Customized order fulfillment creates a brand that customers can easily recognize. If your business has outgrown its warehouse, you might wonder whether 3PF companies will offer customized services. Customization will make your brand stand out more if you ship directly to customers or to Amazon, Wayfair, eBay, Walmart, and Shopify.Â
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What Are Customized Order Fulfillment Services?
Order fulfillment services seek to connect products with customers and create strong brand impressions. Many D2C merchants ship using standard packaging, which may not provide customized aspects. Such programs create a forgettable brand experience, the disconnect that customized services seek to change.
A customized service tweaks various aspects of the packaging and shipping experience to create a recognizable brand. Customization can manifest in multiple ways, including written literature, kitting, and random opportunities. Below are some examples of how merchants can personalize the fulfillment through packaging:
1. Â Â Written Literature
A merchant can use promo flyers, brochures, or catalogs for specific outgoing orders. The fulfillment company will receive alerts of which flyers to include and share them with the packaging team. Wellness companies can also have hand-signed notes to go with every package. The packaging team can sign the message.
2. Â Â Branded Packaging Material
Merchants can provide customized packaging material for their products. A good example is a tissue company using filler materials with branded colors. Toy companies can also use branded tapes to seal the boxes. Packaging materials offer an opportunity to affirm the brand and create lasting customer impressions.
3. Â Â Custom Kitting & Bundles
Kitting is one of the popular ways to customize the fulfillment experience. Some products go well with others. Using a fulfillment company allows you to bring relatable products together in pre-bundled kits. Kitting also speeds up the packaging process and saves more time and money on each order.
Customizing Your Orders
Fulfillment companies like Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and other similar stores focus on marketing their brands in memorable, recognizable ways. They might include a few filler items but also use standard shipping and packaging that is easily scalable when dealing with high-volume orders. Working with 3PF companies or internal teams is the best way to offer a personalized experience.
Leading 3PF companies allow you to send the necessary inventory, packaging material, and other items. Their goal is to provide fulfillment aligned with your brand and niche. You can discuss the packaging and shipping process during the initial integration. Working with a 3PF is more like having an outsourced internal shipping team that’s more efficient and cost-effective. Fulfillment companies also handle all the complexities and customer feedback related to shipping.
How 3PF Companies Customize ServicesÂ
Customized fulfillment is effortless when done on a small scale, which is the option most startups choose. Inventory management and fulfillment become more complex and costly when the business outgrows its storage space. Using 3PF companies makes focusing on marketing and harmonizing the brand easier. The company will handle storage, packing, shipping, customer service, and other logistics.Â
3PF companies are the ideal choice when looking to maintain flexible, scalable, customized fulfillment services. They have the proper programs to handle high-volume order fulfillment while keeping labor and per-unit fulfillment costs low. 3PF companies also use systems-aided processes and have engineers that analyze all steps in the fulfillment process. The systems can pick up instructions sent from the merchant to the packing companies.
Finding Customized Services
Most fulfillment companies focus on aiding order processing, packing, and shipping. Some companies have elements of customized services, while others give you total control of the entire process. 3PF companies offer shipping software, inventory and warehouse management, packaging supplies, and LTI shipments.Â
You should choose fulfillment companies that cover all aspects, including inventory, orders, shipping, Omni channels, reports, and automated billing. When comparing 3PF companies with customized services, look for brands with process engineers, system-aided processes, and scalable labor. Note how you want every product in the inventory to be shipped for proper packaging and items.
Hiring an Order Fulfillment Company
Customizing the fulfillment process has benefits for all eCommerce sellers. Whether you sell products directly to clients or through B2B fulfillment portals like Amazon, you should strive for strong brand impressions. Stick to reputable companies with a clean track record of providing customized order fulfillment for D2C and B2B companies. The best 3PF companies offer the complete package covering storage, picking, packing, shipping, kitting, and drayage.
