Order Fulfillment: How To Ensure It Supports Your Business

Customer service is critical to your success as an online seller. A key element to serving customers well is making sure they get the products they ordered on time and for a bargain.

If your online business fails to deliver on both, it will affect sales and, potentially, your profitability.

An effective order fulfillment strategy, like the Amazon FBA Saudi Arabia sellers rely on, ensures you avoid such obstacles to success.

What Is Order Fulfillment?

Order fulfillment is a process that involves receiving, packaging, and shipping orders. It starts when a customer places an order, and then you get the order together by picking and packing the items. It also covers labeling the package for shipment, then shipping the product. The last stage of this process is when the customer receives their order.

When a customer isn’t satisfied with the product for any reason, a return transaction kicks in. Returns can complicate the whole process without an efficient and reliable fulfillment system.

Whether you’re a B2B or a B2C, the priority is to ensure accurate and fast fulfillment while limiting the costs to customers and your business.

Which Order Fulfillment Strategy Works?

Every e-commerce business is different, which means there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Before implementing one order fulfillment strategy, gather insights about your operations.

Start with the following.

Learn about how your customers shop.

Customer behavior lets you know how shoppers place their orders when they usually buy, and what they expect from your online store.

How they buy allows you to determine the ideal inventory management system. Even online businesses can offer products through catalogs or an app, and not just through your online shop.

Knowing when they typically shop and what their expectations are will help you choose a system that does capacity analysis. This will ensure you’ll have the inventory and be able to meet their delivery expectations, from overnight to next-day delivery.

Look into their order data history.

How often and how much do your customers buy on average?

If you sell seasonal products, you’ll already have an understanding of your store’s peak rates and volume orders.

Determine if your current infrastructure is working.

What is your current fulfillment strategy? Most retail businesses start with a manual strategy, where the picking, packaging, and shipping are done by people instead of each stage being automated. Although that may work for a time, one or two stages may falter when there are way too many orders and not enough inventory.

Once you’ve gathered enough insights, it’s time to settle on an order fulfillment strategy that addresses any issues with accuracy and efficiency.

The key points to scrutinize are inventory management, supply chain execution, demand planning, and logistics planning.

How Do You Choose a Fulfillment Strategy?

Ultimately, the best fulfillment strategy boils down to organization, from receiving and storing inventory to processing and delivering orders (and potentially, returns).

If your business has the resources, you can implement fulfillment in-house. Otherwise, you can outsource this critical part of your business.

Some entrepreneurs, like the Amazon sellers, have access to fulfillment centers. During an Amazon KSA seller registration, the e-commerce platform helps entrepreneurs pick the right fulfillment strategy for them:

Amazon fulfillment options include:

• Self-ship – your business stores, packs, and delivers the products to the customers.
• Easy Ship – your business stores and packs the products, and Amazon delivers to your customers.
• Fulfillment by Amazon – Amazon stores, packs, and ships your products to your customers.

The same sort of fulfillment strategies are available to any online business.

Direct-to-Consumer

Direct-to-consumer has been a traditional strategy for fulfilling orders. Under Amazon, this strategy is the self-ship option.

It’s an ideal strategy if your business is just starting out and you don’t need a big facility to store a growing inventory. You can also manage the volume of orders, giving you adequate control over your fulfillment process. Your people will pick, pack, and ship your products to customers.

As your business grows, you may need a larger facility, more people, and a better inventory management system.

Omni-Channel Order Fulfillment

The omni-channel strategy uses multiple stores, sales channels, and online marketplaces.

Your customers can buy from your physical store if you have one, from an app, from a catalog, or your online store. When it comes to delivery, your customers can choose to pick up at your store (also called buy online, pick up in store or BOPIS) or have their orders delivered.

Omni-channel may be ideal for most customers since it gives them options for buying and receiving. Shoppers especially prefer faster, more convenient delivery options. Omni-channel allows this option since it can identify which stores carry the product and which one is closest to the buyer.

The downside is that omni-channel fulfillment can be complex. It requires managing multiple warehouses and stores, and gathering a volume of data.

Inventory forecasting, maintaining stock levels, and reorders can be difficult. You would need the right resources to ensure nothing falls through the cracks. You’ll not only need more people, but also the right technology to run your warehouses. 

Dropshipping

Dropshipping is when you don’t stock the products you sell.

You buy items only when orders come in. That order is then sent to a third-party distributor, and that distributor picks, packs, and ships the product to the customer. 

3PL

Third-party logistics, or 3PL is when a third-party distributor handles the fulfillment activities on behalf of your business. Unlike dropshipping, the product here comes directly from you, whether you’re a manufacturer or a seller.

It’s always good to see when your products are being purchased. However, a sale can only really be completed once your customers receive their orders in good condition and on time.

To achieve this, you need an effective order fulfillment strategy.

Examine your current fulfillment process and ensure it meets your customers’ expectations.