Estimated reading time: 3 mins
Many businesses reap the benefits of outsourcing their fulfilment services. After all, this can mark a substantial segment of a business’s operation and thus can require a monumental level of resources. Seeking an independent fulfilment company is something which is highly beneficial because it allows you to focus on your expertise, whilst the company takes care of everything from kitting services to re-packing to literature collation to shrink film wrapping – and so much more.
A lot of business owners make the mistake of thinking that a fulfilment company simply provides the basics. There is a common misconception that fulfilment revolves around merely the bagging and the labelling of goods which are then of course sent to the desired location. However, there is so much more to fulfilment than meets the eye, from truckload brokerage to the various methods of packaging and of kitting products together, and thus fulfilment companies can provide you with various effective and efficient methods of ensuring that your business fulfils its obligation to send the product in question to the customer which has purchased it.
As already alluded to, one of the best services which fulfilment companies can offer you is the option to kit your products together. This is something which is highly beneficial because it can provide your company with cost savings and is a great method when it comes to aiding customer retention. There are several different ways in which your products can be grouped together. For example, variety packs work well when offering a taste of all of the products your company has to offer. Promotional packs work well when grouping together products of a similar range, for example, this is something which can be beneficial when products are coming toward the end of a season. Furthermore, examples of effective kitting also include the likes of; sampling kits, literature collation and small parts assembly sets.
Top fulfilment companies not only provide various effective methods of grouping products together, but they also offer different packaging options. There are packaging options ranging from your standard bagging to packaging via blister packs to benefitting from stunning gift wrapping to the option of hand assembly labelling packaging design which achieves the wow effect. You will also reap the rewards of all services which are considered essentials, such as tagging, folding and cutting. Moreover, QC audit should be in place and therefore you can be safe in the knowledge that the goods which have been posted are packaged to the highest standard.
It is also worth noting that the fulfilment procedure not only revolves around the sending of products to the customer. There is also the option of returns processing. This is something which is highly beneficial because companies need to offer a generous returns policy in order to be competitive in the current economic climate. The quality control implemented when outsourcing the returns procedure is something which simply cannot be replicated via other means. In addition to this, the other procedures which fulfilment services should operate via include the likes of cross docking. This is a service which relates to moving a product from a manufacturing plant to a customer directly with very little handling in between. This is highly beneficial when it comes to the timely distribution of freight.
Seeking a company to provide you with point of purchase fulfilment services is something which is extremely beneficial. From custom assembly, to a vast selection of product packaging options, to product reworking to various different kitting and distribution methods – there are a whole host of benefits which you can take advantage of. It is almost impossible for most businesses to offer such a thorough fulfilment service to themselves and thus they would have to dedicate a monumental amount of resources. Thus, outsourcing seems to be the most viable option. Just make sure you take the time and effort to source a high quality fulfilment company.
