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You’ve successfully matured your online business, sales are up, but now time spent on stock control, order processing and juggling distribution options are getting in the way of managing other business opportunities and responsibilities.
Is it time to call for help?
You may be surprised to learn that (depending on the size of your operation), it can be reasonably quick and painless to pass on e-commerce order processing and distribution responsibilities to a professional organisation. All you need to know is what to look for in a supplier/partner, and what information to offer them to make your decision.
Flight Logistics has prepared for you, the following two part checklist to help you achieve the best results:
CHECK LIST
Services you will need from a supplier
- Warehousing, order fulfilment, pick and pack, dispatch and inventory management.
- In-house mail fulfilment and consolidation.
- UK and international courier and mail distribution options.
- Returns management.
- Packaging, paperwork/customs, and tracking
Requirements fact sheet
- What’s your product range – What is it that you are selling?
- How many different product types or lines do you have and how often are new ones added?
- What are the typical SKU dimensions – weight and size?
- Are any of your products flammable or classified as ‘Dangerous Goods’?
- How are SKU’s identified and labelled (barcodes, QR codes or other security markings)?
- What is your average weekly order volumes? Do you have seasonal demand peaks or troughs?
- How many of your orders contain more than one item?
- What are your packaging requirements (carton, jiffy bag, or envelope? Loose fill, bubble wrap, etc? Do you supply your own?
- What number of pallet spaces is required? Is this likely to increase over time?
- What is your target delivery time to customers? Is it different for B2C and B2C?
- UK Delivery – What type of delivery service/s do you require? First Class, Second Class, Courier, or Other?
- Overseas Delivery – What delivery service/s do you require? Standard, Priority Postage, Tracked, or Courier?
- Overseas Delivery – Which countries do you ship to?
- Do you process returns, if so what are the approximate volumes of returns received?
- Are you selling from your website or other online platform, e.g Shopify, Magento or Amazon?
- How do you envisage sending order data to a 3rd party, i.e. API, CSV file? And how often i.e. real-time, daily file, etc?
- When transferring your product to a 3rd party would this be palletised, loose boxes, or other?
- What paperwork do you need printing i.e. single or double-sided pick sheet, generic or personalised letter etc?
- What reports will you require and how often?