Until 2006, Glynn Gallagher's life was "really, really hectic to say the least.". She started work every morning at 8 am, printing out her previous day's orders from her website LockPickShop.com, along with a picklist, and trudged out to the makeshift warehouse building in her backyard. The rest of the day was spent answering customer service calls, packing orders for shipment, and handling returns. She skipped breakfast and allotted herself a 20-minute lunch break. After repeating the process in the afternoon for all the morning orders, she loaded all the boxes in her car and drove to the post office, waited for them to process her orders, and then drove to the UPS Store and did the same thing. She came home and dealt with emails and her website until midnight each night.
Finally, she started to wonder why she was working for herself when life was this hectic. So she started researching the possibility of moving to a fulfillment company.
A fulfillment company offers basic services such as inventory storage, picking of items and packing them for shipping, and transfer of data to and from the retailer. Some fulfillment companies may offer additional services, such as assembly or kitting, and call center phone support for the end customer. Costs are determined from a number of factors, which may include the number of individual product skus, the volume of product being stored, the order volume, and the cost of extra services such as kitting.
Fulfillment companies that cater to online retailers typically have excellent technological resources that facilitate communication between the fulfillment house and the retailer. Retailers utilize two-way data exchange, where orders are submitted from the retailer to the fulfillment company, and shipment status and tracking information is later transmitted back to the retailer. This data exchange capability enables us to perform as if we are in the room adjacent to our client's office instead of some distance from them (In some cases, our client is half way around the globe).
Outsourcing the fulfillment process is not for everyone. Some merchants may prefer the control and personal touch of being able to pack shipments in-house. However, for many retailers, the benefit of using a fulfillment company is that it frees up the retailer's time and resources to focus on product development and sourcing, marketing, and customer service. The higher the order value, the easier it will be to support the costs associated with storing, fulfilling, and shipping orders. The product itself may dictate the suitability of fulfillment services also; items that are hazardous, particularly fragile, or that require refrigeration need special handling that a fulfillment company may not be able to offer.
Gallagher credits her decision to use a fulfillment company with restoring her quality of life, and allowing her to return to what she does best - managing her business, not a warehouse.
