How Can 3PL Benefit Your eCommerce Business?

Posted on April 25, 2022Categories Business And ManagementTags ,

There comes a time for most eCommerce businesses when they realize they don't have the skills, experience, or time to do everything themselves and seek help from others. Often they turn to 3PL or 3rd party logistics to complete tasks they can't or don't want to. If you are new to an eCommerce business, you may be wondering what exactly a 3PL provider is, the services they offer, and the benefits of 3PL.

3PL is defined by the supply chain management board as: "A person who receives, holds, or transports consumer products solely in the ordinary course of business, but does not take ownership of the products." Now that you know your 3PL background, let's take a look at some of the key benefits that the 3PL eCommerce fulfillment center offers local small businesses:

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Reduce Costs

Storage and shipping are one of the biggest costs associated with eCommerce retailers. When working with a 3PL, the rental space requirements or maintenance costs along with overhead—can be eliminated or reduced. After delivery, 3PL also maintains a relationship with the carrier, resulting in the discount being passed on to the customer.

Customer service

The ability to return, exchange, and refund are as important as selling a product. Of course, many small eCommerce businesses cannot offer 24/7 support via email or phone to perform this task. 3PL, on the other hand, has the staff to do just that.

Many startups and small e-commerce businesses can handle the logistics at first, but as they grow, space can become a problem, and order fulfillment can become quite complicated, resulting in delivery delays and customer frustration. 3PL takes care of timely execution regardless of the amount of work and can save you space (and costs) even during slow times.

How Can Fulfillment Center Help Your Business Grow?

Posted on April 7, 2022Categories Business And ManagementTags ,

A fulfillment center is a physical location that fulfills orders placed by eCommerce retailers. Consider the typical order fulfillment process of a small- to medium-sized online company.

An ideal fulfillment center for small businesses gives them the opportunity to scale their business operations without investing in overhead like warehouse space and employees. The logistics provider will store, pick, package, and ship the products from the fulfillment center, and most manage returns as well.

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You gather the items purchased from your inventory and package them. Then you hand them over to the shipping company for delivery. You could spend most of the time packaging shipments and delivering them, depending on how successful your business is.

There is a greater chance of errors in shipping and picking products if you have more orders. You might make costly errors if you try to manage your inventory by yourself. This could lead to multiple back-orders, which can make your customers unhappy.

Let's now look at what this might look like if you decide to use a fulfillment center.

The information of a customer who places an order is sent to a 3PL provider. Your inventory is already stored at the fulfillment center so they can take your order, collect the items and pack them.

The order is then transferred to a shipping company for delivery to the customer. The process is the same, but it relieves you of the responsibility and often allows for faster and more efficient delivery.