With the use of a fulfillment center, companies reduce the burden of overhead and labor costs associated with shipping, storing and managing inventory. Not all companies have the capacity to develop and manage their own fulfillment center and instead, seek to partner with fulfillment companies. A strategic partnership with a warehouse and fulfillment center can also offer additional value-added warehouse services such as inventory management, inventory receiving standard protocols, negotiating logistics, product picking, kitting multiple items into one product, packaging, and managing returns. But what are some challenges that may hinder the order fulfillment process?
Fulfillment Center Delay
Fulfillment center delays occur when a fulfillment warehouse is unable to promptly inventory your items once received. In the case of Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), this could be caused by the warehouses being too full and Amazon needing to wait until enough orders are shipped out, freeing up enough space to store your items after they receive them. These kinds of delays can result in stock shortages even though Amazon has received your product shipment.
Other Potential Fulfillment Center Costs and Delays
Have you experienced delays or mistakes on the part of Amazon when sending any inventory into Amazon’s FBA warehouses? With Amazon FBA, each seller is managing inventory shipments independently. With so many selling through Amazon fulfillment, some optimistic sellers may be inadvertently mismanaging inventory by sending Amazon too much product that just sits in the warehouse and collects dust because it is not selling as projected. That’s why Amazon came up with the long-term storage (LTS) fee. Each month, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) runs an inventory cleanup where inventory that has been in a warehouse for more than 365 days suffers a long-term storage fee.
In addition to fulfillment delay, other common inventory management problems you could face include stockouts, overstocks, mispicks, and misships. In all of these instances, efficiency in the supply chain is compromised, money is lost, and customer confidence is diminished.
Reducing Delay
Avoid Amazon fulfilment center delays by partnering with a fulfillment center that makes you a priority. NewStream Enterprises, LLC can leverage 30 years of experience in order fulfillment solutions to successfully manage inventory and coordinate shipments.
Don’t have your business destroyed because of a disconnect or lack of understanding from your fulfillment partner. People make the difference. With NewStream, you’re working with real people who act as a harmonious extension of your business. As employee-owners, every employee is incentivized to be invested in your success. In fact, we’re so committed to our partner’s success, we are currently maintaining a 99.9% accuracy rate. We will work with you to make fulfillment center delay a thing of the past.