In today’s competitive business landscape, efficient order fulfilment and timely shipping are crucial for success, particularly for ecommerce and retail companies.

As your business grows, however, it becomes increasingly challenging to manage inventory, fulfil orders and meet customer expectations efficiently without some help. This is where a fulfilment partner can make a big significant difference.

What is a Fulfilment Partner?

A fulfilment partner is a third-party company that takes care of various aspects of the ordering process. Essentially, they do all the heavy lifting. This can include inventory management, warehousing, picking, packing and the shipping of goods.

There are several reasons you might want to switch to a fulfilment partner:

1. Increased Order Volume

One clear sign that your business could benefit from a fulfilment partner is a substantial increase in orders. As your customer base expands and demand grows, managing these and ensuring timely deliveries will become more challenging without additional staff.

2. Inventory Management Challenges

If you find it increasingly difficult to manage and organise your inventory effectively, it might also be the right time to consider a fulfilment partner. They have advanced systems and processes in place to track inventory levels accurately without you having to invest in your infrastructure. This can help prevent stockouts and reduce overstocking as well as optimise inventory turnover.

3. Limited Warehousing Space

When your warehouse space is limited, it becomes challenging to store inventory and handle larger order volumes. A fulfilment partner has dedicated warehousing facilities and expertise in space optimisation, allowing you to scale your operations without worrying about physical storage limitations yourself.

What Are the Benefits?

A fulfilment partner streamlines your order process by handling tasks such as picking, packing, and shipping. They have efficient systems in place to ensure accurate order processing and timely dispatch. That should lead to improved customer satisfaction and repeat business.

• They have established relationships with shipping carriers, allowing for faster transit times and reduced shipping costs. This, in turn, helps you meet customer expectations for quick and reliable delivery.
• By eliminating the need for investing in warehouse space, hiring and training fulfilment staff, and managing equipment and technology, you can allocate resources more efficiently and reduce costs which you can then pass on to the customer.
• You gain access to expertise and best practices that may not have been available before, enabling you to optimise your fulfilment operations and stay ahead of the competition.

As your business continues to grow, partnering with a fulfilment company can be a game-changer. It allows you to focus on core operations while benefiting from streamlined order fulfilment, faster shipping, better overall cost savings and access to important industry expertise. Additionally, when it comes to national and international shipping, freight forwarding companies play a crucial role in ensuring smooth logistics and timely delivery.

Finding a Fulfilment Partner

Finding the right partner as your business grows is probably one of the biggest decisions that you will need to make. It’s important to do your due diligence and take your time in the decision-making process. Get it right, and your business can move forward with confidence to that next stage of development.

Millions of businesses need goods to be shipped internationally on a regular basis, here is a quick overview of what is meant by ‘international freight’, a quick history, and some of the common terms associated with it.

Freight Forwarders Save Your Money and Time

As a general rule when international freight is mentioned it describes goods that are being transported in bulk from one country to another. The transportation method can be by road, rail ship or air and often needs a specialist international shipping company to make the process as easy and cost effective as possible.

Common Terms in International Freight

Here is a quick overview of some of the common terms used within international freight and their meanings.

Land Freight – This is the shipping of goods by road or rail. This can also be known as door to door shipping and is straight from the place of the goods to the destination. Often made by trucks and is used in most forms of shipping as road or rail is needed to pick up from airports or seaports.

Sea Freight – This is the movement of goods on the world’s oceans. An excellent way to ship bulk goods across the world. Often a cheaper mode of transport than air but can have longer delivery times.

Air Freight – This is the movement of goods using air transport. In most cases by specialised freight planes, and often the quickest and most convenient way to move goods internationally.

Free on Board (FOB) This is a term that refers to the supplier of the goods paying any charges required in the country of origin.

Ex-Works (EXE) – This is a term that means the buyer is responsible for any costs or risks along the transportation route.

Cost, Insurance & Freight (CIF) – This is a term that means the supplier of the goods will pay costs into the UK, but once the destination port is reached, the responsibility is the purchasers.

A Quick Shipping History

It is easy to imagine that international shipping is a modern invention as it uses a combination of modern transportation methods to get goods where they need to be, but the movement of goods can be traced back throughout history.

Until the early 20th century, before commercial air transport really took off, all international goods were sent by land or sea, and this included even letters and standard mail. As air travel technology improved light cargo started to be included as the speed of delivery was a huge advantage to those selling goods internationally. It was not until the 1950’s however, that the idea of transporting entire road vehicles with their cargo was born, this now forms the basis of our modern shipping methods.

To discuss how international freight and international shipping can work for your business talk to the experts at Equator Worldwide and get your goods moving.