If you envisioned a life of marketing and product development but are mired in day to day operations, there are 4 reasons why you should consider outsourcing your order fulfillment.
1) Accuracy Your customers expect their package to arrive quickly and accurately every time. You could make sure every item is barcoded (generate barcodes and apply them if need be) and buy some barcode scanners, but why? There are companies who have invested in this infrastructure so that your company can look good and impress the customer every time.
2) Access to more information A reputable fulfillment company should be able to give up-to-the-minute information on order status, tracking numbers, inventory levels, receiving and returns status, reorder alerts. Their system should also be able to manage recurring orders and backorders. If your internal systems aren’t set up to do that then you’re missing important business information.
3) Expertise While you might be an expert at selling your widget, having a fulfillment house that can give you advice about best practices gives you an advantage and can make your business more efficient.
4) Accountability If your in-house team makes a mistake, you pay to fix it by sending the correct item. An order fulfillment company should guarantee accuracy and pay to fix their mistakes.
You might pay a little more to outsource to a fulfillment company that provides all of the above. But if outsourcing gives you more time to grow your company and a better image with your customers, then those dollars are likely well spent.