If you are a growing business owner, you will understand that order fulfillment is an essential part of your business operation. And if you have been managing all the orders in-house, as your business grows, you will see that it will become difficult to manage. In this situation, most of the businesses decide to outsource services from a third-party logistic company to fulfill the order. A third-party logistic company usually outsources logistics from warehousing to delivery. And if you are considering outsourcing a 3PL company to fulfill your order and grow your business, you should know everything about it before hiring one, starting from what it is to How Does 3PL Work.
What Is A 3PL?
Third-party logistic services provide warehousing, inventory management, picking, packing, and order fulfillment. 3PL services provide a wide range of services and help e-commerce businesses accomplish their goal. In simple words, 3PL services receive orders from manufacturers and they deliver these orders to the customers, they take care of all the distribution and fulfillment services. And they take the responsibility to fulfill all your orders.
How Does It Work?
Receiving Orders: The first step is receiving the inventory, after all, the orders cannot be shipped without the inventory. The 3PL logistics services start from receiving the inventory followed by storage. However, you should also note that every 3PL company has their processes when it comes to receiving the inventory and their capacity to receive and store them.
Warehousing: Once the third-party logistics receives the inventory from the clients, they store the items in the fulfillment center. They manage all the inventory of the different clients separately, they usually have separate storage on the shelves for each client. If you are planning to work with a third-party logistic, you should note that different 3PLs have different storage capabilities, so it is best to work with one that has more storage.
Picking and Packing: In this process, the clients have to upload all the details of the order including the customer’s shipping detail and the number of orders. Some 3PLs have fulfillment software integration that streamlines the order fulfillment process by bringing orders, shipments, inventory tracking, and stock level altogether in one place. When 3PL receives an order, the warehouse picking team receives a list of items and quantities, and once these items have been picked, they will get them packed for shipping. To pack the products, they use unbranded boxes, polybags, packing tape, dunnage, and more. Some charge for the packing materials, while others include it as a part of their services.
Shipping The Orders: Once the orders have been picked and packed, they will ship them to the customers on your behalf. Some 3PL have one preferred carrier partner, and others compare the cost from various carriers so that they can provide clients with the best pricing depending on how fast the customers want their order. Once the order has been shipped, both the merchants and the customers will be able to track the status.
Returned Orders: The third-party logistics also offers return processing services, and they will handle the return process depending on your policies. They will process the return and then restock or dispose of them. Getting their service is convenient as you will not have to handle the returns in-house and your customers will also be able to easily track the status of their order and the return process.
Many benefits come with working with 3PL logistic services, they offer services for managing inventory, packing, and shipping. When you outsource their services, you will be able to save time and money, you can leverage industry expertise without having to become one yourself or house them, and you can also expand your network.