Shopify Fulfillment- What Is, Types, Uses, Benefits, Services

You can easily grow your business with Shopify and its amazing services. Returns, storage, and shipment can be handled by Shopify. It also offers affordable delivery and drives up sales considerably. According to a survey, merchants have stated that their profits have increased by almost 25% after becoming Shopify’s partner.

The Shop Promise service of Shopify ensures that customers see your store as a reliable business and this automatically increases your customer base. You can display the estimated delivery date to your customers, encouraging customers to complete the purchase.

Sellers have seen an increase in orders by 50%  just after one month of using Shopify fulfillment. With faster delivery, predictable pricing, and smooth returns you can also reduce unnecessary expenses.

Shopify empowers online sellers to start, manage, or expand their business. It offers its expertise in commerce, along with services that have already assisted numerous businesses.

Types of Shopify Order Fulfillment Services

There are 3 different ways that you can implement fulfillment services while working with the Shopify platform. Here they are:

1) In-house fulfillment services

This is actually a very effective fulfillment method if you are a small or upcoming business. Opting to oversee every aspect from packing to shipping and everything in between, empowers you with comprehensive control over your operations.

Taking charge of your own warehouse not only proves cost-effective but also gives you full command of your business processes.

2) Third-party fulfillment services

As your business grows, it becomes harder to manage inventory and shipping operations. When that happens, you can opt for third-party service providers. By utilizing Shopify services, you make the business processes fairly simple. Shopify has a network of fulfillment centers and can outsource your fulfilment services to them. 

3) Dropshipping

Dropshipping means that merchants can operate entirely separate from the fulfilment processes. They have no role in managing or even keeping inventory.

Merchants directly forward orders to manufacturers and players that can dropship them directly to the customer. After selecting the service provider of your choice, you can activate dropshipping services on Shopify.

Uses of Shopify Order Fulfillment Services

Managing your e-commerce business is like setting sail on the rough seas of order processing, inventory management, packaging, and picking up orders. It's a symphony of these operations that results in customer satisfaction and business success. Let's dive into the usage of Shopify Order Fulfillment Service.

1) Order processing:

Millions of merchants use Shopify to run their e-commerce businesses. With Shopify, you can get discounts on shipping and centralized order management. You can easily manage orders from your online store and other platforms like Instagram and Amazon.

Order fulfillment needs to be efficient otherwise it can lead to poor customer experience. Shopify helps keep your warehouse organized for easy access by third-party providers. 

2) Inventory management:

Inventory management includes everything from monitoring stock to restocking returned products - basically, everything related to organizing your warehouse. Shopify gives every product in your inventory a stock-keeping unit (SKU) number.

The SKU helps identify the location of the product in the warehouse. It is estimated that around $82 billion is lost in revenue due to out-of-stock items annually. Optimize your inventory with Shopify to increase profitability and reduce the chances of both overstocking and stockouts.

3) Packaging:

More than 125 million shipping labels are purchased on Shopify every year. Enjoy discounts on major carriers like USPS and UPS, and save up to 88% on shipping rates. You can easily buy shipping labels in Shopify so you can prepare packages in advance and save valuable time. It is also important to note that excessive packaging should also be avoided in order to reduce shipping costs.

4) Delivery:

Going through countless sheets and programmes to make deliveries is a hassle. You can fulfil every order from your admin with Shopify’s built-in capabilities. Easily win the trust of your customers with real-time tracking, flexible returns, and self-serve returns. You can even flag high-risk deliveries via shipping labels and save time through end-to-end automation.

5) Return:

Statistics show that the value of return orders is more than a quarter of what customers actually spend. The e-commerce industry has seen a recent rise in return orders.

With Shopify’s seamless package tracking, your customers are going to love the post-purchase experience. With self-serve returns, you can build a reliable image in the market for your brand. You will have complete visibility on returning products so that you can make informed decisions to manage your warehouse.

Benefits of Using Shopify Fulfillment Network

Shopify Fulfillment Network (SFN) is offered to those merchants who already have their products on Shopify. It offers two-day shipping at an affordable price and real-time status updates of your parcel. Moreover, Shopify does not charge any upfront fee for the initial six months! That means you can store your products without paying any storage fee, and the delivery fee is only charged once the products are purchased.

1) Getting started with SFN is fairly simple. 

It will only take a couple of minutes for you to bring over products into the network. Your products can be dispatched within 48 hours and such a quick service allows you to sell goods faster. Shopify also has a team of experts who can offer advice and data-backed insights on how to expand your business.

2) Take advantage of social media platforms:

You can integrate platforms like Facebook and Instagram with your Shopify store to sell to anyone, everywhere. Your sales are sure to go up when you are reaching such a wide audience. SFN is fully prepared to handle that. It is prepared to ship out approximately 99% of your orders in a single day.

3) Boost sales:

SFN has recorded a boost of 25% in sales with its ‘Shop Promise’ badge on business stores. It displays the expected delivery date and highlights products that offer faster delivery. A Shopify study shows that 45% of customers want businesses to display estimated delivery dates (EDD), and 68% of customers are definitely influenced by the time of delivery. All this is offered by Shopify at no additional cost for you and your customers.

4) 24/7 support:

Shopify’s all-day support staff is available 24/7 to help you with whatever you need. The team will help you set up fulfilment operations and expedite your business operations. These experts will help you manage SFN through which you can keep moving your products closer to your consumer base. All you have to do is make the sale, and Shopify will handle the rest for you.

To recap, here is why you should go for SFN:

• Fast deliveries
• Simple pricing
• Smooth returns
• Maximize business expansion
• Data-driven inventory management
• Storage
• Professional support staff
• Custom packing slips

Best E-commerce Services to Use With Shopify

Choosing the right fulfillment service can be a game-changer for your business. Let's look at some of the industry's major players, each offering unique strengths and tailored solutions to elevate your Shopify experience.

1) ShipBob

It is one of the best and most popular services available in the Shopify App Store. It easily integrates with Shopify and has multiple fulfilment centres. Due to its huge number of fulfilment centres, it can ship products to your customers in no time. ShipBob offers customizable shipping material, along with wholesale and dropshipping options.

2) Red Stag Fulfilment

This can be an ideal choice for your business if you are new to outsourcing your fulfillment services. It has a track record of being 100% accurate and ensures that your customers get their orders as soon as possible. Red Stag Fulfillment is well known for handling large or heavy shipments. It also offers integration with your Shopify shopping cart and inventory management.

3) ShipHero

It has almost ten warehouses across the US and Canada, which leads to faster and more efficient delivery service. It can also integrate with the Shopify app and track shipments from inventory until it reaches the customer. It even manages your inventory while promoting products that might not be performing well with customers. 

4) ShipMonk

This is your best bet for international shipments. It has warehouses in Canada, Mexico, the UK, and even the Czech Republic. It has over 100 integrations under its belt, which means it can work well with almost any existing business. ShipMonk provides scalable order fulfillment solutions for Shopify store owners.

Conclusion

E-commerce has become increasingly competitive over the years. That is why Shopify offers you a diverse range of fulfillment services. It has evolved into a reliable partner for businesses of all sizes. Explore the services that SFN can offer you and expand your business at a global level.

Shopify order fulfillment services offer order processing, inventory management, packaging, delivery, and returns. It is committed to providing efficient fulfillment services and data-driven inventory management. The end-to-end automation provided by Shopify reflects its dedication to empowering businesses and facilitating their growth.

You can use customized logistics solutions by choosing services from a single platform. Manage your wholesale and DTC logistics with ease. You can take advantage of more services as your business grows and even make use of Shopify’s open APIs.