Fulfillment includes taking order, packing, shipping and processing financial transaction. It could also include customer service, technical support, inventory management, and processing refunds, returns and warranty claims.

Fulfillment is a vital but costly aspect of operating a business. Your situation determines which approach works best for you.

1. Drop Shipping Drop shipping is an arrangement in which a wholesaler or manufacturer agrees to fulfil orders from items in their warehouse. You make sale, conduct financial transaction, and send relevant data to company to process. Since company ships merchandise, you do not have to arrange warehousing or inventory management.

Many businesses will not agree to drop shipping, as they find it more profitable to process large orders instead of individual orders. However, there are exceptions. Find a company that produces merchandise that you would like to sell then contact them and see if they will negotiate.

Alternatively, look for a company that promotes drop shipping. Run a Net search or a Yahoo search for "drop shipping." Before signing a drop shipping agreement, ask for references from satisfied merchants.

2. Set Up Your Own Mail Room Micro businesses might set up a "mailroom" in basement. It's cost effective, but labor intensive.

You will need a means of processing payment (i.e. credit card capabilities) and a means of keeping track of inventory, orders, refunds, etc. Yahoo's Small Business category lists numerous companies selling software for small business management.

Larger small businesses might opt to set up a mailroom in workplace and assign employees to handle order fulfillment. This allows most control over fulfillment as everything is done on site. You can ensure that knowledgeable people handle customer service, that packaging is appropriate, and that refunds, warranties and are processed in a timely manner.

3. Integrated Fulfillment for Web

Businesses that are adding online sales to their regular operations require software that integrates with existing system, manages inventory, facilitates customer service and generally handles all aspects of fulfillment.

Mobile coffee carts are a fairly recent entry into office coffee cart arena. Savvy operators have recognized competition from outside vendors such as fast food operation and convenience stores for some time now. A few have tried to address problem by using mobile coffee carts to entice potential customers into participation by brining food to them. Coffee carts are completely mobile and can be stocked in cafeteria and taken on elevators to different floors.