With growing access to mobiles and the internet, garnering orders is certainly not a significant challenge for eCommerce owners in this era of digitization. Instead, fulfilling the ruling has turned out to be one. Starting from picking the order, it’s packaging, to delivery, including shipping, there are many aspects associated with the same. Once the customer puts an order on the site, the eCommerce owner needs to consider all the mentioned aspects before delivery. In addition, there remain the worries of delivery tracking and handling the returns as well. On such occasions, the growth in demand for eCommerce fulfillment like Simpl Fulfillment seems obvious. Reports claim that the global e-commerce fulfillment market size will reach USD 168.72 billion by 2028.
Innovative cost models: the secret of growing eCommerce fulfillment services arena:
Keeping the hassles above in mind, modern-day eCommerce owners prefer going with professional eCommerce fulfillment partners. Undoubtedly, this is one of the prominent reasons behind the significant boost in the number of eCommerce fulfillment service sectors. But, it is also true that not everyone associated with the eCommerce fulfillment service segment is equally successful. The secret of those who are successful is quite simple; those who manage to prepare innovative fulfillment cost models are more successful.
Exploring the cost models:
Upon exploring the cost model of eCommerce fulfillment service providers, it becomes thoroughly apparent that those coming up with intelligent models can easily garner huge bucks. Interestingly, many eCommerce fulfillment service providers have earned a massive client base simply by portraying the struggles of self-fulfillment more brilliantly. Above all, they have managed to make the eCommerce owners realize that the level of investment associated with self-fulfillment and keeping the hustles it associates makes finding a fulfillment partner a better option.
With such growing reliance upon fulfillment partners, an incredible interest among the investors has been witnessed towards the eCommerce fulfillment service providers. Noteworthy here is that ShipBob has managed to pull 200 million dollars through a recent fundraising effort. This makes its valuation go more than 1 billion dollars.
3PL model:
Going ahead of self-fulfillment, demand for 3PL fulfillment looks quite promising. Here one needs to join hands with a 3PL provider to handle fulfillment aspects. The best part is that one needs to pay a certain processing fee by the inventory or the storage. These models are getting increasingly popular for providing the greater scope of instant scale-up. Working with 3PL logistics company is beneficial as they take responsibility for shipping; all you have to pay is the shipping fee. In short, the task can be made look simpler upon finding a 3PL partner near the place of delivery.
Other models:
The other and most popular model that the fulfillment service providers come up with is dropshipping. Here, the supplier handles the whole shipping process, which includes storage as well as processing. With growing business size, eCommerce owners look for tying up with several drop-shipping partners.
Upon going through each of the models, it becomes evident that these are equally convincing for the eCommerce owners and the fulfillment service providers. Most importantly, these fulfillment service providers have managed to live thoroughly up to the expectations of their clients. In this context, ShipBob can be a great example. Their network is covering continental US claims about meeting an on-time delivery rate of 95 percent. They have a massive network of more than 24 fulfillment centers. With such incredible professionalism, network, and resource, these service providers are pretty obvious to fetch the attention of investors.
Technologies making the prospect of eCommerce Fulfillment even broader
The scope of e-commerce fulfillment has grown massively with technological advancements. ShipBob’s case can again be taken into account in this context. Associated with top platforms like Amazon, ShipBob is enjoying about 5k customers in the eCommerce arena. They have joined hands with big names like Walmart as well.
Automation
It is impossible to attain perfection in handling such massive fulfillment chains, as explained above, without being technologically empowered. Specifically, the fulfillment service providers are more inclined towards automation trends. In concurrence, the entire management is being centralized through developing effective systems for warehouse and inventory management. This facilitates smooth communication between warehouses as well as fulfillment centers.
Service backed by real-time data:
The advent of Big Data and similar technologies have started playing a significant role in forming a connecting bridge between the marketplaces, delivery partners, consumers, and other stakeholders integral to the supply chain. These technologies provide real-time details in forecasting demand, shipping, etc. Moreover, they help with the generation of accurate and reliable data valuation reports. With the greater availability of data using these technologies, it becomes easier for the sellers to make smarter decisions with better information and fulfill orders at a much faster rate.
Centralized fulfillment
Ecommerce or online sellers are not just operating through their regular platforms. Instead, they are using various media, ranging from mobile apps to social media platforms. Meeting well with this, the contemporary fulfillment service providers have started adopting omnichannel fulfillment ways. These systems work by integrating the complete detail of retail stores with one centralized network, thus dissipating data.
Final Thoughts
The bottom line that can be derived from all the points discussed above is that eCommerce fulfillment service has become integral to the advancing eCommerce business scenarios. Ecommerce owners have realized its importance in terms of attaining greater customer satisfaction. In such systems, no wonder if companies like ShipBob achieve even bigger feats.