Is a Fulfillment Company right for your business?

Fulfillment houses and drop shippers are two of the most popular methods to gain complete fulfillment solutions for your business. A fulfillment company will work by housing your current stockpile and make sure your orders arrive at your customers door on time.

The business owner remains in control of the company but the fulfillment team are in charge of the shipping service. Drop shippers differ by owning both the goods and the storage area. Their service allows you to promote and sell their products while taking a commission for each sale that is made. Fulfillment companies are sometimes referred to as third party logistics providers. The term refers to those that offer their clients the complete distribution package most notably for large scale manufacturing operations.

Services can include but are not limited to; product storage, secure online e-commerce packages, payment processing and also packaging and shipment. As featured with many other turnkey solutions you can expect this type of company to offer your business with the full range of services. Extra services such as gift wrapping and packing promotional items along with ordered products is also a service that many high profile firms will offer to their clients.

There are certain companies which will claim to offer both e-commerce website packages as well as backend fulfillment facilities to customers. Be aware that these two areas of expertise are highly specialized, teams of web designers may employ the use of outside vendors to take care of the shipping requirements so be sure to check how the team you choose to work with operates.

The cost of implementing a fulfillment company in to your existing business will depend largely on the exact services your business requires. The amount of customers your business attracts will also play a big part in the final costs.  A large proportion of companies will offer their services with a
price dependent on volume of sales. A set fee per item is also usually discussed, which will be charged a rate of per item or per pallet each month. A stock check will be taken each month to asses the floor space currently being used by the client.  A small fee will also be incurred for the handling costs of the goods which will be performed by the floor staff. Shipping and packaging costs charged by the courier will simply be passed on to the client and added to the bill.

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