Order Fulfillment Warehousing and Shipping

Online and E-Commerce Order Fulfillment Options

Warehouses continue to pop up across the nation as an increasingly number of brands continue to follow the Amazon blueprint and make delivery a strategic part of their customer promises.  This leads to customer satisfaction and a big part of strategic growth in existing and new markets.  According to Retail Drive’s Sarah Greesonbach, online consumers are more likely to abandon their shopping baskets if delivery options are too slow.

Amazon can attribute its success to many things but the its customer delivery experience is what keeps them on top.  In 2005, Amazon launched its free two-day shipping option for Amazon Prime customers.  In 2014, it launched Amazon Prime Now with free one to two hour delivery.  By adding fast and convenient delivery options as a customer promise, Amazon has managed to maintain customer loyalty. Several other online retailers have  followed Amazon’s “third-party seller” model.  A consumer may believe it is receiving a product direct from the retailer or Amazon’s own warehouse, but in fact, it could be a third party warehouse, especially for goods that may take up too much space in a large in-and-out fulfillment center like Amazon’s.

Bottom line, while it may be risky and take a lot of time to start, adding delivery can expand business, and finding the right partner can add many benefits.

order fulfillment

That’s where Scarbrough can help.

Scarbrough’s fulfillment centers are strategically located across the nation, allowing for 2-day ground shipping to more than 97% of the U.S. population.  That’s 2-day ground shipping regardless of “Amazon Prime” status or not.  That’s 2-day ground shipping for any platform!  Many retailers are using what is called a retailer drop-ship model.  Brands will team up with warehousing and fulfillment services like Scarbrough Warehousing, Inc. for order fulfillment, warehousing and shipping to the consumer.

Here’s how it works:
  1. Brand A creates a product
  2. Retailer allows Brand A to place its product on its website
    (For example, Costco, Wayfair, Walmart, etc.)
  3. Consumer finds Brand A’s product on Retailer’s website
  4. Consumer places an order on Retailer’s website & chooses shipping option
  5. Scarbrough Warehousing, Inc. receives orders via EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), API (Application Program Interface) or directly from the retailers website.
  6. Scarbrough Warehousing, Inc. fills order as if its the Retailer’s or Brand A’s own fulfillment center
  7. Consumer receives Brand A’s package at its door

What about Direct E-Commerce Sites?

The same model exists for direct online stores, also known as e-commerce sites.  These stores can be hosted on commercial site builders such as Shopify, CommercehubWix, Squarespace, BigCommerce, and Volusion just to name a few.  In many cases, an online store can easily fulfill orders through its own warehouse or location, however, it may just make sense to seek outside assistance to improve operations and cost savings.  For example, when shipping with a fulfillment center, an online store can piggyback on exceptional parcel rates using the fulfillment center’s cumulative annual volume.  In the case of Scarbrough Warehousing, Inc., many of our clients save thousands of annual dollars just in shipping rates.  This doesn’t even take into account the pick and pack or other warehouse fees an online store may see from a larger conglomerate organizations such as Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).   Scarbrough has the ability to ship large multi pallet shipments to fulfill FBA and PO’s across the region. This frees up the retailer on space and personnel which allows the retailer the time to focus on the growth of their brand.

Warehousing Consultation

The Scarbrough is known for our expertise in warehousing services including fulfillment and distribution.  We help organizations find new ways to mitigate costs, risk and add to their bottom line.  We are offering a free 30 minute consultation call with our team of Warehousing and Fulfillment Experts if you would like.  Please email consulting@scarbrough-intl.com or fill out the form below:

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