Fulfillment services is the process in which the inventory is received, stored, packed and shipped after an order is received by a seller. There are two ways of going about fulfillment services in e-commerce- i) DIY(doing it yourself), or, ii) appointing a third party for taking care of the fulfillment services.
If a seller chooses a third party fulfillment service, the first thing that he/she has to be concerned about is fulfillment costs. This is the first criteria for choosing a fulfillment service; if the cost charged by the company is too high it will not be beneficial for the seller. The second thing which affects the choice of a fulfillment service is service need of the seller. That is, what kind of services he requires — just for one website or a multi-channel order fulfillment.
Now comes the point where one needs to understand what is meant by fulfillment channel! It is the process through which a seller can use one fulfillment service company to handle its orders from various platforms like its e-commerce website, Facebook, Instagram business, etc. Amazon is one of the leading companies in this field.
In this kind of service the retailer just needs to maintain a proper amount of stocks with his fulfillment service provider based on his sales logistics and provide them with an update whenever a new order is received. It is the duty of the fulfillment service to pack, ship and deliver the product. If the retailer integrates even the return process, the fulfillment service picks up and brings the return too. However, the return policy depends solely on the retailer and policies governing the fulfillment warehouse.
The retailer may choose to handle the multi-channel fulfillment on his own too. However, getting success in this is not possible overnight and can be achieved only through practice. But, if one has a plan for providing the service, efficiency can be achieved. Firstly, the company has to apply a software to integrate the logistics of different websites into one which helps in managing warehouse and freight shipping. This also helps in choosing a fulfillment company. Stitch is a popular software which can be used for integrating the logistics of different websites.
An Indian website named Uniware provides multiple facilities for handling multi-channel fulfillment. It has software which are specially suited for the e-commerce websites that help in delivering the products automatically through the computers; only special cases need individual attention. They even have a system to tag inventories based on characteristics like fragility. It also prevents duplication of data or problems related to bulk orders.
One of the main advantages of multi-channel fulfillment of orders is that it increases the credibility of the brand as the delivery process is usually faster. It also contributes to the process of image building or brand promotion as the company can now increase its visibility over multiple platforms without worrying about the fulfillment services.
