When your company grows to the point that you either need to start your own shipping department or sign on with a 3PL order fulfillment service provider there is one major factor you need to consider. The costs associated with building your own shipping department can be staggering, but one advantage it gives you is that your shipments will always be the focus. You will be able to make order alterations quickly because one department of your company will be communicating directly with another. This means when a customer makes a request that affects shipping, your support team will be able to reach out to your shipping department immediately and make that adjustment. This is a pretty big advantage, and one of the main reasons companies opt to start their own shipping departments.
However, if you have the right 3PL order fulfillment partner, you can have your cake and eat it too if they focus on providing highly responsive customer support. Typically when you make an order fulfillment request to a 3PL, the response can be frustratingly slow and not comprehensive enough. This can mean that you miss the window to cancel or change an order, which as we all know can end up costing you money and leaving customers unsatisfied and frustrated.
This is exactly how order fulfillment companies like InterFulfillment are completely changing the game. Offering their customers not only much of the same advantages they would have to own and operate their own shipping departments, but doing so at an affordable cost, and with no hassle.
Forward-thinking companies like InterFulfillment are not your typical order fulfillment or shipping companies that have been around forever and move at their own speed. InterFulfillment was a company born of necessity as the eCommerce marketplace began to expand and grow. A large part of the focus is making customers feel like they have a direct connection to their shipping and order fulfillment operations. And how is that done? By providing unrivaled accuracy and responsiveness when responding to customer requests.
At InterFulfillment, each customer service representative understands your account and your order fulfillment requirements. They know your representatives by a first name and are always a quick email or phone call away. When you need a change to an order or to cancel an order, all you need to do is ask. And you don’t have to worry about not getting a response in time because the entire team understands and emphasizes the importance of responding to requests quickly. The company structure is built to accommodate requests in real-time. The support department has instant and direct lines of communication with the warehouse associates that pick, pack, and ship every order.
This is a core part of company culture, built that way from the ground up. Built to provide solutions every bit as good and even better than in-house order fulfillment.
Look for an order fulfillment operation that understands the new speed of business, look for an order fulfillment operation that was started with the sole purpose of providing services at the pace of the new speed of business. You want a company that is built around your business, that is always standing by to assist you, and that feels like a part of your business when you interact with them. Take this under consideration when you are looking for a 3PL service provider because if you don’t you will likely regret it.
