Are you thinking about starting an e-commerce business? Or you have been selling products for a while? Whatever it’s, you’ve probably thought about warehousing, shipping and B2C fulfillment.
Obviously, making sales is an exciting part. But what happens after an order is placed? Somehow the products need to be end up in your customer’s hands. There are three ways this can happen:
You sell product from a drop-shipper that will fulfill orders for you.
You fulfill your orders on own, either solely or with your team.
You work with a third party logistics company that will handle your warehousing and fulfillment.
There are obvious benefits of packing and shipping your own orders – it’s affordable and flexible. For these reasons, businesses that are just starting out or businesses with unique packaging requirements, often consider handling their own logistics.
Regardless of the age or industry, any business that struggles with cash flow will handle things in-house better. Sometimes you have more time to spend rather than money. Again if your business is growing quickly and have the cash on hand for outsourcing, you may invest in professional third party warehousing and direct to consumer fulfillment services.
There are huge arrays of logistics companies available that will help you store your products and handle packing as well as shipping your orders. Working with logistics companies can be intimidating, if you’ve not done it beforehand.
The Benefits of Using Direct to Consumer Fulfillment Services
The obvious benefit of using B2C fulfillment is that you don’t need to do it yourself. But the advantages really go deeper than the reality. Outsourcing fulfillment and warehousing can offer a meaningful on your business growth and development. Here are some of them discussed below:
Get rid of long term leasing
Many fulfillment services provide flexible pricing. This means, when you grow or go through slow periods, they will be able to adapt to your requirements and adjust costs accordingly. Companies don’t need to lock into long term fixed warehouse leases. Instead, the customers only pay month to month for the amount of space they occupy which saves them money especially when the inventory levels fall during non-peak seasons.
There is no need of employees
When you fulfill and ship orders yourself, you’ll likely need to hire employees as you scale. Managing employees take enough time. If your business is in flux, you may be careful of promising someone a job. Instead, you can outsource the work to a logistics company and let them be responsible handle all of your needs. Even, you don’t have to manage warehouse staff and personnel as the professional company can manage all of the labor required for receiving, inventory management, and order processing and shipping.
Your company will be more effective
Chances are, you didn’t start a business because you’re really good at packing boxes. There are other necessary aspects and skills you bring to the table that are really hard to outsource. When you allow someone handle your logistical details, you can focus on the things that will offer a great impact on your business bottom line. Using a professional B2C fulfillment service provider, you will have enough time to devote to other important business functions. For ecommerce businesses, this valuable time can be spent on product sourcing, sales, or online marketing activities instead of back end logistics.
You will save money
Though doing it yourself is almost free in the long run, hiring a reputable company can save you money as you grow. If they’re operating at a larger scale than you, it will help your business get benefited from their efficiencies and leverage their buying ability on shipping and packaging costs. Outsourcing will be likely saving most companies money either through less warehousing costs, employee costs or lower shipping charges receive because logistics companies leverage their combined shipping volume to get lower overall rates.
The Right Time to Hiring Professional Product Fulfillment Company
Most companies are intended to starting out fulfilling their orders on own and some eventually add a third party solution as they scale. The main problem is that, it’s really difficult to understand when to make the switch. However, businesses of all sizes can get benefited from warehousing and fulfillment services. There are huge arrays of companies to choose from – some of them specialize in smaller or larger scale operations. Here are clear signs that it’s time to start outsourcing B2C fulfillment services:
The uneven sales
If the number of orders your process fluctuates year round, probably it doesn’t make sense for you to commit to operating and staffing your own warehouse. A reliable direct to consumer fulfillment company will be capable of adapting to your requirements.
Busy schedule
If you’re busy dealing with order fulfillment that you don’t have enough time to focus on growth, it might be the right time to start outsourcing. As a business owner, you should be able to dedicate time to sales and marketing if you really want to be around for the long term.
