Your business relies on your products doing what you say about them. Similarly, all fulfilment service providers wax lyrical about our service levels, warehouse processes, staff training and costs to the process. But do you actually know about the internal workings, the conditions your goods are kept in?

 

Warehouse Cleanliness

Efficient Fulfilment Warehouses like ours are cleaned on a rota and the pride we have in our warehouse environment not only gives our staff pride in their workplace but also improves health and safety in the workplace. We know that our competitors may work in bigger or smaller warehouse spaces but it's the way storage and processing is utilised to maximise efficiency to help you get your orders out the door and to your customers efficiently.

 

Security and Location

Have you thought about security and location of your stock when it's in a fulfilment service provider? We have seen stock arrive with us that has odours of other stock previous storage sites. No-one wants their stock to smell of spices, perfumes or chemicals. Don't just take your potential suppliers word for it. Make the effort to go to the site and see where your items will be stored. We have seen a number of times tainted stock that needs writing off as it is not fit for purpose. Your insurance should cover it but if it's not your fault then your previous provider should cover losses.

 

What security does your fulfilment warehouse have in place?

You should be hearing words like Access Control, Staff bag checking, CCTV, Alarm Monitoring, Security Lighting. Your goods need protecting. You have a lot of investment in your stock so make sure it is not in a remote location not being monitored and controlled. Ask the question. If you don't ask, you will never know.

 

Pricing comparison with other fulfilment warehouses

Yes cost is a factor however, price and service go hand in hand. You can listen to everyone say about 'getting what you pay for' but some fulfilment providers are genuinely offering price points for all their services in storage, picking and packing, packaging and distribution to make your business profitable and scalable.

Make sure you have all the costs for services broken down. There are many ways to hide costs in fulfilment and low headline figures although great for marketing purpose don't give a true picture. The software used to run stock controls and website integrations are not as complicated as it used to be. With dedicated processes and resources to making sure the connections to your website or third party sites and your stock are stable, your chosen fulfilment provider will probably have a management fee to maintain the administration, software tools and processes. But make sure you understand what you are being billed for.

For example. We don't charge for setup, API connections to third-party websites, couriers and training on our software. We pride ourselves on being an extension of your service as we are the last stop for your products before they get to your clients. Working together to manage customer expectation is a must. We do not 'just pick and pack' and never will no matter how big we grow to be.

 

If you would like some help comparing fulfilment warehouses and fulfilment service providers then give us a call on 01242 802140 or fill in on of our enquiry forms we would love to hear from you.

Our success is based on yours. Let's work together.