How fulfillment centers are helping in an optimized warehouse management system?

 Fulfillment centers are different from conventional distribution centers. The former is used extensively by e-commerce companies to help them fulfill orders for their end customers; while the latter is meant for distribution to retail centers. For small-scale businesses, the growth of fulfillment centers has helped them save their operational costs, mostly logistics. One of the core areas is the warehouse management system. How?

Stock out, mispicks, misships, and damaged products are four issues that constantly bother online sellers, causing them to lose clients and brand value. All of these are related to mismanagement of inventory, shipping, and deliveries. The good thing is that with the help of outsourced fulfillment centers, e-commerce merchants can overcome all of these issues. There are typically two ways of working here – one, the online merchant receives items from the manufacturer, reviews them, and sends them to the fulfillment center; and second, the items are directly sent to the warehouse in New York or any other suitable location, as per the location base of customers.  

 

For an e-commerce company based in the US, the essence of working with the right fulfillment center in New York is manifold. There is definite cost saving in not having an owned warehouse or physical space to store the products. Inventory management becomes easier, shipping and deliveries become smoother. The headache of managing the logistics part of online selling from one endpoint to another is outsourced. This helps online merchants to focus on their key areas of expertise.

 

Another advantage in outsourcing lies in the fact related to returns. Returned products go back to the fulfillment center and not the online seller. Also, with volume shipping orders, fulfillment centers can negotiate better rates with shippers; as a result, online sellers go ahead and offer free or discounted shipping charges to customers.