The shortage of infrastructure
If your business is growing quickly, you may outgrow your existing infrastructure before you can adapt. This can add a lot of stress and impact on the growth of your business. When you outsource to a business that specializes in logistics, they will be well-equipped to adapt to the changes effortlessly. Particularly, ecommerce companies may find themselves at the tipping point if they have uneven sales levels throughout the year, the marketing and sales are being impacted by a lack of time to grow the business appropriately or they can’t support their growth with the current infrastructure internally. Moreover, third party B2C fulfillment and warehouse is right for you. Therefore, you should start calling round and discussing with direct to consumer fulfillment companies available right there to make a perfect selection.
Final consideration –
Acutrack is a trustworthy technology-driven fulfillment specialist, helping in publishing any product required for your business like books, CDs, DVDs, USBs, marketing collaterals, etc. As one stop logistics extension for your business, Acutrack can help you with direct to consumer fulfillment. For immediate help with B2C fulfillment, please contact us as soon as possible!
Today, nearly every organization spends thousands of dollars with Google AdWords or Facebook marketing to get inbound traffic. Facebook inbound marketing has taken off. The reason is simple. Facebook has over 2 billion monthly active users and it is one of the most scalable marketing platforms. We all know that a successful Facebook campaign requires a Facebook ad page which takes you to the landing page. A landing page is just a simple focused web page where the goal of the marketing is to convert that prospect into a lead by making them sign up. We all know that any visitor to your landing page has a limited attention span; a visitor decides within seconds whether to sign up or leave.
Companies spend hundred thousands of dollars in creating the Facebook Ad and paying for these click charges. However, they don’t succeed if you don’t make the visitor sign up. In order to encourage sign up, some organization will give a free PDF report or short training video. However, these digital giveaways are not so attractive.
Acutrack recommends giving away a physical product. If you offer something of value instead of a PDF document, your chances of converting the lead increases when you give a physical product. The average landing page converts at 2.35%, but the top decile of pages are converting at over 11% according to a WordStream study. That means a landing page with a good conversion is making 5x more money than the average.
A physical product is tangible and has a high perceived value - you can hold, feel and see it. The concept of giving something to get something is timeless. However, it gains new relevance when applied to your landing pages. Acutrack can help integrate with your landing page and automate the fulfillment.
All companies have some sort of customer rewards programs. Customer rewards programs are a way of rewarding your repeat customers and encouraging them to stay loyal. Most sales and marketing departments spend a huge amount of time and money to reward their customers. This can be very challenging and time-consuming since you don’t know the likes of your customers.
Acutrack proposes a modified approach - create a rewards program where the customer can choose the reward that is most appropriate for them. First, offer your customer points based on the amount they spend, similar to an airline rewards program. We all tend to buy a little extra sometimes in order to reach our rewards goals!
Then, set up an “online rewards program” web store where your clients can use those rewards points and order items of their choice. These stores are easy to develop. Your organization can decide the nature of rewards such as simple Starbuck cards, corporate hoodies or any giveaway items. Acutrack can help fulfill these items by integrating with your store.
An online store allows your customer to choose the items of their preference. This will also help them see other rewards items of higher value from the online store and the sales goal they would have to reach in order to earn those rewards.
Packaging is very important in the fulfillment and delivery process for USBs. In most cases, your packaging represents the first contact a consumer will have with your brand, and in a competitive industry, first impressions count!
Acutrack has a variety of custom packaging options for USB thumb drives. All USB packaging is designed with three things in mind - showcase the customer’s brand and style, be mailed for a safe delivery and most importantly be able to produce inexpensively in small quantities. Here are the options we offer!
Eco Board Mailer Eco board mailers are a cost-effective way to package your USB. This eco-friendly package is environmentally friendly and can be customized with your artwork. It is also very easy to promote your brand by adding an installation or marketing insert. The total package weighs less than 1 oz which makes it very cost effective to mail both domestically and internationally. This package is very popular and is commonly used to deliver the content as a backup to digital delivery.
Flash Drive Sleeve for 3-Ring Binder A flash drive vinyl sleeve is a great way to showcase your custom printed USB thumb drive. Not only will the sleeve keep your flash drive safe in a clear, varnished zipper, but it also makes for a convenient method to archive it and keep it stored safely for as long as you need.
