First let me start off with an explanation of what omnichannel fulfillment is and how it can help your business achieve the next level of success. This fulfillment method is the process of picking, packing, and shipping orders that are sold across multiple stores, sales channels, and online marketplaces. In simple terms, businesses use multiple selling channels to fulfill and distribute customer orders, regardless of which channel the customer placed an order through.
With over $500 billion dollars of revenue generated in 2022 from retail ecommerce and business to business sales, this surge is expected to continue beyond 2023 and well into the future. Your current 3PL solution must adapt with the times to remain competitive.
Omnichannel Fulfillment
Delivery choice is the number one driving force behind a consumers online purchase. As consumers we have been trained to expect an item ordered online to be in our hands within a day or less. With this mentality a cost effective solution and timely answer is the key. Since same day delivery is expected to reach $20.3 billion dollars by 2027. 3PL's need to be able to accommodate this as well as offering a wide variety of shipping options to the customer and the end consumer. It's the 3PL warehouse that must provide fast, efficient, accurate and cost effective delivery options. A single 3PL warehouse should be able to offer at least 25% of the US as a next day delivery option.
Omnichannel Connectivity
3PL customers look to their warehouse for answers and guidance and with an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI for short) in place this will help mitigate any possibility for non-compliance, charge backs and inventory management issues. Having a robust Order Management System (OMS) that offers multiple shopping cart integrations and a Warehouse Management System (WMS) that offers full transparency and reduce errors through bar code scanning technology, this will help automate the process to ensure a smooth flow of orders and shipments. By utilizing an up to date and state of the art software platform their ability to provide real time data to their customers is completely automated.
Reverse Logistics
The back end of any purchase is the dreaded return. Although this channel is one we would all like to avoid, we have to realize that it is an essential and necessary part to every purchase made online. A solid 3PL warehouse that offers a complete, closed loop omnichannel fulfillment strategy will in fact allow a smooth reverse logistics process. It is this process that helps returned items find their place back from consumers. Today's buyers want easy.... Easy purchase, easy shipping and easy returns processing. It is at this point that your 3PL partner is positioned solely to deliver on even the most cost conscious of customers demands, while offering consistency and completing an overall good purchase experience.