2022 has seen vast rises in the cost of living, as well as rising costs for businesses. Energy costs at highest ever prices has put added pressure on profit margins for eCommerce businesses.
eCommerce businesses will have to either raise prices and/or try and reduce their costs as much as possible over the latter end of the year. eCommerce already has a number of costs associated with the supply-line and order fulfilment.
For businesses who self-fulfil their orders, the average cost of a single order will be fairly high.
3PL’s and independent fulfilment centres, like UK Fulfilment, can not only help reduce eCommerce businesses' costs, but also the ‘wasted’ time spent picking, packing, dispatching and fulfilling orders.
At UK Fulfilment, we have a fully transparent service with a very competitive Pay-As-You-Go model.
The costs of fulfilment can be separated into four main sectors, which are all key parts of eCommerce distribution. eCommerce businesses’ fulfilment costs are associated with the size of the product, the volume of orders you send out a month, packaging assembly and the order location, which all can add up to relatively high costs in the fulfilment process.
For success in the fulfilment process, eCommerce businesses will have to manage their costs of outsourcing and warehousing of inventory, along with order processing and shipping.
Saving on Costs
With costs and inflation ever increasing, online eCommerce businesses without a supporting network, will see vast rises in costs. Costs are incurred from a variety of factors, including warehouse management software and other technology that is needed to operate the fulfilment process efficiently, which can be high costs for small to medium sized eCommerce businesses.
Partnering with a 3PL and fulfilment centre, like UK Fulfilment, who has invested in the best-in-class fulfilment technology, StoreFeeder, which allows your eCommerce business to harness the best and most up to date software at no extra cost. StoreFeeder allows your business to have complete live transparency along the fulfilment process. From complete order and shipping management to multi-channel inventory control and warehouse management, it is one of the most powerful multi-channel eCommerce solutions in the world.
When it comes to labour and machinery costs, these can also be reduced through utilising a fulfilment partner, like UK Fulfilment, as your business will avoid investing not just labour, but also machinery like forklifts, pallets, along with the added costs of fuel and general maintenance costs.
When it comes to storage renting a warehouse, high costs can again be incurred for an eCommerce retailer from renting an efficient space for the size of your business, as any unused warehouse space can been seen as wasted capital. Eradicating high rental costs through partnering with a fulfilment centre, is a great way to save on costs. With UK Fulfilment you will only pay for the space you use, with room to scale and grow if needed. It also removes costs associated with storage such as the ever-growing electricity and fuel prices.
Operating and managing your own warehouse can not only be financially costly but also time costly, which could be used in growing your sales and ultimately your business. If your eCommerce business has seasonal fluctuations in sales, maintaining a warehouse can be difficult, as it remains costly regardless of it being fully stocked and utilised or not.
Whether you’re an established eCommerce business, or just starting out along your sales path and are looking to save on overheads and costs, outsourcing your fulfilment to a 3PL and fulfilment centre, like UK Fulfilment will greatly aid in reducing your current overheads, during a time of rising inflation .
