HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT 3rd PARTY · Amazon, eBay, Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, Wordpress, PrestaShop , etc. If distribution channels are integrated with this software it combines

1 swiss mail solutions

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT 3rd PARTY

FULFILLMENT PROVIDER FOR YOUR

E-COMMERCE BUSINESS


A third-party fulfillment provider is a company that provides order fulfillment services to online sellers.

And what are order fulfillment services?

Order fulfillment services are services that include receiving, managing and delivering orders to the end customers.

WHY DO YOU NEED THIRD PARTY ORDER FULFILLMENT SERVICES?

If you want to grow your online business you need to focus on increasing sales and customer acquisition. Expanding to new markets would be easy if you could delegate warehousing and delivery to a company that is specialized in that kind of services. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a solution like that and focus on your core business instead?

Third-party fulfillment companies can provide you with all necessary things regarding order fulfillment, but how to choose the right order fulfillment company?

There are a few things that you have to check out:

1. Does their supply chain cover all necessary operations that you as an e-Commerce business owner need?

2. Do they have a network of distribution partners (postal and courier) that will allow them to deliver your order to the end customers timely and in a cost-effective way?

3. Can they provide you with different warehouse locations in order to support your expansion in global markets?

4. Do they have an integrated web-based platform compatible with your e-commerce platform or customized web-shop?


SUPPLY CHAIN

What order fulfillment company’s supply chain needs to cover?

From the moment when order is been placed to the moment when it’s been delivered, there are some steps that are an integral part of supply chain management.

Your goods should be placed in a warehouse of your fulfillment partner which is secured and climate-controlled. After placing an order, your fulfillment partner process the order and their warehouse staff do the following services: pick and pack, labeling and preparation for distribution, handover to distribution partners for final delivery to your customers.

Your fulfillment partner needs to have in their offering pick and pack services as a part of their supply chain too. If he can’t offer you customized packaging solutions and protective and brand packaging find someone else who can.


Distribution channels are an important part of the order fulfillment supply chain because through them order is delivered to the end customers.

Delivering an order a reliable fulfillment partner must provide you with value-added services that will help you to save on your costs:

• Cash on delivery (COD) • Delivery duty paid (DDP) • POD registered • Custom clearance • LVCR – Low-Value Consignment Relief • Resending of returned/undelivered items.

Delivery management as a part of the supply chain will help you to cover the last mile, supervising local operators, with quality control and management, returns management and stock control. Order tracking as a part of supply chain management will help you to track your bulk shipments delivery details, so it is very important that the company that you choose for your fulfillment service provider can provide you with this tracking possibility until the goods arrive at their final destination.


DISTRIBUTION PARTNERS

How a network of distribution partners should look like?

Every respectable fulfillment service provider has to cooperate with a wide network of distribution partners.

Having a wide range of distribution partners also allows you to choose among the most effective solutions which will deliver your orders in a timely manner and at minimum cost.

In order to be able to take advantage of cost-efficient delivery, your fulfillment partner needs to cultivate partnerships with numerous postal and courier


operators. Postal operators are better to use for letter stream up to 2 kg, and courier operators for parcel delivery.

Why the best order fulfillment providers cooperate with a multitude of postal and courier operators instead to choose one or two of them?

They use a variety of postal and courier operators because each of them has its own rates for different destinations and different weights of products that need to be shipped. Combining different postal and courier operators' fulfillment companies can find the best solutions for their clients.

The fact that one fulfillment center has a lot of clients and a great delivery volume per each client allows them to get a more favorable price than the client himself could ever provide.

Which distribution channels your future fulfillment partner should use?

In the postal stream your 3PL provider can use:

• Swiss post • AT post • HU post • CZ post etc.

Among courier services the most important are:

• dpd (headquarters in Germany) is a second-largest operator in courier express parcel in Europe

• DHL company (headquarters in Germany) is a division of the German logistics company Deutsche Post DHL-the world's largest logistics company.

• UPS (headquarters in Atlanta, USA) is the world’s largest package delivery company and leading global provider of specialized transportation and logistics services.

The more branched the network of courier and postal operator fulfillment provider has, the better it is. The chances are bigger that you have found a reliable partner for your e-commerce business.


