If your business’s products need to be shipped to your customers, you know how vital it is to your company’s success to run a tight order processing and shipping department. But did you know that there are companies that you can outsource these tasks to in order to save both time and money?

Fulfillment companies such as Assemblies Unlimited can manage orders at all stages; from selling you shipping and packing supplies, to hand-assembly and individual product packaging, to final order fulfillment and shipping. In many cases, outsourcing these services helps companies run their business more efficiently and fulfill customer orders more quickly, making it a smart business move for companies of all sizes.

How A Fulfillment Company Can Help Your Business

Although larger companies caught on years ago to the benefits of outsourcing order fulfillment, smaller companies and new entrepreneurs may still find themselves packing up boxes after the close of business and rushing over to the post office every day to send off a new batch of orders.

Contract packaging services take the pressure of order fulfillment off of businesses by providing an efficient method of order assembly, packing and shipping. Since this is what they do day in and day out, these companies are much better prepared to process orders quickly and accurately and have the right tools to get the job done. By outsourcing order fulfillment to a professional shipping service or fulfillment house, business owners can concentrate on meeting their day-to-day business needs, planning for future growth and promoting their products.

Some of the benefits to businesses of outsourcing order fulfillment and shipping include:

• Less time packing up orders.
• Less staffing needs and related overhead costs.
• Less shipping materials to purchase and have on hand at all times.
• Less time spent driving to and from shipping services to drop off orders.
• Professional assembly and packing, ensuring products arrive safely.

How Does It Work?

When you work with a fulfillment service to pack and ship your products, you’ll provide them with inventory well ahead of time. Then, when the orders come in, the fulfillment house preps and packs the products for shipping and determines the most cost-effective method of shipping based on what is included in the order.

Some businesses choose to submit the orders to the fulfillment center themselves, others have systems set up that allow the order to go directly from the customer to the fulfillment center, resulting in faster order processing.

When you consider all the factors of processing orders and shipping in-house, many companies find that working with a fulfillment company saves them both time and money (and stress!) in the long run.