Fulfillment House Pricing –
3 Pitfalls To Avoid

Ahhh, pitfalls. They’re always there, aren’t they? Lurking in the background to trip you up when you’re trying to make smart, cost-effective business decisions. Fulfillment house pricing is no different. Here are three common pitfalls you can easily avoid, once you know what to watch for.

Pitfall #1- Making the lowest price your top priority

Nobody wants to spend more on fulfillment than they have to.  But it can be difficult to compare fulfillment house pricing because the details may be different from one company to another. No matter how budget-conscious you are, however, the one thing you want to avoid at all cost (yes, pun intended here) is automatically choosing the lowest price.

Remember the admonition, you get what you pay for. It’s especially true when it comes to fulfillment house pricing.

What you get for the least price may be all you want. But when you purchase assets for your company, don’t you always consider total cost of ownership? When it comes to fulfillment house pricing, you should consider “total cost of performance.” Find out exactly what you’ll get for your money. Find out exactly what your customers will get, too.

Pitfall #2- Lowering your expectations

Lots of fulfillment companies are able to meet average industry standards when it comes to the most common performance metrics. But don’t assume average performance is all you can hope for. Maybe your brand demands consistently superior performance. If you settle, you won’t get it. Before you agree to any fulfillment house pricing, examine their performance in areas such as:

• Average seconds to answer (hold times can kill sales)
• Call abandon rate (lost sales opportunities)
• Order accuracy (correct items)
• Order accuracy and fill rate (completeness and timeliness)
• Inventory accuracy (shrinkage is expensive)
• Employee turnover (churn reduces poor customer care quality)

Pitfall #3- Forgetting that intangibles really do matter

In the end, nothing is more costly for your company than disappointing (or worse) customer experience. Today’s customers expect a positive, efficient ordering process, and they expect to receive the right items, on time. They consider all that to be an “average” experience. It takes more to create an exceptional experience they will talk about and remember.

But it’s that over-the-top experience that strengthens loyalty and increases long-term sales. Wouldn’t you like to factor those things into the ROI from your fulfillment house pricing?

Look for a fulfillment partner who can deliver that quality of service, consistently.

Looking to see how your in-house fulfillment or outsourced fulfillment center is performing?

Take a free Fulfillment Needs Assessment to score your current fulfillment & customer care efforts.