Simply put, eCommerce Order Fulfilment (spelt fulfillment in the US and central Europe) means every step between an order being placed by the customer until its successful delivery.
Order fulfilment is one of the most important parts of the buying journey for physical goods, but its impact and difficulty can often be underestimated. Order fulfilment is the process that follows after the customer has reached the checkout and ordered the goods, including the preparation of the items and the shipping to the end customer as per their specification.
Services like Amazon prime have dramatically changed customers expectations when it comes to order fulfilment, with regular amazon shoppers becoming used to receiving goods in as little as an hour in some cities, shipping to convenient lockers in their local area to ensure they never miss a delivery, and free next day delivery as standard. This competition has also helped to drive innovation within the industry as a whole increasing the accuracy and efficiency of the process.
If order fulfilment takes too long or is not completed accurately it can have a huge impact on a businesses reputation and customer loyalty. Fortunately there are a couple of methods you can use for order fulfilment to ensure you are meeting the customers expectations.
⇒ receiving and storing the products (usually in a warehouse)
⇒ when customer orders, pick and pack the selected products
⇒ labelling the order for shipment
⇒ shipping the package with a carrier
⇒ managing returns and protection
Sellers have a number of options when it comes to fulfilling orders:
1️⃣ Do it themselves – Rent some storage space and pick and pack orders themselves or with a directly employed warehouse team.
2️⃣ Outsource it to a 3PL specialist – Outsourcing allows sellers to focus on achieving orders and entrusting the order fulfilment to an external company such as Huboo. This allows them to benefit from a simpler supply chain as they will have one partner to manage the end to end process of order fulfilment, and a more efficient process as their goods are looked after by experts to ensure the right items are sent to the customers every time.
3️⃣ Drop shipping – this involves the items being shipped directly from the manufacturer and minimises overhead costs for the seller but also takes away some of their control of the process and can result in orders taking much longer to reach the end customer as the manufacturer may be in another country. This may also not be possible for some sellers.
4️⃣ Hybrid model – Many sellers will use a combination of the above. This could be, outsourcing their DTC orders while managing B2B inhouse, or outsourcing order fulfilment for a particular sales channel (for example if you used FBA for Amazon orders but fulfilled yourself for Shopify orders).
Which method is right for your business will depend on your products, priorities and order volumes.
Are you focused on growth, but the fulfilment tasks are taking too much time? Or is your backlog of unfulfilled orders growing? Do you have order fulfilment peaks or seasonality? You can optimise your order fulfilment by outsourcing it.
Outsourced fulfilment is doing for you the storing, the picking, the packing and the posting of your goods. Typically a fulfilment company will integrate with your channels, so if you sell on Amazon, eBay and Shopify, it will integrate with those three channels. When people buy on your sites, the integrations will bring those orders into the warehouse, where the items will be picked, packed, and posted.
If you have bespoke order fulfilment requests, your products can be packed in any way you’ve pre-agreed, including sustainable options.
There are many different kinds of fulfilment companies, from old fashioned to tech-driven. Some fulfilment providers use their own software, others outsource it. If you get quotes from different companies, you’ll see many different prices. In our case, our prices won’t hide anything from you, so we have a page with our transparent costs.
Our unique Hub Model creates a micro-warehouse within our warehouse, and combines the lowest like-for-like costs with best-in-class service. Our algorithm will also find the best shipping rates at the time your order is being dispatched. However, you can select the courier or the shipping options that best suit your business.
The best fulfilment companies will give you access to an online dashboard, where you can check analytics and real-time billing information. You’re going to know on a daily or even an hourly basis exactly what it’s costing you to use their services.
100s of online businesses have grown using Huboo’s UK & EU eCommerce order fulfilment service. Our fulfilment solution is trusted by companies of all sizes, from challengers to established and premium brands. Read how these companies have benefited here.
If you want to expand your eCommerce brand to new territories, you can compete with local brands (delivery time and taxes) by fulfilling your orders in these territories.
An order can be fulfilled in warehouses or fulfilment centre outside of the customer’s country; this is known as cross-border fulfilment. Huboo helps businesses grow by taking care of all their eCommerce order fulfilment needs on a global scale. Our network of fulfilment centres across the UK and mainland Europe fulfil domestic and international ecommerce orders.
⇒ We have a unique fulfilment model: uur unique hub model creates service-led micro fulfilment centres
⇒ We’re unique in the fulfilment market because we own the full stack, which means we can be truly flexible
⇒ All our staff are share holders which means all our staff are passionate about delivering our goal.
