Should you or should you not outsource fulfilment? Fulfilment and distribution is a crucial part of any business that sells direct to the public. You can choose to handle distribution on your own, or you can assign it to a specialist company. Here are a few of the things you need to consider when you are choosing to outsource your fulfilment needs.

  1. Will You Keep Your Costs Manageable?

One of the main reasons why you choose to outsource your distribution requirements is to save money. Running your own warehousing facility is tough when you are starting up in business, or when you are expanding. You need to make sure that your fulfilment service is saving you money. In most cases, you can expect to save since the provider is passing on the cost savings involved in economies of scale.

  1. Can You Afford NOT to Offer Free Shipping?

People will buy if shipping is free or very low cost. They may think twice, or go to your competitors, if shipping is expensive. Fulfilment company cost advantages mean you can afford to offer low-cost or free shipping to your customers. This is a big bonus in the highly competitive world of e-commerce.

  1. Can You Offer Round The Clock Shipping?

At the very least, you should be able to offer a range of delivery times to customers if you are sending items that will not fit through letter boxes. This minimises the hassle caused to customers by being out when the delivery arrives. When you are outsourcing your fulfilment function you need to pay attention to the delivery speed and availability, so you know that you can offer a good service to customers.

  1. Will The Provider Give Assured Delivery?

You need to be sure that every product ordered will be packed and sent on time, safely, to the right person. If an outsourced fulfilment service cannot do this, it is not worth spending money on the service. It helps when you can see at a glance using real time data when items are successfully delivered, and get statistics on the efficiency and success of delivery.

  1. Will You Use Economical Packaging?

More and more people are rightly becoming angry at wasteful packaging and you as a business can do something about the amount of packaging waste that ends up on people’s doorsteps. You can choose to use a fulfilment company that packs efficiently, maximising the amount of items within a set amount of packaging. Check also if you can use environmentally friendly packaging and distribution methods such as recycled cardboard and energy-saving delivery options. These appeal to many customers.

 

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