7 Most common Challenges in Order Fulfillment
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Owning/operating your own business is a dream for most. It means you can set your own hours, decide on priority of tasks, and even take your holidays when you want to.
There are downsides, though, especially for SMES. What if you can’t find the right subcontractors to handle your work with the elegance that you do? When we stray into this territory, we start to understand that each area we outsource has its own unique challenges.
Here are some of the common challenges found in order fulfillment, whether you out source it or do it yourself.
7 Common Challenges of Outsourcing
We summarized the biggest challenges of order fulfillment processes, below.
1 – Finding the Right Help
Not all outsourced order fulfillment companies are made equally. Some don’t ship with speed, some cost too much, and others don’t perform as well as they should. If you’re in the market for outsourcing your fulfillment, learn more about Red Stag and its range of services. They have plenty of experience and the knowledge your business needs to lean on and thrive.
2 – International Packages
Logistics come into play when you start sending packages abroad. As much as we love the USPS, they have a very poor track record on international shipping. Packages are lost, damaged, or never show up. Why does this happen? Because they have little control over what happens to their packages when they leave the country. International packages are a bit of a nightmare, but a good third-party fulfillments service should be able to rise above it.
3 – Damage in Transit
If your goods and services regularly get shipped in pallets, then damages need to be taken account for. They are prone to being broken and bashed about while your goods are in the back of the truck. If you are shipping to somewhere like the EU, damaged pallets may well be turned away at the border. This costs you even more money, since now you have to return the pallet and replace it. This can all be avoided by packaging audits performed by your order fulfillment service.
4 – Stock Control
Order fulfillment 3rd party warehouses have to have excellent stock control systems in place. If not, they risk losing customers because items have run out. They risk increased shipping times because a lack of materials made items get damaged in transit. Stock control is how we make sure that everything runs smoothly because everyone has what they need to proceed.
5 –Booms
Booms are happening more and more. Trends come and go. If you are selling a product that makes it big on Tik Tok one day, you are likely to be selling it as a boom item – one that is popular for a while and then fades. As product and order fulfillments specialists, your team need to be able to keep up with and stay ahead of these boosted trends.
6 – Lost/Missed Orders
If you don’t have correct order acceptance procedures in place, you will run into trouble later on when you are trying to complete those orders. They might not be correctly logged, and the information isn’t reaching your fulfillment service. They might be getting lost along the way. Either way, your customer is empty handed.
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7 – Slow Shipping Speeds
If you have gone out of your way to find a speedy shipping service all for it to slow down because the postal service is busy, you could lose customers. It doesn’t seem fair, but lengthy shipping times can cause real upset. Remember what happened when that ship was blocking the canal? Backlog for days.
Problems are Fixable
What sets a bad order fulfillment service apart from a good one, is that a good one will already have solutions in place to deal with all of the above. Ask them and see before you chose your service.
