Shopify Order Fulfillment Service by Selery is Unbeatable

Our comprehensively Shopify Fulfillment center will help you scale your business. We’ll take care of every aspect of logistics, covering picking your product from the shelves, packaging it in your custom boxes, and shipping them  to your customers.

With years of industry experience as a fulfillment partner, Selery provides a comprehensive system that makes sure your customers are always happy with your services. Customer service is our priority. From state-of-the-art technology that monitors the conditions of your inventory in our warehouse to a team of enthusiastic experts, we have everything you need.

Our direct Shopify integration makes the fulfillment process of your orders completely passive giving you more time.  Our Shopify integration also helps with inventory management helping to keep inventory in stock and easy fulfillment for your customer. Get in touch with our team today to get a personalized quote for your Shopify business. 

What forms of fulfillment are there?

When running an online business, there are a variety of choices that one has to make about how they want to structure their company. One of the most important decisions that business owners will make is what style of fulfillment they want to engage in. Each of the three most common fulfillment options has its own pros and cons.

Typically, a business owner will select from:

• In-house fulfillment
• Subscription Box Fulfillment
• Dropshipping products
• Kitting
• A fulfillment center and third-party logistics

Let’s break down what each of these is and what the major pros and cons are.

In-House Fulfillment

In-house fulfillment is the process of handling and fulfilling orders by yourself. Whenever an order comes into your eCommerce fulfillment platform, you’ll package the product and send it on its way. This is almost always how businesses start, with the owner handling the logistics themselves. Manual order fulfillment is a great option for an online store that isjust getting started and might not have the capital or quantity of Shopify orders to hire a large warehouse and staff yet.

Within this method of fulfillment, lots of time is taken printing labels, double-checking that they’re correct, and sending things out in a timely manner. Quite commonly, as people grow their business, they drift away from this fulfillment method, looking for a more hands-off approach with third party fulfillment. 

Benefits of in-house fulfillment:

• Lower cost to run - You’ll only need to cover fees for buying boxes, printing your shipping labels, and paying courier fees.

• Complete control - As a business owner, you’ll have complete control of everything you send. From getting your packaging just right to making sure that everything you send out is of a high quality, you’ll be in charge.

• Customization is easy - As you’re in charge, you can customize the packaging process in any way that you’d like. If you want to add a sticker or a leaflet to a package, then you can do so whenever you’d like.

Cons of in-house fulfillment: 

• Scaling is hard - When you’re packaging every single order that comes in, you’ll have to spend a lot of time on logistics. If you suddenly get a huge influx of orders, you’ll have trouble keeping up with everything.

• No breaks - If you want to take a few days off or go on holiday, even for a few days, you’ll have to take absolutely everything with you if you want to keep up your fast shipping times. With this method, you’ll always have to stay aware of new orders coming in.

• Mistakes - When one person is handling the whole process, it’s easy for things to get out of hand. In a rush, you could easily mislabel something, add the wrong product, or skip a step. This can cause your customers to become dissatisfied with your services and request refunds. 

Best for: In-house fulfillment is best for businesses that are just starting out, don’t have much capital, and don’t receive many orders in a given month.

Dropshipping Products

Especially when it comes to Shopify stores, dropshipping has become an incredibly popular online service. In fact, in 2017, around 23% of all online sales were fulfilled via dropshipping. For those of you that are unfamiliar with dropshipping, this is when an eCommerce store is linked directly with a manufacturer.

When the online store receives an order, they send that information straight to the manufacturer, which then produces the item and sends it to wherever the customer is based. This is a business model which is now being used by entrepreneurs all over the world, especially considering how easy it is to begin.

Pros of dropshipping:

• Easily scalable - As you’re never actually handling the products yourself, you’ll be able to scale your business without worrying about having to fulfill orders yourself. Additionally, as the manufacturer is producing the product, you’re essentially only responsible for the digital marketing aspect of eCommerce.

• Speed - You can create a dropshipping store and connect it to marketplaces in an incredibly short amount of time, meaning you can make a store in a matter of days.

• Hands-off - You won’t have to do any of the heavy lifting, so to speak, yourself, meaning you can focus on other aspects of your business.

