Fulfillment Centers are warehouses that help businesses to stock, package and deliver their goods to end customers. In fact, we shoulder the burden of bulk shipping for businesses who generate an abundance of demand and need to produce on a timely basis.
Nonetheless, you can make or break your company by finding the right fulfilment centre. Here are some factors that are worth checking out when considering your options, as well as some fulfilment centres.
Customer Service Search for a fulfilment centre to have the product next to you. You’ll also want them to have a secure call centre to place or review orders for your customers and one that will respond appropriately to returns or cancellations. At the end, you’ll want a centre that provides you with a single point of contact— someone who will provide you with personalised service and guide you through what’s needed for your shipment to arrive at their warehouse (product labelling, documents, etc.). This contact should also be aware of what happens with your shipments at all times and should push to deliver 110%. Find centres of distribution suggested by existing customers so you can make sure they are reliable.
Flexibility Consider that, when delivering to different customers, your company will need personalised packaging or instructions. The strengths of some fulfilment centres lie in efficiency, but in customization at the expense of ease. Other centres, however, may be flexible with requests for change and update, but they may not be as fast as the shipments. Learn how each fulfilment centre handles orders changes (such as returns) and what effect their processing system can have on your customers and your company. It may be crucial to the supply chain operations of your company to find the right balance for what your goods and consumers want.
Location–for speed and cost Where do you find your customers? Are they domestic in the first place? Mixed all over the world? Dive into the positions of the fulfilment centre, down to the nitty-gritty: its international presence, its warehouses across the United States, and its locations near major arteries of transport. Los Angeles, Chicago, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and the New Jersey / New York area are popular locations for fulfilment centres. It will be cheaper and more efficient if your chosen fulfilment centre is close to the port where your products reach the U.S.A. and if truckers from the fulfilment centre can quickly get on major highways to deliver your deliveries to end consumers across the country. Simultaneously, you might want to combine this with the opportunity to visit the centre to see your own goods. After all, you want to make sure that your distribution centre can store and distribute your delivery as easily and cost-effectively as possible in a secure manner.
Technological capabilities Examine that software and integrations are available to you if you want to be able to keep track of your goods and stock at your fulfilment centre. Have they been monitoring in real time? What kind of analyses can you get? A fulfilment centre that can easily integrate with different e-commerce shopping carts through easy-to-use APIs and plugins would make it easier for you to concentrate on other aspects of your business. Different solutions work well with different people, so investigating which fulfilment centre best serves your technical needs may be wise.
Know The people you work with research. If the person who supports you at your fulfilment centre has a strong background and business experience, your supply chain operations will move smoothly. When you need it, they will be able to give you feedback and reliability throughout the whole process.