5 Benefits of Outsourcing Your Order Fulfillment

30 September, 2019

E-Commerce

When your business is growing, decisions like outsourcing order fulfilment can be difficult to make for several reasons.

Firstly, your business is your baby, and up until now, you've been involved in every painstaking process. Your hands-on participation in all areas of the business is at the core of the success and growth you're seeing. So how can you trust that a third party is going to invest the same care and consideration into shipping your goods? Secondly, you may be in the midst of a very profitable stage, but you're also reluctant to make any big moves that may disrupt the very fine balance between expenditure and income.

There's a lot to weigh up, but ultimately, growth is not sustainable if you're not willing to delegate certain tasks and take calculated business risks. That being said, if you partner with the right third-party logistics provider, the risk should be minimal.

To help you make a more informed decision, we've outlined the five top benefits of outsourcing your order fulfilment tasks.

1. Hassle-free access to a broader market

The combination of e-commerce and an improved global delivery services network enables businesses to amplify their outreach on an international scale. If you're already successful domestically, the next step up is cross-border e-commerce. If you've established a successful relationship with an order fulfilment services provider that has authority and experience in delivering to other countries, your expansion should be seamless.

2. Bolster your customer service

As companies grow, orders increase, and your customer base widens, it gets more complex and expensive to respond to tracking and returns queries. Most logistics partners have a dedicated customer support team that is able to handle enquiries on your behalf, in the language of the country you are shipping to. Furthermore, international order fulfilment centres will be able to receive and process your returned goods. This ensures that your business meets the expectations of efficiency and customer care.

3. Competitive advantage

With the rapid infrastructural improvements made to accommodate the burgeoning e-commerce industry, customers now frequently expect same-day delivery options or the ability to collect their items from convenient locations. This can be tricky and expensive achieve without an experienced courier that has a presence in the location you are delivering to.

To give your business the competitive edge it needs over other similar business, you should always try to offer your customers the fastest and most reliable delivery options.

4. Drive down your shipping costs

Shipping costs can be a burden for both you and the customer. It can usually be the most offputting part when it comes to making a purchasing decision.

By outsourcing your shipping needs, you are making use of the resources, infrastructure and purpose-built technology that the order fulfilment provider has. This decreases your on-site costs and enables you to benefit from bulk delivery discounts, multi-location facilities and any cost-saving arrangements that your provider has within their courier network. All of these advantages stack up to lower your shipping costs and what you have to pass on to your customer.

5. Free up resources and position your business for expansion

You want your business to scale up. However, this can be tricky if your resources are tied up in assets such as storage space and your own in-house shipping depot. As the number of incoming orders increases and the geographical parameters of your market expand, it may not be profitable to handle your own shipping.

Your third-party fulfilment centre will take care of everything, from warehousing, picking, packing, shipping and handling returns. You can then continue to focus on more strategic business decisions, knowing that you do not have to unnecessarily dedicate time to activities which can be more efficiently performed by specialists.

If third-party logistics management sounds like the right step forward for your business, you need to look no further than Asendia. We offer comprehensive and flexible solutions, giving our customers access to our worldwide parcel network, international fulfilment centres and marketplace integrations.

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