WAREHOUSE LOCATION

Why having multiple warehouse location is crucial for your global business operations?

It is always better to cooperate with fulfillment companies that can support your global business operations. That is possible only if they have warehouses in more locations.

Placing orders nearby your customers will cut-up the time needed for item delivery. With the help of your 3PL partner, you will be able to distribute orders to the end customers in time and without delays.


There is also one crucial question that you must pay attention to! Does your fulfillment partner have both, bonded and non-bonded warehouse? Why is that so important?

You might want to sell your goods inside or outside the EU. For selling in the EU, your goods have to be custom-cleared.

When goods are imported into a European Union country from a non-EU territory, goods may be subject to customs duty, excise duty, and value-added tax. In that case, your fulfillment partner has to be able to provide you with administrative relief, known as low-value consignment relief or LVCR.

It is an optional VAT relief designed to speed up the transit of low-value goods through the mail, which might otherwise be delayed by customs, and also reduce the cost of tax collection where it might not be practicable.

As soon as goods arrive at a warehouse they need to be custom-cleared than placed on pallets on shelves, and the process of pick & pack can start. Your fulfillment partner should prepare labels and ship the goods through chosen distribution channels.

For non-custom-cleared goods, you will need a bonded warehouse.

After the commodity arrives, import documents are being handled and goods stay not custom cleared. They are already under the customs warehouse. The custom duties are not paid for the goods, and the goods from the customs warehouse are then distributed under transit papers to distribution channels by which they are sent worldwide.

If the value of an individual parcel is below 22 Euros then it is a subject of LVCR. That means that goods are a VAT exception. These shipments are transit shipments, and when they arrive at the recipient, the recipient does not pay the VAT or customs in the EU.

If the shipment has a higher value than 22 Euro when the recipient receives that shipment, he/she has to pay the customs duty. The amount that will be charged differs from country to country and depends on the VAT and customs duty rates in the destination country.


If the declared value of your products/parcel is below 22 Euros nobody pays VAT-neither the seller nor receiver. If the declared value is above 22 Euros and the goods are coming from the outside of the EU, the receiver (DDU) has to pay VAT.

If goods are imported to the EU, the seller will be charged for VAT and eventual custom duties, in this case, the receiver will not pay VAT-there is no double taxation.

Double taxation is possible only in this case: seller imports everything to the EU and pays VAT, and then exports to non-EU like CH, NO or US. In this case, the receiver will pay VAT again if declared value surpasses the national threshold that is very different from country to country.


WEB-BASED PLATFORM

Is it possible to integrate your e-shop with their web-based platform that will automate your order fulfillment cycle?

Delivering orders from your website to the end customers is a complex process. That’s why it is necessary to have an IT solution for managing all these operations. It must be a real-time web platform that facilitates communications between sellers and buyers. You can use it as a controlling tool for a complete supply chain!

How is it possible? By magic?


Yes, and magic starts when you integrate your API, e-commerce platform, or customized web-shops with a chosen web-based platform.

The best software is compatible with most popular e-commerce platforms: Amazon, eBay, Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, Wordpress, PrestaShop, etc. If distribution channels are integrated with this software it combines data from sending and delivering courier and postal operators. It can serve you as a warehouse management system at the same time.

With reliable e-commerce order fulfillment software you can get:

• Real-time stock information • Real-time track and trace • History of shipment and returns • Customized reports

So, it is important to choose a 3rd party fulfillment provider that can offer you a web-based platform that can automate your entire order fulfillment cycle.

When you find a fulfillment service provider that can offer you all that, you are ready to conquer the world!


ABOUT US

Swiss mail solutions is global fulfillment service provider for e-commerce. Our services include:

• tailored logistics solutions • bonded warehouses • import-export with cross-border solutions, and • IT integrations from API, web shops, and most popular e-commerce

platforms like Amazon, eBay, Shopify etc.

Contact us and find out 10 reasons why you should outsource your distribution.

Grow your business while we take care about your order fulfillment cycle.

https://www.swissmailsolutions.com/get-a-quote/

https://www.swissmailsolutions.com/get-a-quote/

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT 3rd PARTY · Amazon, eBay, Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, Wordpress, PrestaShop , etc. If distribution channels are integrated with this software it combines

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