillment company undertakes the crucial aspects of warehousing, inventory management, packaging and shipping. After an order is received, the third-party fulfillment centres get notified by the E-commerce companies and they start the process of shipping. The fulfillment centres offer a lot of benefits such as the elimination of physical spaces for storage, low costs for storage, faster fulfilment, complete order management and time savings. When choosing an E-commerce fulfillment service in 2023, fundamental aspects to be considered are location, ease of integration, modern inventory management, customization and safe shipping. Let us analyse these aspects in detail.
Location: A fulfillment service ought to be able to cover all the regions of demand. The services should help reduce shipping costs, and since the location determines the speed of delivery, the fulfillment service should be located near the airports and sea ports for easy shipping. The fulfillment centre should offer enough space for vehicle parking and convenient road transport. Also, it must be noted that it is not necessary for the Fulfillment services to be located in your company’s vicinity if they offer real-time visibility and CCTV cameras.
Technical aspects: It is obligatory that the fulfilment centre provide ease of integration with the E-commerce company’s software, to be notified of the orders. The fulfilment centre should handle efficiently handle the arriving goods, and store them. The inventory storage space must be huge. If both distribution options, such as wholesale and retail are required, it must be able to satisfy both. The temperature-controlled environment must be available for the storage of perishable items. Their services should cover small and large items, as per requirement. The fulfilment centre should implement modern technologies for error-free fulfilment. It should have automated solutions for sending notifications to customers.
Testimonials and Value-added services:
Another aspect that needs to be contemplated while choosing a fulfilment centre is the testimonials or reviews, as the endorsements of previous users are worthwhile to consider. It must also be examined whether the fulfilment services provide essential value-added services like customization, labelling, return management etc. If free shipping is offered, the fulfillment services must be affordable. Therefore, the availability of various options like hire/rent and lease should be considered to reduce costs. The distribution network of the Fulfillment service provider should be present nationwide for fast deliveries. The fulfilment service provider should provide real-time tracking data for the e-commerce companies to enable easy restocking of products.
Conclusion:
Based on the demand and services required, the factors such as location, technical services and value-added services of fulfilment centres should be considered, for the selection of a befitting fulfillment service in 2023. A fulfilment service ought to be experienced and have technically skilled labour to avoid any error.
UTL Logistics offers first-mile to last-mile deliveries with seamless integration to e-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento etc. and has a nationwide presence and partnerships for systemized expedited deliveries. It is the pioneer of the “pay as you use” provision, to entitle payments, only for the storage space used. Our warehouse in Bhiwandi is equipped with all the latest technologies and systems which is managed by experienced and trained staff. We also have tie ups with warehouses all over India and thus, offer seamless ecommerce fulfillment services in India.