Fulfillment is simple at a brick and mortar store. The customer pays for merchandise and carries it away. However, fulfillment is more complicated for a mail order business or a business that is selling via Internet.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.
If you're too large for basement mailroom and too small to outsource, you might consider using one of companies that are catering to small business. Check out Yantra, Manugistics and EXE Technologies.