In the age of the World Wide Web, e-commerce is an essential part of the lifestyles of billions. Buying and selling products electronically is fast, simple and diverse. While prospective sellers and business owners have nearly unlimited options for business ideas, order fulfillment is perhaps the most important facet of any e-commerce operation.
What is E-Commerce?
E-commerce commonly refers to the act of buying and selling products via the internet or other electronic networks. The term also encompasses the marketing, delivery and payment for products. When it comes to selling products online for profit, order fulfillment is one of the most important aspects of building up and keeping a steady customer base. Although e-commerce is open to nearly anyone who has an idea to sell products, only those entrepreneurs who can accurately fill and ship orders quickly will be entirely successful. Choosing the correct order fulfillment company can make all the difference.
Why Use an Order Fulfillment Company?
Because the term e-commerce deals with electronic sales, online store owners do not always have a bricks-and-mortar business for their customers to walk into. Most e-commerce salespersons work from home and do not have the space to store their product or time to process and ship the goods themselves. Order fulfillment companies specialize in nearly all of the aspects of e-commerce and provide necessary services to salespersons and their clientele. From optimizing a website for the optimal buying experience to shipping the products to the customers, fulfillment companies are almost always an invaluable part of any e-commerce venture.
Order Fulfillment and Marketing
Marketing is another word for advertising, and advertisement is absolutely necessary to get a website off the ground and running. The time it takes to receive ordered products along with different shipping options provides an excellent marketing opportunity and should be used on a website as an incentive to buy. The accuracy of packed orders is also a very important marketing facet—being able to guarantee customers that their order will arrive correctly, on time, and in mint condition is a very important advertising technique that should always be utilized by serious sellers.
Third-Party E-Commerce and Order Fulfillment
There are thousands of e-commerce companies all over the world that are always accepting new salespeople. Working as a third-party salesperson requires enormous sales volume because the seller is working solely for commission. The parent company—the company that purchases the goods that the third party sells—always works with a fulfillment company in order to assure quality product delivery. In some cases, the parent company is the proprietor of the fulfillment company itself. In any case, it is important to choose a parent company who is open to working closely with third-party sellers by providing access to warehouse communication.
Order fulfillment companies play a huge role in the success of online stores and businesses all around the world. Storing products, processing orders and shipping the items to customers is very time consuming and draws the seller’s attention away from more important business aspects such as marketing and sales pitches. Order fulfillment companies give this time back to the seller and allow for a more successful experience.