There’s hardly anything more exciting or fulfilling than starting your own company and watching it take off on a path to success. That’s not to say entrepreneurship comes without its challenges. Whether you’re just getting your feet off the ground, or you’ve been around for a while, at some point you may need assistance growing your ecommerce business. In fact, you may have already reached the point where you’re unable to scale.
It’s common – and actually a positive challenge for your business to experience when approached the right way. Enter an experienced third-party logistics organization, or 3PL, like G&B Fulfillment. We help ecommerce companies recognize when it’s time to partner with a 3PL for order fulfillment, the benefits that come with the partnership, and ultimately, provide solutions to scaling the business.
What Are The Signs You Need An Outsourced Partner?
If you’re noticing that it’s difficult to keep up with order fulfillment, especially during peak ordering time periods, this is a telltale sign you could benefit from working with a 3PL. Not being able to keep up during these busy periods can result in needing to hire more people, shipping delays, order errors, and overall customer dissatisfaction. Why leave it to chance when a 3PL can step in and help?
A 3PL will also come in handy if you’re experiencing any of the following:
- Lost customers because of delivery delays and issues.
- Increased labor costs to account for seasonal periods of high demand.
- High shipping costs, increasing overall cost per unit.
- Limited to no visibility on where all your products are within your supply chain.
- Inability to manage reverse logistics (order returns) that customers are expecting.
If any of these scenarios are all too familiar, it’s a good time to begin searching for a 3PL to assist with ecommerce order fulfillment.
Three Key Benefits To Working With A 3PL
Now that you understand when a 3PL should come into play, it’s important to learn the specific benefits 3PLs provide.
1. More time to focus on what you do best.
Your expertise isn’t rooted in warehousing operations – it’s rooted in your company mission, products and services. When you hire a 3PL to take on your ecommerce fulfillment, you’re granted more time and money to put into other aspects of your business. In other words, a 3PL allows you to focus on growing your business while you leave the logistics to us.
2. Growing connections with freight companies at lower costs.
Logistics is who we are. We work with ecommerce companies of various sizes to get them where they need to be. We can connect you to the right freight companies that understand the needs of your business and can efficiently handle your freight. A 3PL will give you the flexibility to scale operations without worrying about daily, weekly, monthly or seasonal order fluctuations, potentially lowering your operational costs and improving productivity.
Our relationships with shipping companies provide negotiating power and can reduce your overall costs without cutting corners. We save our clients real money by spreading fixed costs over multiple ecommerce customers, and we pass those savings on to you.
3. Better inventory management and customer data.
3PLs have the technology available to coordinate inventory and order fulfillment all in one place. That way, you’ll minimize backorders and shipping delays to keep customer satisfaction high.
You’ll also be able to better understand consumer behavior with access to data you may have had to previously create from scratch.
Not only do 3PLs benefit your business, but ultimately, they benefit your customers. How? By handing the logistics over to an outsourced expert, you can continue to fulfill the customer promise you set forth to achieve from your company’s inception. The promise to provide quality products accurately, on time and with complete transparency.
Other Ways 3PLs Benefit Your Relationship With Your Customers
Ecommerce customers now expect a high-quality experience with their orders, requiring a high degree of visibility throughout the shipping process. Consistently fulfilling orders accurately and on time tells customers:
- Your company can handle high-volume purchasing
- Calls to your customer service are dramatically reduced
- You’re willing to satisfy their needs with transparency
- You stay up to date with the latest ordering technology
- They can trust you
If there are ways to grow your ecommerce business while keeping customers satisfied, why wouldn’t you explore your options? There are many 3PLs out there, but it’s important to partner with one that fits your company’s cultural values, has the capability to scale your company for success and communicates with you on a personal level for the most transparent and honest working relationship.
At G&B Fulfillment, our experts are ready to help you get started on a path to growth. Get in touch with us today and learn how we work directly with rapidly growing ecommerce companies like you.
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