Order Fulfilment Growth

Customers are the life blood of any business, so entrepreneurs and organisations continually thrive to increase their customer base both locally and internationally. However, there are certain variables you need to consider to aptly position your products as an excellent brand in your industry.

With the pandemic and UK exit from the EU, international trade have witnessed turbulent times filled with uncertainties due to cross-border and direct to consumer trades but it never impacted negatively on eCommerce.

According to statistics, the market would surge to 4,820 billion dollars within the next five years and a compound annual growth rate of 27% in 2027.

It’s important to note that businesses seeking to expand their horizons globally need to meet up to certain requirements. And one crucial factor to consider is order fulfilment. As an entrepreneur, you need to always make your current customers satisfied with the timely deliveries of your products. It’s also necessary to ensure you attract and retain your target audiences and customers in the new territories earmarked for business expansion.

It’s ideal to get an international logistic and fulfilment strategy in place, which would ease the struggles of expanding into a new market within a different territory. Also ensure that the orders of your customers are attended to in an efficient way for swift delivery. The coordination of products for export depends on the country(s) involved.

But how do you hit the ground running?

Simply start by mapping out the best means of moving your products from one location to another.

So, you may work with two options

Option 1: Model for cross-border fulfilment

• The products move from one country to another
• There’s no stored inventory in the country receiving the products
• The model is perfect for businesses whose international orders are a small fraction of their operations.
• It doesn’t require large investment to test the success rate in the new market.

Option 2: Local fulfilment with in-region entity

• Products are moved and stored in the country the business seeks to expand into
• It’s perfect for businesses in the US whose market is local but cuts across a large geographical area.
• It’s a profitable means to manage international orders because it lessens the cost of delivery and time in transit.
• The end customer doesn’t receive a staggering bill because the business takes up custom taxes and duties.
• It’s not burdensome to manage trendy methods of payments.
• Customers can easily return products since they aren’t dealing with international postage
• Third party logistics providers who possess local fulfilment centers in regions that are centralised can execute customer orders in your stead, culminating in saving more time and money.

Outsourcing fulfilment to bolster your international eCommerce expansion strategy

To radically improve your international sales, you may need to conduct research on liaising with an expert logistics and fulfilment service provider. Also, depending on the level of product demand and the volume of your investment, you may likely use more than one fulfilment center to expand your reach swiftly and smoothly. After an order is set on your website, the fulfilment partner picks and packs the products (which are usually stored in their own fulfilment center), wrap up all the required shipping filling and coordinate with their shipping system to convey it to your customer. They also manage any returns from your customer.

Although you may feel awkward with the thought of outsourcing a primary part of your business operations, you are still very much involved in the process. Specialist fulfilment partners grants you access to the technology and tools for full visibility of the entire process.  Some of these partners actually grant your customers access to their portals for tracking of their parcels and to effect quick returns when necessary.

Outsourcing is a cost-effective alternative because you can utilise the infrastructure, expertise and networks of the partner company that is already in place.  It provides you with more time to concentrate on other vital aspects of your business such as marketing, product development and customer service.

Third party logistics and fulfillment service provider are the best alternative if you operate a diverse portfolio of products because of its level of efficiency whilst measuring up to the needs of customers across the globe. There are several circumstances that determine the choice of an order fulfillment strategy and these should be taken into consideration

Your order fulfillment strategy regulates how efficiently and rapidly you can expand your business. So, you need to be careful in your decision making as a wrong preference could mar your bottom-line. Hence, selecting the right order fulfillment strategy is crucial to the success of any eCommerce business.