How A Contract Fulfillment Warehouse Helps Your Company

| Wednesday, June 13, 2018
By Scott Wagner


It is the dream of many an entrepreneur to design and sell their own products, which lets them be their own boss. But there is far more to today's marketplace than just opening up a store and selling to the locals. Because of increasingly cutthroat competition and the global nature of the internet, you have to sell online, not just locally, in order to truly make money. The packaging and shipping of orders can be complex unless you hire a contract fulfillment warehouse to do it.

These warehouses, also called fulfillment centers, help you buy keep your products on hand and packaging and boxing them once an order is placed. They do this for your regular items, special orders, and even for fulfillment of sweepstakes or contest giveaways. It is basically a one-stop center for keeping your customer orders flowing uninterrupted.

You simply have to get the product to them, and they take care of the rest. You can do this yourself, either delivering directly to them if you are nearby, or shipping the products to the warehouse using a carrier. Some companies will even take care of this part for you, using their own transportation fleet to pickup the boxes from you and delivering them to the fulfillment center themselves.

Once in the center, the products are then packaged in boxes or envelopes and carefully packed with bubble wrap, Styrofoam or whatever materials are appropriate. This ensures the items get to your customers in perfect condition. If you want to add a thank-you card or note, or a special bonus sample, the workers can do that for you as well. If the items are fragile, they can affix the proper stickers to make sure it is handled with care.

When a customer checks out and buys from your website, you may give them options such as different carriers for rush shipping. If so, then the workers ship via this method only. However, if you do not give them options, then they will use whatever carrier you tell them to for each and every order to keep things simple.

Every item that is placed in a box and shipped is carefully scanned and tracked using high tech software. You as the client get to login and see your inventory anytime you wish. This is useful so you can see the fulfillment process in action and see when you are running low on something.

In addition to fulfilling individual orders, these centers can send out large ones to retailers as well. This is important if you get a retailer to sell your products in their store, as you will need to ship the items to them directly. If you decide to sell overseas, they can package items in crates or freight boxes so they can be put on a cargo plane or ship as well.

In an effort to provide a custom fit with your needs, some centers will even let you rent space in their warehouses to hold your inventory, but allow you to use your own employees for the actual packaging and fulfillment process. Whatever your needs, they will help you get the job done with minimal effort on your part so you can focus on growing your business.




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