Order Fulfillment Centers

Holiday Fulfillment Is Tough!

It’s hardly a secret that the holidays bring a sort of shopping madness across America. Consumers are making an increasing number of gift purchases online, and that means ecommerce companies face ever-greater holiday fulfillment needs. But it’s not like you get an ever-increasing amount of time to deliver those gifts. You have a no-fail deadline. Here’s what great order fulfillment centers are doing to prepare for the holiday season.

Holiday success rides on flexible, fully prepared order fulfillment services.

That means your fulfillment partner must be able to ramp up quickly and completely. They’ll need more call center personnel. They won’t have much time to hire and train, but they know first-rate customer care requires knowledge of systems, technology and – most important – your products. How else can they help customers make the best selections?

Ramp-up also means more computers and workstations, more packing stations and all the boxes, filler, labels, etc. that go into wrapping and preparing packages for shipping. To support all this, it takes increased warehouse capacity to handle timely in-flow of merchandise.

Order Fulfillment Centers “Dance the Delivery Dance”

Successful order fulfillment services are a complex choreography that requires constant communication – internally as well as with vendors, delivery partners and with you, the client.

That takes accurate forecasting. Your fulfillment partner will work with you well in advance – year round, actually – to gain insight into your company’s sales patterns. This data enables them to predict peak-time volumes. Sure, things could change somewhat. But without best-possible forecasting, you cannot hope to be prepared to meet order volumes. And you certainly don’t want to sacrifice customer service by working with the wrong order fulfillment centers.

Customer care during the holidays pays off long-term.

With vastly increased sales volume during the holidays, it’s likely many of those customers are first-timers. This is your chance to convert them to ongoing, loyal buyers. But you have to get it right. Today’s consumers are demanding and picky. And they’re even more so during the holidays when they’re gift shopping.

Your order fulfillment services can give them peace of mind, with smooth and simple order placement and exactly—as-ordered follow through. Or the fulfillment process can let them down, with mistakes or – their worst nightmare and yours – failure to deliver that must-have package on time.

The company that handles your order fulfillment services must be able to deliver – literally and figuratively. They have to be able to do everything they always do, day in and day out, year round. Why? The holidays are a critical time for gift-givers. And this season represents a hefty percentage of your annual sales. Nonetheless, a high touch fulfillment company believes every customer should receive the same superior service, no matter what day of the year it is.

And, frankly, don’t you want your customers to receive the gift of fabulous high touch service every single day of the year? With the right fulfillment partner, you can be confident your order fulfillment services will deliver as expected and beyond. Happy holidays, indeed!