Order Fulfillment Services comprise the process of receiving, processing, and shipping a customer order.
A fulfillment service is defined as a third-party company that provides these order fulfillment steps on behalf of another party, such as an online seller.
These general definitions can apply to many types of orders, from large business-to-business (B2B) orders, to individual direct-to-consumer (D2C) orders.Because we’re an Internet fulfillment company, for this post we’ll talk in particular about eCommerce order fulfillment, which we’ll more specifically define as the steps involved in receiving, processing and delivering online orders to end consumers at residential addresses.
To help better understand exactly what eCommerce order fulfillment is, let’s walk through the different steps involved, starting with receiving.
Order fulfillment Services entail the following steps, in chronological order:
Maintaining inventory.
Responding to a sales order to determine availability and location in inventory.
Confirming pricing.
Configuring the order (if there is more than one piece or product).
Booking the order (placing a request into the inventory system for what is ordered).
- Acknowledging and confirming the order is booked.
- Invoicing/billing the customer.
- Determining the shipping address where the item will be sent.
- Sourcing the order – determining which facility to ship it from.
- Determining which carrier will be used to ship the item.
- Issuing order changes initiated by the customer after-the-sale, substituting for pieces no longer in inventory, or updating the order with newer pieces in inventory.
- Processing the order – the physical picking and packing of the order at a warehouse or distribution center.
- Shipping the order, which may go directly to the customer or to one or more distribution points.
- Delivering the order to the customer.
- Settling, receiving, and processing payment for the received order.
- Handling returns of unacceptable or damaged goods by either refilling the order or refunding the customer.
Updating inventory.
Global Contract Logistics is the preferred Provider for many national and International companies who look for a partner to help deliver their products to the customers in a timely manner.
Our Order Fulfillment services are proven to deliver the right solution.