Helpful Pick Pack Ship Best Practices  

When deciding the type of system that your company needs it should not be solely dependent on one factor; instead many different factors, ranging from accounting practices to pricing to the supply chain, should determine the best practice for the business.

Fulfillment Best Practices

In order to develop the fulfillment of orders, a company must have an established supply chain with reliable suppliers at competitive prices. Along with this supply chain, there needs to be a specific process for the invoices/orders that are placed by customers. Whether these customers are individual consumers or business it should not affect the process of fulfilling the order. A company needs to be efficient and cost effective in order to maintain a strong customer base as well as grow and expand into new potential markets. 

Businesses must be able to be flexible upon the demands of the customers; the business must have the proper channels in order to fulfill these expectations. Order processing in an efficient way is crucial in this new, globalized economy. With the modern technology, orders must be processed in a highly efficient manner in order to keep customer satisfaction high as well as reduce the cost. Order processing, along with picking must be accurate to avoid errors and returns of merchandise. The more efficient and the more accurate results in the ability to expand and grow with a reliable customer base (assuming the product is in high demand).

Upon rapid expansion, there is opportunity to outsource these duties through third part logistics providers (3PLs). These providers help give the business the tools and knowledge through the introduction of new operational channels and new technology that increases efficiency during peak sale seasons. With picking efficiency, it could reflect in the overall speed that a business is able to get the order out the door. However, once again going back to the globalization factor, shipping cost could be high or eat into some of the company's profit margin. 

Shipping is highly important because of the market trends that highly value overall speed that allows the customer to receive the order as quickly as possible. A company needs to have the proper channels and distribution centers that reduce the cost of shipping while maintaining the speed the customers demand. Amazon has revolutionized customer expectations with their 2 day free shipping for certain customers and certain products. This has given customers a taste for rapid receiving of the products and the response was extremely positive. Other companies must follow and focus on the speed of their delivery of product and must speed up all aspects of the supply chain in order to keep customers happy.

In conclusion, the company must have procedures in place that maximize efficiency and must constantly monitor the performance of these procedures in terms of customer relationship management. The ordering process for the customer should be pain free and easy. The business must be able to fulfill orders efficiently to reduce the amount of time inventory stays in house instead of being shipped out. A company must be able to pick or ship at a rapid pace at a cost effective price in order to get the product to the customer at the quickest possible duration. A company must have mobilization tools and techniques, created in house or using 3PLs, in order to have the proper channels and infrastructure needed for growth and expansion of markets.