In this article, I want to show you how important it is that your shipping needs are taken care of by a 3rd party. I also want to show you how you can increase your productivity and earning capacity by outsourcing your shipping needs.
INS AND OUT OF SHIPPING, WHAT IS THE SHIPPING PROCESS?
The shipping process all starts with the customer and your product. Your product fills a need or want for your customer, and they decide to exchange their money for it. This transaction may occur in person (retail), by phone, or online. In any case, your product is exchanged for money.
Once the customer purchases your product, it must be properly packaged, labeled, and shipped to a shipping company, which then delivers it to the customer.
For online and over-the-phone purchases, your item needs to reach your customer as quickly and reliably as possible. This process is called shipping.
For bulk items being shipped all at once, this is called freight shipping. For orders that need to be shipped overnight or within a matter of days, this is called expedited shipping.
WHAT ARE THE MATERIALS AND COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH SHIPPING YOUR OWN PRODUCT?
As a small business starting out, you will handle all your shipping needs. This means you are responsible for the following:
- Purchasing boxes, tape, shipping labels, label maker, printer, scanning gun, scale, etc.
- Making sure the product is shipped on time
- Storing the shipping materials
- Pick and packing orders.
- Finding a company to make specialized boxes for your product
- The physical packaging of the product
SHOULD YOU SHIP YOUR OWN PRODUCT?
How big is your company? How many orders do you have to fulfill daily? How can you scale your business? As you scale your business, do you plan to continue shipping your own product? Would continuing to ship your own product help or hinder your growth in the next 2 years? What are the benefits of you handling your own shipping? What are the costs? -(dollar amount x time = costs associated with shipping) What will it cost you in the future?
Here are a few questions to consider when deciding whether to continue handling your own shipping and e-commerce fulfillment.
WHEN TO USE A 3RD PARTY FOR YOUR FULFILLMENT
When is the right time to start using a 3rd party fulfillment center?
When you reach the point in your business where shipping your own product is taking valuable time away from producing more product, it is time to use a 3rd-party fulfillment warehouse.
When you are sick and tired of storing all of your shipping supplies in your house, garage, car, or a local storage unit, it is time to make the switch.
When you want to focus more on the development of your product(s) or the manufacturing process instead of shipping, it is time to use a 3rd party fulfillment center.
What are the benefits of using a 3PL?
When you make the switch to using a 3rd party shipping warehouse, you can expect the following:
- No more storing shipping supplies
- No more storing your physical product
- No staying up until who knows when, fulfilling orders, and packaging products
- No more trips to the post office
- No more purchasing shipping supplies
Using a 3rd-party Utah fulfillment center, such as Launch Fulfillment, takes your business to the next level. The amount of time (hours) you save by letting a 3rd party handle the shipping logistics of your product is worth the costs. Launch Fulfillment is the ultimate warehousing solution. We’d like to handle shipping your product to your customers so you can focus on producing more.
