Why Ship from Multiple Fulfillment Centers

E-commerce shopping is always changing. Customers have an almost endless selection of online shops and marketplaces to choose from.

Technology is always advancing. In the world of eCommerce, it is helping businesses get their products advertised, sold, and shipped to the largest possible audience. This has allowed eCommerce businesses to “boom” like it never has before.

However, with this success comes many challenges. Consumers expect fast, reliable delivery, and thanks to Amazon, “fast” means quicker than ever. This can make it difficult for eCommerce businesses to keep customers satisfied.

Thankfully, there are solutions!

One of these solutions is to ship your products from multiple fulfillment centers. Here are three reasons why this method can help your business, as well as a few tips to get started.

Minimizes Cost

When you fulfill your customers’ orders from several different distribution centers, you can minimize costs related to shipping and handling.

There are many factors to consider when it comes to shipping. It can be an expensive process. It involves various kinds of vehicles and transportation with numerous expenses involved at every stage. And international shipping only compounds it all, making shipping costs quickly skyrocket.

This is where having several different shipping centers can radically cut down on costs. Your products will have less distance to travel to arrive at your customer’s door. Shorter distances lead to less shipping costs.

Distributed inventory can also reduce costs by cutting down on the number of “zones” your product has to travel through. Shipping rates are calculated using various zones. The more zones a product has to travel through to be delivered, the higher the rate. But if a fulfillment center is in the same zone as a product’s destination, shipping costs will be much lower.

Lessens Risk

Have you ever heard the phrase “don’t put all your eggs in one basket?” It refers to spreading out investments, so if something crashes, you do not lose everything. The same can apply to inventory.

Disasters, natural or otherwise, happen. Accidents occur. If you have all of your inventory in one warehouse or fulfillment center, it could lead to catastrophe. All it takes is one event to destroy all of your products. This will greatly hinder and damage your business. At the very least, it will put you behind on orders, leaving unsatisfied customers. At worst, it could be the end of your dream.

By spreading your inventory between several destinations, you guarantee that your entire inventory cannot be destroyed by one event. This helps protect your business and allows you to carry on fulfilling orders, no matter what happens.

Allows for Growth

Online shopping is at an all-time high and is still growing. This gives eCommerce retailers more and more opportunities to sell their products.

With the rise in the number of consumers, orders are also bound to rise for online businesses. This is beneficial but can prove a challenge in itself. If one fulfillment center is fulfilling all of your orders, it might struggle to keep up when orders rise. This can lead to delays in fulfillment and unhappy customers.

By distributing your business among various fulfillment centers, you allow room for your business to grow comfortably while maintaining efficiency.

How Do I Begin?

Though distributing your inventory and business among multiple fulfillment centers is a necessity, it can also prove to be a challenge.

There is a lot involved in maintaining a warehouse, let alone one which fulfills and ships orders. What’s more, many of your competitors may already be ahead of the game in this aspect. This is where working with a third-party logistics (3PL) provider, such as Smart Parcel 24/7, can help.

3PL providers are in the perfect situation to help you save time and money. Not only with your warehousing but also with your fulfillment and shipping needs. 3PL providers that have facilities across the United States are even more cost-effective and efficient.

Smart Parcel 24/7 has fulfillment centers located across the U.S. This means that regardless of where your customers are, we can get you the best shipping rates. We also utilize a network of hundreds of carriers across the world. This allows us to can choose which carrier is best for each leg of the journey for each of your products.

Our warehouses are equipped with state-of-the-art technology and highly-trained professionals. Your products will be fulfilled to your exact specifications before being speedily shipped to your expectant customers.

If reliable and fast fulfillment is something you are interested in, Smart Parcel 24/7 has it covered.

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