Fulfillment Companies: How To Choose The Right One
So Many Fulfillment Companies,
So Little Time…
But One Is Right For You…
There are lots of reasons to outsource via fulfillment companies. But you have to be careful. Fulfillment companies “speak” to your customers on your behalf. They make a first – and lasting – impression in your name. Anybody can take orders, box up your stuff and send it out the door. If that’s all you need or want, you’ll find plenty of fulfillment companies to hire. Just pick the cheapest one.
But what if your brand demands quality and excellence?
To receive consistently top level service, you need to be choosy about your fulfillment partner. You need a company that can turn the back end of your sales loop into a customer experience that increases sales, loyalty and customer lifetime value. Yes, you can have all that, if you choose the right fulfillment company.
How?
Look for value, not just services.
To evaluate fulfillment companies, ask yourself these questions:
- What’s your goal? You can outsource your entire fulfillment process – customer care, credit card processing, warehousing, pick/pack, kitting, shipping — or only certain operations. What’s best for your company depends on your needs:
- You want to get out of the logistics business and concentrate on revenue-generating work such as customer acquisition and product development.
- You want to boost customer service and ensure consistency. Your current in-house effort is costing you money but not meeting expectations.
- Volume fluctuations are causing service failures you can’t afford. You can’t ramp up and down effectively in-house, and the outsourcing company you tried in the past penalized you with higher fees when things got busy.
- Your customers expect nothing less than superior “high touch” service.
- What’s the company culture compared to other fulfillment companies? What kind of people does the company hire? What is their turnover rate? Can you meet their people? After all, these are the folks your customers will “meet.”
- Can they deliver? Does the company have adequate, state-of-the-art facilities to handle everything you need quickly and accurately?
- Will you be safe & secure? Can their facility securely protect your inventory? Will your company and customer data be safe? If your company sells regulated products, does the facility have special protections and procedures in place for that?
- Are they a true partner? Does the company understand your type of customer and what their Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) means to you? What key customer service metrics do they use to prove their performance to you?
- What sets this company apart? Are they really any different from other companies you’re considering?
The bottom line when choosing among fulfillment companies:
Outsourcing fulfillment is a smart operations investment for many types of companies. If you choose the right partner, you can realize double the benefits. You’ll save money through efficiencies, but you can also increase revenue. Happy customers buy more and buy more often. And that increased loyalty translates into higher lifetime value.
As you sift through fulfillment companies, ask yourself one final question:
Do I feel confident this partner can fulfill my company’s wants and needs and deliver the highest possible service in every way?
See how your current state of fulfillment ranks vs. industry Best Practices.
Score your efforts with a Free Fulfillment Needs Assessment.
Having trouble finding the best Fulfillment Company for you? See why we are one of the Top Fulfillment Companies in the USA.
