Fulfillment has lots of advantages. Order execution and goods distribution are not basic activity of business. Thanks to outsourcing, the seller saves more time to principle business activities, as are the sales, purchases and innovations. Another advantage is radical decrease of expenses made on logistics, which provider can reach by his specialization and big range of provided services. Great opportunity is more advantageous delivery to smoothly and easily access new and foreign markets. Last but not least, it is priceless for seller to integrate a system and getting a know-how from the provider. These advantages allow the seller to reach faster growth of his business.
What paid off for us was to determine pros and cons according to size of the client´s business – these three groups have different priorities and face different challenges that we are able to solve. There is nothing to hide, fulfilment is not suitable for everyone. That´s why you can find below pros and cons from the client´s point of view – an eshop.
Fulfillment advantages in small e-shop
Pros:
- Saving your time – the most essential advantage, no need to visit post office daily with small amount of parcels or no need to wait for a courier
- Really big savings – cheaper shipping, cheaper solution of warehousing, no employees or part-time workers
- Flexibility – you can send your orders from any place, you need only laptop and internet, you do not have to physically deal with anything and be in warehouse
- Setting up a system – overview over warehouse, parcels, claims, …
- Cashflow – you pay for services (storage, parcels, transport) once a month
- Insured products all the way – warehouse, transport
- Regularity and quality – everyday shipping with no errors
Cons:
- You have to adapt to system of work and some processes
- You do not have your products near you in your office/home, meaning you can´t customize it
- You can be afraid of outsourcing and letting things out of your hands – but that is irrational
Advantages in middle size e-shop
Pros:
- Warehousing and shipping can be made in a far better way than the way you are doing it
- You will get much better shipping prices, especially concerning parcels sent abroad
- From the viewpoint of owner and key people big saving of time and energy – you can dedicate your time to business development, marketing and customer support
- No problems with warehouse workers´ vacations, seasonal peaks like Christmas, illnesses
- No problems concerning searching suitable warehouse workers and warehouse spaces
- Cashflow – you pay for services (storage, parcels, shipping) once a month
- Insured products all the way – warehouse, transport
- Much more transport options, optimization, all from one company, without any worries, choices for customer – courier, personal pick up, post service, express delivery, …
- TCO – you can save up to 30% of your expenses every year
- Have you ever dreamt of a Ferrari? Thanks to outsourcing you can have it.
Cons:
- There is not a lot that can be done in short time – regularity and process oriented commerce is needed
- If your headquarters is located out of Bratislava in cheap warehouse and the work is done by cheap part-time workers, than we will probably not offer you cheaper solutions
- If you have your own store connected with warehouse, there is need to calculate setting up a new warehouse
Fulfillment advantages in big e-shop
Pros:
- Complete system integration, process optimization, supply chain management
- Open opportunity to sell on global market
- Logistics in big shop is difficult to hand and there is need to dedicate it a lot of time with adequate know-how and professionals who are hard to find and pay
- Seasonal peaks covering like Christmas is difficult and is being planned for 3 – 6 months
Cons:
- Once you have everything up and running in your own way without errors, outsourcing may not be best option
- Price saving with big retailer isn’t that phenomenal
- You have to rely on the third party