What is eCommerce Order Fulfillment?

Posted August 9, 2019

Put very simply, eCommerce order fulfillment is the process of picking, packing and shipping out products sold by online (eCommerce) retailers. A Third Party Logistics (3PL) company like Elite OPS receives a sales order from one of their clients and they immediately start processing the order. Processing includes printing packing slips, invoices, address and postage labels. The products sold are picked from their warehouse, packed in proper packaging, and shipped using discounted rates from shipping companies.

All along the above order fulfillment process, products are scanned and tracked in real-time in order to keep clients updated. Elite OPS clients are able to view up-to-the-minute information about each order’s progress including inventory management and shipment tracking information. Our real-time inventory management software gives clients access to current inventory and other data wherever and whenever they want, 24-7.

Therefore, for true eCommerce success, it is important to start thinking like a customer. Stop looking at order fulfillment as a purely transactional “delivery” operation! As direct contact with your customer is non-existent or minimal at best, order fulfillment is the next positive “first impression” that you can give your customer. The role of order fulfillment cannot be ignored.

Can YOU Do it All?

Whether you are an established online retailer or starting a new eCommerce business, it is extremely important to know how you will fulfill and ship your customers’ orders. Where will you store inventory? Is it easily accessible? You must consider how you pack your product in various sized boxes or packages. Orders must go out in an efficient and timely manner. Do you know which shipping company will be best for you? How do you calculate shipping costs? Will you get the best shipping rates? After managing all of the above, your product must arrive safely and in one piece at your customers’ doorstep on time, without any delays. How will you handle all of that?

Elite OPS Can Do it ALL!

This is where an experienced 3PL company can do it all for you because of their efficiency, economies of scale, and years of experience in the eCommerce fulfillment industry.

Elite OPS can handle all of your inventory, monitor your customer’s orders, and ensure that the orders are fulfilled and shipped to your customers on time, without any delays. That opens up your time to handle your online business. You let the fulfillment professionals handle fulfillment and you concentrate on growing your business through product research and marketing.

The best position to be in is to have your orders fulfilled by an experienced and industry leading 3PL company like Elite OPS. Also called a Fulfillment Partner, we can make sure that everything relating to order processing and fulfillment will be professionally taken care of by us. This includes:

Receiving and Warehousing Your Product
Procurement Services
Inventory Management
Packing and Shipping Supplies
Pick, Pack, and Ship
Reverse Logistics (Processing Returns & Exchanges)
Comprehensive Reporting for Inventory, Shipping, Tracking, etc…

Bottom Line:

At the end of the day, outsourcing order fulfillment is like putting your eCommerce business on auto-pilot. You work on managing your product line and clients, and your outsourced order fulfillment partner works on inventory, shipping and handling your product. They also safe guard your product in their insured, safe warehousing facility and give you on demand reporting whenever needed.

Partner up with Elite OPS to start immediately enjoying order fulfillment economies of scale. Most importantly, it is a decision that directly affects the bottom line and reduces overheads and startup costs significantly.