What is an E-commerce Fulfillment Center

Definition of e-commerce fulfillment center

Fulfillment centers enable ecommerce merchants to outsource warehousing and shipping. This relieves online business of the necessary physical space to store all products, which is beneficial for merchants without the capacity to directly manage inventory. Sellers send merchandise to the order fulfillment center, and the outsourced provider ships it to customers for them.

Inventory management is a prevalent operational problem for many online stores, but is an essential component of cultivating the best possible customer experience. Fulfillment centers make inventory management much easier and allow store owners more time to focus on other areas of their business.

There are four basic components of the e-fulfillment process:

• ECommerce store and fulfillment center integration
• Receiving and inventory management
• Order fulfillment
• Returns processing

How does a fulfillment center operate?

So many factors go into warehouse management, and because of that smaller details can get overlooked and wind up causing unforeseen problems and supply chain bottlenecks.

A fulfillment center is the hub for all of the logistics processes required to get a seller’s product to their customer. This is also known as the order fulfillment process.

Inventory is stored conveniently in a 3PL’s fulfillment center in preparation to fill customer’s orders. After a customer completes a purchase, inventory is picked from the fulfillment center shelves, packed, and then prepared for shipment.

These business-to-consumer (B2C) orders fulfilled by a 3PL are often shipped directly to an individual home. Fulfillment centers can also be used for B2B orders, often a large volume product that is sent out to larger retailers.

When a seller outsources their fulfillment to a 3PL, the 3PL handles the processes on the seller’s behalf. This can include storage, receiving, packing, and shipping, negotiating lower shipping rates, handle high-volume needs and often lower fulfillment costs other order fulfillment services.

When a seller outsources its fulfillment to a 3PL it can make it easier to manage inventory, save time to allow the seller to focus on more important business tasks, and even improve customer satisfaction.

Are you looking for a an e-commerce fulfillment service supplier?

Angetion provides one-stop ordering fulfillment solutions, including product procurement, quality inspection, warehousing, pick-up packaging and global transportation from China to the world. It focuses on providing services to crowdfunding event owners, Amazon, eBay sellers, Shopify store owners and other platform store owners, making one-stop logistics simple, efficient and economical. If you have any inquiry, please contact us immediately.