1、What is Order Fulfillment?Order fulfillment is an umbrella term that is used to describe several processes all related to different phases of a product’s
sales life. It encompasses these general ideas:
* sourcing inventory from your supplier or manufacturer
* storing your products
* picking, packing and shipping your orders
For online businesses, the fulfillment process starts several steps before a customer ever places an order on your storefront.
When you say “order fulfillment,” most people immediately imagine a shipping clerk checking orders, packing shipments, and
printing labels. However, the concept of fulfillment is actually much more wide-ranging, and there are several factors both
upstream and downstream from merely packing orders that play into a business’s overall fulfillment strategy.
WHAT SHOULD MY ORDER FULFILLMENT GOALS BE?
Any online business—regardless of size or fulfillment method—is less likely to succeed if it cannot operate its fulfillment
processes quickly, accurately, and cost-effectively. Your approach on solving for these issues will be as unique as your business,
so we’ll talk about how to plan for and execute on these goals later in this guide.
OKAY. WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS?
There are basically three:
Dropshipping
With dropshipping, the fulfillment process is outsourced to a third party, who in many cases is a wholesaler, manufacturer or supplier.
You receive orders and send the order information to the dropshipper, who in turn ships the products directly to the customer. You can think of it as “dropping” the retail stocking link in the supply chain.