How Does the Order Fulfillment Process Actually Work in Practice?
It’s no secret that Amazon offers some of the fastest customer service available in the world. In fact, even particularly large items could arrive at your doorstep in less than 24 hours. For those who are unfamiliar with the order fulfillment process, however, it’s likely even more interesting than you expect.
Let’s explore its major attributes.
Receiving Inventory
As you might guess, the company responsible for delivering your product will need to have the inventory on hand before they send it to you. Each fulfillment center has a different process in terms of how they receive the inventory they ship to customers.
They also have specific policies regarding how they store inventory. After all, it would be highly detrimental to the business if products frequently arrived damaged.
Order Processing
This refers to the sequence of events that take place after you complete your order.
Order processing helps ensure that the package is en route to the right location. It also ensures that the right goods are shipped.
More often than not, order fulfillment centers make use of order processing software so that they can guarantee everything goes as smoothly as possible. Looking for the best fulfillment company and third-party logistics partner? You can check out this resource to learn more about 3PL services.
Packing
Although it might sound simple in nature, packing is one of the most crucial elements of order fulfillment. Depending on who you work with, you may or may not be charged for packing materials.
It’s not uncommon for a logistics provider to include them as part of their services, however. The ideal packing materials for a given product are those that provide sufficient protection while minimizing dimensional weight.
So, this could include bubble wrap, boxes, or poly bags. The type of packaging matters more than most people think, as well. It should come as no surprise that customers won’t want to purchase from a brand that ships thin or low-quality packages.
Be sure to keep this in mind when moving forward.
Shipping
Shipping speed plays a large role in customer satisfaction.
The good news is that major carriers are able to pick up orders directly from a fulfillment center. The logistics provider will also work with different carriers in order to provide the lowest rates possible while maintaining fast shipping speeds.
When an item is ready to be shipped, the logistics provider will apply shipping labels and provide tracking information. Ideally, logistics providers would automatically share comprehensive tracking information with customers.
The Order Fulfillment Process May Seem Complicated at First
Fortunately, the above guide provides all the information about the order fulfillment process that you know. This can help you establish a much greater understanding of it in the future.
Looking for more tips that can help you out later on? Check out the rest of our blog for plenty of more useful information.