What’s Happening...

We are very excited to introduce the newest version of our own site at www.wiredsolutions.ca! This newest design really sets the stage for us to showcase our web-products such as Wired CMS and Wired Cart while introducing a couple new products. Notably, the new site introduces the Wired Access service to make sure your website meets accessibility standards.

While most of the team is very busy working away at our current project load, we have also begun the prototype phase of the new Wired CMS! More on this exciting project in the next couple of months!

E-commerce Fulfillment Houses

Selling products online has gone from a neat dream of making a quick buck 'on the Internet' to a full time business for millions of people worldwide. Whether it's selling your handcrafted wares or expanding the reach of your store, selling your products online is now as normal as face to face sales inside your brick and mortar store. As a web-developer that specializes in e-commerce development since 1998, one of the most common concerns of a merchant is how they will ship their orders generated by online sales. Let's face it, boxing up orders, filling out shipping manifests, sitting around waiting for your shipping company to come around, or God forbid dropping it off yourself, can really take a lot of your valuable time. So how can you focus on selling your products, and providing fantastic customer service, while still getting your products out on time to your customers? The answer is outsourcing your fulfillment to a company that specializes in web order fulfillment!

Fulfillment houses are not really a new concept. Storing your inventory in a warehouse and sending individual orders in a list for warehouse staff to send out for you has been around for ages. What is new though is how in the last few years these services have begun to gravitate to e-commerce and how they provide slick integration right within your online store to automatically fulfill your online orders for you. The level of integration is really dependent on the fulfillment company you choose as well as the e-commerce engine you are using. That said, at the very least you should expect the ability to send the fulfillment house a list of orders, which includes products to be shipped, shipping addresses, and the level of service required (ground, over-night etc). Most fulfillment houses provide interfaces for your e-commerce engine to speak directly to their system, automatically sending approved orders to their system for fulfillment, with no manual sending required. This equates to an enormous amount of time saved for you.

So how do you find the right fulfillment company for your business? Like any service, the best way to find the right company is to research and interview potential companies to see if they are a good fit for your online store. Speaking from personal experience, I have dealt with some really awesome fulfillment houses and unfortunately some real terrible ones. An absolute must is to get in writing how their fee structure works, how much shipping rates are, as well any storage/warehouse fees per month. Fulfillment companies charge you on a per-order basis to fulfill your order. These charges include a per-order rate, a 'pick fee' that is applied to each item they are placing in the box, along with the relevant shipping charges. Be very careful to make sure the shipping costs are not marked up exorbitantly, and be sure to negotiate the other fees. That said, don't strictly focus on costs. A serious interview should take place to make sure the company is approachable, helpful, and willing to work with you to ensure your orders go out smoothly and on time.

Outsourcing your order fulfillment to a fulfillment house is a great way to relieve you and your staff from the monotony of boxing up orders and shipping them out. Spending your time building your business and focusing on providing excellent customer service instead of boxing up orders will pay off several times over the long run.

Lesson Learned! Boxing up products yourself to fulfill your online orders can be monotonous and expensive when you factor in your valuable time. Outsourcing to a fulfillment house will likely save you money in the long run and increase your efficiency to get orders to your customer. If you need more information about e-commerce fulfillment houses or how you can integrate fulfillment processing right within your online store, contact me and I will be happy to go over your options! * Sharbel Lutfallah is the lead developer at Wired Solutions, and has been developing e-commerce applications since 1998