When you’re beginning your own eCommerce business, you naturally anticipate the need for a number of necessary resources. Any smart business-owner knows to expect expenditure for their business in the form of capital investment, staffing, products and so on. One necessary resource that is often underestimated by those operating eCommerce businesses, however, is time. Daily operations and ensuring that everything is working as it should can often sap away a lot of your precious time, particularly as your business develops and becomes more fruitful. If your eCommerce business is just one of a few that you operate, or if it’s something you do in addition to another job role, then time is even more of the essence. Your time is a precious resource and shouldn’t be wasted. So, what can you do to help with this? Outsourcing your eCommerce fulfilment can streamline your business processes and free you up to spend time on the things that are important to you. Here are a number of ways that outsourcing your eCommerce fulfilment can save you time.
1) The practical act of packaging
There is a lot more involved in in-house fulfilment than you might imagine at first glance. Time must be spent not only finding packaging materials, but specifically the materials that are most cost-effective for the products that you are packing and shipping. This requires shopping around for a long while to compare prices, which can take some time. Once the materials are purchased, your products must be carefully wrapped and placed into appropriate packaging to ensure they are not damaged before they reach the costumer. All of these processes, when done to a high standard, can be very time-consuming.
When you choose to outsource your fulfilment, you save a lot of time in this area. You are not required to shop around for the best deal on packaging materials, as fulfilment service providers usually include cost of packing materials in their overall fee. The process of picking, packing and shipping is entirely taken care of when you outsource your fulfilment, meaning you don’t have to find specific products and package them yourself. Fulfilment service providers have also streamlined the service they offer, so their processes are quick and professional. By outsourcing your fulfilment, you choose to save time by allowing the professional fulfilment staff to do what they do best.
2) Hiring new staff
As your business grows and develops you may also consider hiring new staff to help with areas such as fulfilment. While hiring staff makes a lot of sense in some areas, when it comes to fulfilment it can often cost you more time than if you chose to outsource your fulfilment. Training a new person can take up a lot of your time, particularly if you do not have any staff working in that area already. And, as with any new hire, there is no guarantee how long your employee will stay with your business, meaning a potential waste of the time you invested in their training.
When you outsource your fulfilment, however, you remove these risks and concerns. Fulfilment service providers already have well-trained, dedicated staff who specialise in the service they deliver. As professionals, they are able to select items, package and ship them incredibly efficiently, meaning no time wasted for you and minimal waiting time for your customers.
3) Avoiding errors and rectifying issues
Fulfilment service providers don’t just bring professionally trained and efficient staff to the table, they are also able to offer an incredibly streamlined service that, as a result, is near-perfect in its delivery. With specialist software and processes, outsourcing your fulfilment means you can avoid many human errors in fulfilment. And, when issues do arise, these can be rectified incredibly efficiently, saving you time in managing customer complaints and, most importantly, leaving your customers satisfied.
You owe it to yourself and your business to spend your precious time doing what only you can do – helping to develop and expand your business. Outsourcing your fulfilment is a simple and effective way that you can save a lot of time and still deliver an excellent service.
