Doing everything yourself in your e-commerce business might be a great money-saving strategy. However, if you want to facilitate the growth of your business it might be time to consider outsourcing.
Outsourcing doesn’t have to be a huge undertaking covering every single aspect of your business. Rather, you can outsource some parts of your business, such as your shipping and handling, and retain the other aspects to continue in house.
Outsourcing is not only great for business expansion, but also for reducing costs and increasing business efficiency. If you’re not sure about outsourcing, here are five signs you’re ready to outsource:
High growth
When your business just started out it was easy to field orders yourself and pick and pack from your garage or small storeroom on site. However, with business growth comes higher sales volume. It might be increasingly difficult to process orders, pick and pack at a reasonable pace when order numbers are in their hundreds.
Growth is an extremely positive outcome in the business world and a clear sign that you need to start outsourcing your fulfillment. Companies that specialize in shipments would be the ideal addition as a business partner.
They can handle the order processing, picking, packing, and getting the shipment out the door within a reasonable amount of time, leaving you free to deal with other aspects of growth.
High shipping costs
When you consider the costs involved in the entire shipping process, you may be surprised at how high they are. When considering handling all the shipping yourself, you need to consider warehousing or storage costs, labor costs, supplies such as printers and stickers, tracking and fleet costs.
Outsourcing your shipping to 3PL services can reduce these costs. For a fixed monthly fee everything is handled on your behalf by experts. From receiving the shipments to storing them, picking and packing, and getting them delivered to customers, you know your shipments are taken care of.
Using third party services saves you because they already have all the systems in place to facilitate your business’s needs.
Brand damage issues
Modern customers tend to be harsh and expect 100% perfect service from the get-go. When your services fall short of customer expectations, you could lose those customers forever. Being familiar with your own products and system can fall short, especially if you don’t have appropriate inventory management software that can help you streamline the system.
If you find yourself making mistakes that cost your business, you might need to consider outsourcing the shipping process.
Companies like Red Stag Fulfillment are skilled in this field and have the necessary software and systems to manage your shipping without making mistakes. Employing a third-party logistics company could be all that you need to bring your brand to a positive perspective again.
Low storage space
Warehousing costs money. If you find yourself struggling to find a sufficiently large storage space that suits your wallet, outsourcing could be your solution.
Since third party logistics companies already own or rent vast amounts of warehousing space, their costs are fixed. You would need to pay them a monthly fee for handling your inventory and you do not need to make efforts to locate or field the full cost of storage. This can save you money and effort, and allow you the freedom to develop other aspects of your business.
International expansion
Outsourcing may become necessary when looking to ship beyond borders. Companies who specialize in shipping will know the right processes to get over borders without breaking laws regarding customs and declaration of goods.
There are also particular packaging requirements that need to be adhered to, depending on each country. Furthermore, these companies can ship your shipments out with other shipments, reducing your international shipping costs and keeping customers happy.