In this guest post today, Bobbie Ttooulis, Group Marketing Director, GFS, examines what you should be looking for in a fulfilment partner.
As a small business deciding what fulfilment service to partner with, you need to consider who is going to work with you to build a strong, lasting partnership. The ecommerce fulfilment company you choose will play a vital part in the standard of service you offer your customers — and this is what you need to keep in mind when researching the right fit for your business.
With online purchases increasing consistently over the past 20 years, there is no surprise that within the last year almost 80% of people in Europe have made at least one online purchase every month.
So, what are the main things you need to look out for as a small business trying to find your perfect ecommerce fulfilment match? Well, according to the European Ecommerce Report 2019, you need to focus on what’s important to your consumer: speed of delivery, trust in receiving and returning items, customer complaint management, and payment security. Although we agree that these are very important factors to look out for, there are a few more we think you should consider… 5 more in fact.
Elements your fulfilment service should have
Let’s start with some key points already mentioned above:
- Speed of delivery: it is important to choose a fulfilment company that can meet the demands of your customers when it comes to quick deliveries. If not, you could miss out on sales from the 53% of buyers who abandon their online purchases because of slow delivery times.
- Trust and Transparency: building trust with your audience is vital to encouraging sales and repeat purchases. When choosing your fulfilment partner, we recommend looking at whether they offer delivery and returns tracking and extra data security steps so that your customers feel safe and have transparency when ordering from your ecommerce site.
- Customer support: to achieve a loyal customer base you need to offer great customer service, and this can be done by picking the right fulfilment partner to support you. An ecommerce fulfilment company that is well-organised, efficient, and holds industry expertise will keep your customers happy with frequent shipping updates, on-time deliveries, and more!
Some additional factors to keep in mind:
- Location of warehouses: warehouse locations are important to consider when deciding on your ecommerce fulfilment company if you want to achieve speedy, efficient deliveries. The closer your warehouses are to your customer, the quicker they will receive their parcel/s and at a lower shipping cost.
- Packaging options: this is very important to ensure the safety of your items when in transit as there is nothing worse than your customers receiving a damaged item! Your ecommerce fulfilment partner needs to not only have the right packaging options but also needs the right expertise to know what will or won’t work for your product.
- Flexibility and Growth: in this ever-changing world, you need an ecommerce fulfilment company that has the ability to be dynamic to keep up with new demands and trends, along with the resources and infrastructure to support your growth.
- Software: we previously mentioned the importance of tracking shipments, which can only be done if your ecommerce fulfilment company has the right software. In addition, technology gives you the ability to work efficiently by managing inventory, automating processes, and giving all stakeholders access to real-time data, eliminating manual errors.
- Delivery options: it’s no secret that consumers love options that are most convenient for them. That’s why your ecommerce fulfilment company needs to offer choice that is right for your business and your customers — from click and collect and parcel lockers, to next day delivery.
GFS Fulfilment Services
We know that was a lot of information to take in, but don’t worry this next part is simple!
GFS Fulfilment can help you scale up your small business shipping and reach next-level growth — with 99.97% picking accuracy and a 24/7 customer portal, we are certain we are the right partner for you.
View our Ecommerce Fulfilment Services or get in touch with a member of the GFS team today to discuss your options: https://gfsdeliver.com/gfs-fulfilment/
