What is Order Fulfillment?
When you order a product at a large warehouse, or even online, your order goes through a process of order fulfillment. Essentially, your purchase receipt becomes a list of items that need to be sorted for you to take home. Because businesses may have thousands of products in one warehouse alone, order fulfillment is a crucial element for customer satisfaction.
Picking Inventory
Your order fulfillment begins with pickers. They look at your list and locate the items. Some items may need to be located within inventory software, especially oversize or overstock items. All items for one order are brought to a centralized area. The items are handed over to a packer, unless the company is small. Otherwise, the picker can become the packer at this point.
Packing Accuracy
The packer finds the perfect box to ship your items, if it’s an online purchase, along with proper packing materials. Goods must arrive at the destination in perfect condition. Before the box is filled, the packer verifies all the items’ part numbers and quantities. Lost inventory adds up over time, costing the company hundreds or thousands of dollars. The packer must ship exactly what was ordered for inventory accuracy.
Industry Variations
Although some companies sell, pack and ship their own goods, companies like Bonded Service Warehouse can perform order fulfillment remotely. We actually pick, pack and ship orders for a variety of businesses. In this case, however, we must also receive goods from daily shipments. As each delivery truck arrives, receiving invoices must be verified for correct part numbers and quantities. Accurate inventories start with thorough receiving records for any industry. This part of order fulfillment is not common, but crucial for our partners’ success.
Order fulfillment is quickly becoming a vast industry itself, especially with online sales growing quickly. Your shipped goods rely on accurate eyes and skillful pickers to make your purchase a fast and pleasurable experience.
Contact us today to learn more about our Order Fulfillment services!