Have You Chosen The Right ECommerce Fulfillment Service For Your Business?

To build a successful business in the world of digital commerce, choosing the right eCommerce fulfillment service is more important than you think. Order fulfillment for eCommerce has the power to make or break your business. A reliable and fast eCommerce fulfillment partner can help you gain a loyal customer base and boost your revenue in no time. On the other hand, several promising startups have had to shut shop due to bad reputation from sub-par fulfillment services.

That said, choosing the perfect eCommerce fulfillment service is not an easy task. The process of fulfillment involves a series of crucial steps — from order processing, inventory management, efficient packaging, timely pickups, live tracking and on-time delivery to the customer’s doorstep. For growing businesses, the fulfillment process is more complex with additional requirements like seamless COD management, proper handling of RTOs, reduction in failed delivery attempts and much more.

As an entrepreneur, you have a lot on your plate. Spending days choosing an eCommerce fulfillment service is definitely not a viable option. To make it easier, we have compiled an exhaustive checklist — to help you find the right eCommerce fulfillment service for your business. Simply put, if your logistics fulfillment partner is not ticking all the boxes, it is probably time to look for a replacement.

1. Fast Delivery Speed

A 2021 Global Consumer Survey by PWC revealed that 41% of consumers are willing to pay extra for same-day delivery. In fact, a high number of customers don’t mind paying an additional charge to receive their packages within 3-4 hours.

Top eCommerce fulfillment services today are thus offering same day and next day delivery options in Tier 1 as well as Tier 2 and 3 cities. For instance, at Blowhorn, we enable same day delivery for businesses across 28+ cities of India. So, if your fulfillment solution is still taking more than 3-4 days to deliver, you should definitely look for a faster and more reliable alternative.

Ideally, small to medium-sized businesses are best advised to go for an integrated fulfillment solution which can provide perks like omnichannel pickups, real-time tracking, and of course, same day delivery.

2. Micro-fulfillment > Warehouses

When finding a service provider to help you with eCommerce fulfillment solutions, location of their warehouses is an important factor to consider.

The longer the delivery distance, the more the delivery time — a simple thumb rule to keep in mind. Doing same-day delivery is difficult if your inventory is stocked in a warehouse far away from the customer's location.

This is why the best eCommerce fulfillment services in 2022 are opting for micro-fulfillment centers or micro-warehouses. These are small-sized storage facilities located in city centers closer to your customers. Products never stay here for more than a day and are delivered within hours to the customers’ doorstep.

Alternatively, you can also choose a logistics partner like Blowhorn who does pickups from your retail outlets as well. Read this article to find out why more eCommerce startups are choosing micro-fulfillment.

3. Ability to scale up on-demand

Most businesses do not record high sales throughout their financial year. Depending on the nature of the products, every business experiences a peak sales season at least once or twice a year. It might be the festive season for some or the summer holiday sales for another.

If your business is more than a year old, you must be aware of the months which generate the highest revenue. The question is, is your eCommerce fulfillment service provider flexible and competent enough to scale up operations during this peak season?

The answer is most likely no if you have chosen a local vendor to carry out your logistics fulfillment. This is where a leading integrated fulfillment solution like Blowhorn can be helpful.

With the flexibility to scale up anytime, Blowhorn has helped more than a hundred brands expand their business across India.

4. Seamless Returns Management

Return to Origin orders can be a headache for all consumer brands, including yours. Your orders are more likely to get rejected if your eCommerce fulfillment service is causing delivery delays or not providing timely tracking updates to the end customer.

To avoid the piling up of RTOs, choose an eCommerce fulfillment partner with a spotless record of on-time delivery. For instance, Blowhorn’s seamless logistics services have proven to decrease the volume of RTOs and reject orders by as much as 50%. Plus, with digital tracking of return orders, our partnering businesses never have to worry about losing another package to the black hole of returned inventory.

5. Tech-Driven Operations

Last but not least, find an eCommerce fulfillment service that thrives on technology. Manually managing inventory or tracking shipments leaves ample room for inconsistency and errors. In the next 2 years, 29% of Indian companies will go for automation in warehouse management and other technological advancements.

At Blowhorn, we are already speeding up our deliveries with AI-powered route optimization software. Our automated warehouse management system helps in seamless handling of stored inventory and order dispatch, while we offer a real-time tracking system for all our orders. We have also adopted novel technologies like geo-fencing to reduce the menace of fake delivery attempts.

Experts believe that India is headed towards a technological revolution in logistics. Thus, your business should opt for an eCommerce fulfillment partner who leverages the power of tech to optimize operations and increase efficiency.

After all, a reliable, cost-efficient and superfast eCommerce fulfillment service can solve all your logistics worries, from first-mile pickups to last-mile deliveries. Sign up with Blowhorn in minutes and give your business the edge over competitors.