USB Clear Clamshell Packaging Customize your USB in a Flash Pac® USB Flash Drive clear case packaging. This popular design is simple, elegant and makes it easy to store marketing material. Ultimately, creating a full USB package. The clear case can be customized with a custom printed cover wrap which can be printed 2-sided to showcase your brand or marketing message. The package has a secure way to hold the USB thumb drive.
USB Album Case A USB album is an upscale, custom package intended for companies looking to outsmart rather than outspend their competition! The foam piece inside can be customized to hold USB drives of different shapes and sizes and the printed cover wrap will surely make a strong impact towards your customer.
Many other options exist as well and range from a variety of materials and inserts. Acutrack’s goal is to work with its clients to make sure they have chosen a unique presentation piece for their product or business.
We understand the challenges faced by self-publishers with regards to book printing and fulfillment services. Many experience the challenges of ordering print runs and then being forced to store the entire inventory in their basement. Bogged down with the challenges of running fulfillment and packaging operations by themselves, some eventually come to choose Amazon’s Createspace after being attracted by their Print-On-Demand services, only come to the realization that Amazon has inhaled their sales, revenue, and customers for nothing more than a piddly return in royalties – This all changes with Acutrack!
Acutrack’s solution Acutrack Book Print and Fulfillment services take care of printing and order fulfillment irrespective of the platform where you sell your book. By selling books directly on your platform, you keep the sales revenue and are able to use the book for lead generation. This is of utmost importance as you are given total control of your marketplace and customers.
The process is easy: We produce a retail-finish book completely customized to your needs in a print run as little as 50 units, depending on your business needs. We stock your inventory in our warehouse and set a minimum warning level for each SKU (book title). And when the quantity dips below the minimum level, we immediately notify you to place a reorder to replenish your stock.
We generate the book cost-effectively based on your requirement and not by the restrictive constraints of Print-On-Demand services. A book can a softbound or hardbound, UV coated or laminated, shrink wrapped or gift wrapped – you ask and we deliver!
We take away the headaches of order fulfillment by making the whole process seamless. Each step is automated – from receiving an order transaction via your eCommerce store and updating the tracking. We compound upon this convenience by setting up an online customer portal where you are given full 24/7 access to all aspects of order and inventory management. By removing the burden of order fulfillment from your shoulders and letting Acutrack handle it for you, you are instantly given the flexibility to pay greater attention to growing your core business.
How does it work?
We take the time to learn your exact print needs then provide you with a custom-tailored cost proposal. Once you accept our proposal, our integration team provides details to take your eCommerce app to live, Additionally, we set up an online web portal to order all aspects of order & inventory management. We also set up a dedicated FTP account where you can upload all your artwork
We deploy many print options and choose the right print option once we have a better understanding of your business needs. A book can be printed on our web-based inkjet print to high-end sheetfed color print; UV or laminated finish on the cover, short print run of 50 or larger run of 1,000 or more can greatly impact the cost.
Paying for the services You manage your eCommerce, sales & marketing. You dictate the cost of shipping & handling to your clients. We are not part of your sales operation. We just provide print and fulfillment services and bill you for our work.
Since our print services aren’t print-on-demand (POD); we invoice you for print services when you confirm your print order quantity and for all other fulfillment transactions, we bill you at the end of the month for all order transactions posted. Processing Time Unlike POD, our solution has the advantage of shipping books in real-time as we receive the order. Generally speaking, it takes 5 to 7 days to print your books and stock them. We set the minimum level, and we place a new order in a timely manner so you are never out of stock.
Shipping Methods We recommend USPS postal mail service to ship either as First class, Media Mail or Priority Mail service domestically within the USA. Likewise, we have discounted postal mail service for worldwide shipment
File format High-resolution PDF files are the only type of files we accept for printing orders since PDFs will embed all fonts and graphics. This ensures that there are fewer printing issues and less possibility of shifting text and graphics. Please ensure that your PDF files have been set to include bleeds.
