Fulfillment Companies Offer Benefits

“Most of our ecommerce customers are shocked at how little third-party fulfillment services cost,” says Chris Haunton Operations Manager of CDC Fulfillment in Anaheim California. “This is especially true when they compare it against what they already spend to warehouse, package and ship their products. We operate transparently and the purchasers of our customer’s products never know a fulfillment center was involved.”

Eliminates investment in software and equipment

Indeed, for many ecommerce companies, third-party fulfillment houses offer benefits that they could never afford themselves.  “Outsourcing provides the ability to virtually eliminate up front investment in software, equipment, facilities and personnel,” says Haunton. “This is particularly key for a young, growing organization.”

Import files from ecommerce customer

Gone is the time when an ecommerce firm faxes or phones an order to their fulfillment company. These days, the ecommerce firm’s shopping cart or accounting system automatically integrates to the order management system of the fulfillment company. An ecommerce firm downloads electronic files from its shopping cart and sends those files to the fulfillment house via FTP or email. It’s almost always in batch mode, every day.

Focus on core of business

The biggest benefit to third party fulfillment, many ecommerce operators believe, is that it frees them to focus on the core of their business, such as marketing, product selection and customer service. It’s the expertise in these areas, the owners frequently say, that will grow their business, and not shipping and fulfillment.