By
Sarah Harris
Crafting products that customers want is difficult enough even before you factor in data analysis, marketing research, and production logistics. Adding order fulfillment to the mix can feel like adding another ball to the half-dozen you’re already juggling. How much more can you handle?
Many businesses are in the same boat, which is why manufacturing for fulfillment has become so popular.
Letting a product fulfillment company take care of all the post-manufacture logistics can give your company more time to focus on product development and other crucial processes. In some cases, the fulfillment company can even handle some or all of the manufacturing.
How Does Manufacturing for Fulfillment Work?
Let’s say your business creates novelty bobbleheads. You might not be able to box up and ship the bobbleheads to retailers and customers without adding too much strain to your operation.
With manufacturing for fulfillment, you can make your bobbleheads, then send them to a fulfillment center in bulk. The fulfillment center will individually package your bobbleheads, making the unboxing experience memorable with quality kitting, then send the package directly to customers.
Fulfillment for e-commerce sellers just makes sense, given the nature of their business model. Manufacturing e-commerce products can have very little overhead if the seller integrates their platform with a fulfillment company. Once an order comes in, the fulfillment center gets the customer’s information and takes it from there.
Manufacturing and Fulfillment Strategies
You want to make your customers happy, but you can’t do that unless you figure out how to balance cost and quality while outsourcing necessary procedures.
What steps do you want to take care of between coming up with an idea for a product and racking up five-star reviews for that product? Which ones do you want to leave to a production fulfillment company?
Ecommerce Businesses
Selling online can mean fulfilling orders from around the world, and no matter where your customers live, they expect fast, accurate orders.
Manufacturing for fulfillment lets you ship your items to a third-party logistics (3PL) partner, who can then warehouse your products in strategic locations nearer to your buyers. Print Bind Ship has fulfillment centers across the globe, which means we can pick, pack, and ship orders anywhere within 24 hours.
Dropshipping
Let’s say you sell products you don’t produce. You’re probably in the business of dropshipping, which is where customers place orders from a seller through an online store, and the seller then buys inventory from a third party to fulfill the order.
This is a fine way of doing business, but shipping distances and logistics can still be a hassle. You don’t have to deal with those headaches when you rely on a dropshipping fulfillment center. Print Bind Ship can take deliveries from a third party, pack them up, and ship them for you.
Print-on-Demand
For some items, such as T-shirts or books, sellers don’t have to have pre-existing items to sell at all. When an order comes in, the product fulfillment company crafts the product, puts it in attractive packaging, and ships it directly to the customer.
Print Bind Ship specializes in custom on-demand printing, letting authors and artists sell their products without worrying about inventory or warehousing.
Benefits of Partnering with a 3PL for Fulfillment
A 3PL company is used as another term for “fulfillment center.” These companies handle:
- Tracking and managing inventory
- Picking items from inventory or crafting them as needed
- Packaging items and/or kitting them to create an unboxing experience
- Shipping items
- Handling returns
3PLs make selling easier.
Cut Costs
Manufacturing for fulfillment saves time and capital by eliminating many of the logistical concerns a business would otherwise have to handle itself. Partnering with Print Bind Ship can save you money by handling the what, where, when, and how.
Managed Shipping Logistics
Staying organized and getting the right order to the right customer gets difficult as sales increase. Thankfully, Print Bind Ship scales with your business. No matter how big you get, you can rely on us to deliver your products on time and in pristine condition.
Managed Inventory
Need to know what items you have, how many you have in stock, which ones are selling well, and how your customer demographics are developing? Print Bind Ship tracks this crucial information so you don’t have to.
Managed Returns
No business likes getting returns, as it either means the customer doesn’t like the product or it’s damaged or defective. With Print Bind Ship, you can at least make the process easier. We’ll handle your returns and restock the item if it’s still in good shape or dispose of it if necessary.
Integrations
3PLs typically also have software that integrates with a seller’s digital storefront to simplify managing orders and generating useful customer data.
Print Bind Ship will seamlessly mesh with your existing e-commerce site to make order fulfillment a breeze. If you need to share data with us, don’t worry — we’re already connected.
Fulfill Your Selling Goals with Print Bind Ship
You got into business to create or sell products people want, not deal with boxing them up and delivering them. From packing and shipping your products to printing them ourselves, you can rest easy knowing we’ve got it covered, leaving you to focus on other aspects of your business.
Ready to experience how manufacturing for fulfillment can transform how you do business? Partner with Print Bind Ship today.
FAQ
Fulfillment is a type of logistics. Fulfillment handles the part of the supply chain responsible for packaging and shipping orders to customers. The word “logistics” is far more comprehensive and covers all aspects of a product’s life, from raw materials to a product’s final destination.
Yes. Amazon warehouses don’t just store items. They also pick them, pack them, and ship them.
While the terms are often used interchangeably, a fulfillment center may offer more services than a 3PL. Fulfillment centers may ship directly to businesses or individual customers, provide faster processing and shipment, and handle returns. In general, however, the distinctions are hazy enough that either term can be used.