E-commerce fulfillment- Definition, Types, and More

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E-commerce fulfillment- Definition, Types, and More

As per an online report, 38 percent of the consumers abandon their shopping carts because the delivery time was longer than a week. Another report revealed that 73.6% of the consumers say that delivery contributes the most to their online shopping experience. There are many other reports to justify this statement that timely delivery is one of the major factors that delights customers and brings customer satisfaction. This whole thing can be termed as e-commerce fulfillment. 

What is e-commerce fulfillment?

Definition of e-commerce fulfillment- It can be defined as the part of your e-commerce business that deals with the post order operations. In other words, operations or activities you perform after receiving an order is known as fulfillment. These operations incorporate-

  • Picking
  • Packing
  • Shipping
  • Delivery

What are the steps for order fulfillment?

To accomplish every process precisely, it is imperative to follow a systematic process. And below we have mentioned all the steps required for it- 

Storage of the products 

Warehousing is the first step to the order fulfillment process. Storing your products in a well-organized manner is necessary for the timely pickups and deliveries. It speeds up the entire delivery process and also helps in keeping a track of the inventory. 

Managing inventory

With efficient inventory management, you can always be updated with information like the quantity of a particular product, products that are out of stock, and more. It also assists in forecasting the demand and preparing your stock accordingly. Inventory management also leads to an efficient demand and supply system. 

Managing orders

Proper order management ensures that no order is missed out and each of them is placed rightly before dispatching for the delivery. This step is totally dependent on the previous two steps. Therefore, it should be well-synched with the warehousing and inventory management. 

Order pickup

Packing and picking up the order is the next step in the order fulfillment chain. This step also includes proper generation of the AWB (airway bills) and printing labels for the hassle-free shipping process. 

Logistics management

It starts with a delivery agent picking up the product from the warehouse, following designed delivery routes, heading to the customer’s location. Logistics management is crucial as it helps to reduce the overall delivery time and cost. If done through logistics management software , you can also save a significant amount of operational cost and fuel cost while ensuring 100% customer satisfaction with safe and timely delivery. 

Such software automates all the processes like order management, inventory management, assigning orders to the drivers, finding the right vehicle for order delivery, optimizing delivery routes, and more to accelerate the process of order fulfillment. All you have to do is to find a reliable partner, such as Shipsy, for getting customized logistics management software for your e-commerce business. Advanced logistics software also includes returns management, which smoothens the journey of a product from destination to its original source. It happens when a customer raises a return request in case of size/fit/quality issues. 

Different types of e-commerce fulfillment models 

For managing logistics as well as complete order fulfillment operations, you can either hire your own team or look for a third-party logistics provider. In both cases, it is important to digitize your operations for speeding up the process and achieving customer satisfaction.

Hope the article was informative!

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