There are lots of order fulfilment services available, so what should you look for in a fulfilment partner for your Shopify store?
Find out more about Asendia's Shopify fulfilment services
Your Shopify store has grown more than you ever dreamed, you’re shipping so many products you barely have time for anything else. You’ve even asked family to spend time picking and packing for you too, but the orders keep coming in. Maybe it’s time to outsource your fulfilment and shipping, but how do you find a fulfilment centre that works for you?
Of course, you’ll want a Shopify fulfilment service that shares the same attention to detail, care and high-quality service that you provide. But with so many options, what should you be looking for?
Delivery costs and options
This is your first big consideration, it doesn't matter about their fulfilment pricing if delivery isn't cost effective, as this is almost always the bigger cost. No doubt you chose Shopify because it gave you amazing features and benefits you could never build yourself and at a budget you could afford. Order fulfilment services should do the same, giving you deeply discounted delivery services and options that you couldn't access alone, including standard low cost packet services and premium tracked services.
Outsourcing to a Shopify fulfilment centre could also enable you to benefit from a later collection time so you can offer next day delivery to more customers. This alone could help you convert more store visitors into customers.
Proven quality
Shipping on time, packing accurately and properly managing stock are the basics. But customer reviews will quickly tell you if the companies you’re looking at deliver what they promise. Look out for independent professional accreditation too, such as ISO9000 (Quality Management Systems) or Warehouse Management Association certification.
International shipping
If you’re looking to sell overseas from your Shopify store, you need an international fulfilment service that understands international shipping (and gives you access to international fulfilment centres too if you really take off in another region of the world). Asendia has two UK fulfilment centres, that ship worldwide, and one each in Italy, Singapore, USA, Australia and New Zealand.
Expanding your Shopify store internationally can be the quickest way to grow, but it can also come with headaches if your fulfilment partner isn't an expert in this. The likes of Asendia can help ensure you're customs compliant, offer affordable delivery and reliable returns.
Flexibility
Whoever you choose for your Shopify fulfilment must have pricing options that can adapt as you do. You want a pricing structure that matches your order quantity whether it’s consistent all year or peaks seasonally, and can offer economies of scale should your orders continue to increase.
Most third-party fulfilment providers will offer two pricing structures. Fixed costs that give you a fixed monthly fee (ideal for businesses with predictable sales and no current expansion plans), or variable costs which help you respond to peaks and troughs of orders if you’re in a seasonal market or you’re looking to expand.
Easy integration with Shopify
Your Shopify order fulfilment service needs to be able to integrate with your Shopify e-commerce platform. This will reduce additional administration, processing and costs and save you (and them) loads of time getting your orders shipped.
As a Shopify store owner you're used to getting access to amazing technology (apps) that seamlessly integrate with your store and your fulfilment partner should make it easy too.
Top tip: Shipping is usually going to be the priciest part of order fulfilment, so ensure you are shortlisting suppliers that are competitive when fulfilment costs and shipping costs are added together. A supplier that is 20% more expensive on fulfilment but could save you 10% on shipping is likely to be considerably cheaper than a supplier that is 20% cheaper for fulfilment but 10% more for shipping.
Asendia's Shopify fulfilment service
With two fulfilment centres in the UK (Bedford and Southampton) Asendia has helped many small Shopify stores optimise their fulfilment and shipping, freeing up time to focus on business development.
We can provide you with our order fulfilment prices within a useful spreadsheet that allows you to adjust order volumes, inventory, etc. to see how your costs might change as your business grows.
Find out more about our order fulfilment services
Request our order fulfilment pricing calculator
