If you are an online retailer, the key to company growth and global expansion may be outsourcing your order fulfillment to a third party. The big issue with this is that you effectively put your “baby” into the hands of strangers, and that may make you very uneasy. First and foremost you should have a great feeling with your 3PL partner.
Your ecommerce fulfillment house of choice should be tailored to meet the specific needs of your business. This may mean a wide-range of things: From pick, pack and dispatch services to returns processes, international and/or domestic deliveries, multi-channel or single platform, split stock from multiple locations, and so forth and so on. Unless you make a comparison of the services and it is absolutely clear what to expect from each 3PL in terms of fees, costs and services, it is impossible for you to make the right choice. Consider investing in Enterprise Resource Planningsoftware to alleviate the aforementioned concerns.
We came up with a short list of 3 order fulfilment companies that are a reputable and known in the business. Depending on your requirements, you can depend on any of the below to deliver accurate, fast and dependable international order fulfilment. Let’s have a look at our top 3 of Third party logistics (3PL) providers
SHIPBOB
In the industry of order fulfillment services, ShipBob is being touted as a fast rising star. Shipbob works with the goal of providing top-notch service to Small business. They offer some of the most lucrative and competitive rates for start-ups and early stage online retailers. Besides perfect storage conditions in their own warehouses, they even brag of a unique pick-up service which allows you to keep your inventory closer to you. They are known in the area of batch fulfillment for companies funded on sites like Kickstarter. This leads to an affordable way of fulfilling high numbers of orders.
REDSTAG
When it comes to shipping orders that weigh more than 5 pounds, RedStag is definitely the most recommended provider. Not only are they the best for items above 5 pounds but also for fragile and costly items like luxury watches or items which need some customization before being delivered (“reworking”). Redstag have arbitrated a profitable deal with FedEx which permits them to ship heavy objects at great discount. They charge affordable hourly rates and use a strict control process which safeguards goods and items from being tarnished before they’re delivered.
PROFULFILMENT
If you are looking to expand your online activities in Europe, there is no better partner than Professional Fulfilment Ltd from the UK. ProFS is a “multi-channel, multi-location, multi-carrier” fulfilment house. They easily connect to most platforms and market-places and can get you up and running in no-time. Profulfilment own 3 warehouses in the UK, 1 in Macedonia and 1 in Poland on the German border. The locations all have their own purpose, so the warehouse they fulfil from can be tailored to your needs. UK warehouses give same day despatch in the UK and to the Benelux. Macedonia can handle LVCR (low value consignments relief), which ship products into the EU while saving you up to 23% of VAT if your product value is below 22 Euro. Poland gives high speed access to Germany and other European countries.