Fulfillment services and warehousing so often go hand in hand. Both tend to fall under the blanket term for third-party logistics providers—3PL for short—which is essentially outsourcing specific services. While warehousing and fulfillment services are usually lumped together they are completely separate and stand-alone operations. Some providers, like IFS, are a one-stop shop for these services, while others are more of a cherry-picking deal. But not all 3PLs do the same thing, and certainly don’t cost the same.
For some companies, fulfillment services and warehousing are a necessary evil, but finding the right provider can be an absolute game-changer. To understand what you need from your warehouse and fulfillment service provider, first, you have to understand what each accomplishes.
Fulfillment Services
Fulfillment services are the heavy lifter of the two arms of this operation. Fulfillment services can include bulk product creation, primary and secondary packaging, as well as actual distribution of goods. The bigger your business gets the more unwieldy order fulfillment can get. It’s easy for fulfillment to get out of hand, things to get backed up, and quality to suffer if you’re attempting to go it alone. Trusting order fulfillment to professionals has the potential to pay for itself over time.
Along with creating, fulfillment services also take care of the packaging of your product. To state the obvious, the packaging is what keeps your products safe. Things like blister packaging, heat sealing, and boxing are what go into primary packaging. The safety elements of fulfillment services are rarely given a second thought by the consumer but are vital to distributors. While you may have a good system in place on your own, a facility specifically designed for fulfillment will simply be able to do more.
Despite the old adage, everyone judges books by their covers, which is why packaging is so important. We’ve gone over the importance of primary packaging, but secondary packaging is part of the most important part of a business—sales. Secondary packaging is the branded portion of fulfillment services. Boxes and wraps with your name and logo on them, extra coupons on store shelves, and the like are what secondary packaging is all about. This aspect of fulfillment services is what will draw consumers to your products and get you remembered for their future purchases.
Once your product is packaged, it needs somewhere to go. Fulfillment services, like Impact Fulfillment Services, also offer assistance in distribution. No more shuttling your own product from the kitchen to the distributor. Bringing on a fulfillment service will get your products in the best shape possible and get them to where it needs to go.
Warehousing
All of the great things that come with fulfillment services would mean little if there’s no place to keep everything. For the most part, 3PLs deal in bulk packaging, rather than smaller orders. Bigger orders mean the need for more space. Finding space for your product is a problem that can be easily sorted out by bringing on a warehousing service.
With a good warehouse in the picture, you will be able to keep more of your product ready for distribution. Having more products at the ready will cut down on the time it takes to restock, so customers will never be left wanting. Being able to mass-produce your product is great, but you want to make sure it’s being kept safe as well. Warehouses like those built by Impact Fulfillment Services are climate-controlled and the perfect place to keep your products safe and ready.
Warehousing seems a simple enough venture, but these facilities are anything but. The tech behind warehouses lends to safety as well as inventory. Keeping track of all of the units you have on the shelves will never be easier than it is with a warehouse.
Fulfillment services and warehouses can exist separately from one another but work best as a package. An all-inclusive 3PL experience is the easiest way to handle all of your fulfillment, distribution, and storage needs. Impact Fulfillment Services offers everything under one roof. Warehousing and fulfillment services can rack up quite the cost. But IFS offers competitive rates for the services. Top of the line across the board, IFS has streamlined every process and put in place check systems to keep your product perfect. If your business is ready to take the next, and one of the biggest, look to IFS to give you the best offer around.
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