Cons of dropshipping:

• No control over stock - If your stock runs out one day or the manufacturers can’t produce it, then you will not be able to fulfill orders and can have an incredibly large wrench thrown into your business. Without this control, you lack a lot of security that other options give you.

• Lower profit margins - The margins of profit are much lower when you don’t buy your stock in bulk, meaning that your business is less profitable overall.

• Complicated - If a customer wants a refund at any point, as you’re not actually connected to the buying and shipping process, this becomes a complicated point that you’ll have to manage with your manufacturers.

Best for: People that want to trial and error lots of different business ideas until they find one that sticks.

Third-Party Logistics

Shopify store owners also have the ability to partner with a third-party logistics business, allowing them to scale their business without losing the control that dropshipping entails. A third-party logistics center will receive a shipment of all of your products, storing and managing your inventory for you. When you receive an order, you’ll send them the information, having them then pick and package all of your products and send them on their way.

As this is a designated space, third-party Shopify fulfillment centers often have technology that makes the order fulfillment process and shipping process as easy as possible. Additionally, with on-site staff that man the facility, you know your products will be getting an expert level of care. 

Third-party logistics or 3PL for short,  is essentially renting out a space within these managed warehouses for all of your products.

Pros of third-party logistics:

• Scalable - Just like dropshipping, as you’re able to get someone else to manage your products, you won’t have to worry about coping with a month where you have a large number of orders. This ensures that you can scale your business with ease. 

• Partnerships - Many 3PL services have longstanding partnerships with shipping companies. Due to this, you’ll be able to get your products packaged and shipped for much less than you would receive normally.

• Flexibility - As these centers accommodate for huge businesses and smaller startups alike, you’ll often be able to find a fulfillment service that works for you. 

Cons of third-party logistics:

• Initial cost - When hiring a spot in these fulfillment centers, you’ll often have to pay money at the beginning. If you’re not already profiting, this can be a risk. Due to that, you should only move to a third-party fulfillment solution if your business is already established.

• Hard to Find a Trustworthy Company - Many 3PL companies offer poor service, which then reflects badly on you as your customers receive a badly packaged or handled parcel. Be sure to partner with a 3PL service that you can trust and that has solid reviews.

• Business Understanding - Sometimes, when working with a 3PL company, the lack of business knowledge means that they don’t understand your brand or its vision.

Best for: Businesses that want to scale with the knowledge that their products are being handled safely.

What Does Selery Do to Overcome the Negatives of 3PL?

As a Shopify order fulfillment center with a long history of providing an excellent logistics service, we’ve built up our offerings to overcome the potential downsides of working with a 3PL company.

• Initial Cost - Instead of charging any initial fees or consultation charges, we offer a free service where we’ll chat through your business and offer you a quote. With our flexible plans, we’ll also be able to offer you a competitive deal to avoid any large upfront costs on your part.

• Trust - With years of industry experience and experience working with some of America’s most well-known brands, we’ve built up a name for ourselves in this industry. We even have investment from American billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who runs shipping through Selery.

• Business Understanding - To ensure that we are always on the same page as our partners, we provide a dedicated account manager. This individual will get up to speed with your business, learning the ins and outs and acting as your go-to person whenever you have a question. They’ll have a vast understanding of your business and will manage the day-to-day runnings from our fulfillment center. 

Selery has done everything possible to ensure that our partners have the best possible experience when they select us as their partners. 

How Can an Order Fulfillment Center Help Your Shopify Business

Since the majority of Shopify businesses use a dropshipping method, we’ll be explaining just what you can expect when you shift from dropshipping to 3PL. Even if you’re moving from in-house to 3PL, you can expect to see a comparable range of benefits. 

Most commonly, you’ll be able to:

• Buy in bulk - One of the downsides of running a Shopify store with dropshipping is that you’re mostly buying individual products from the manufacturers and then getting them shipped one by one. Due to this, you’ll be getting less of a profit margin. However, once you partner with Selery, you’ll be able to buy and ship large quantities of products from your manufacturers. This will result in your getting cheaper rates and moving forward with larger profit margins on everything you sell.

• Get cheaper shipping rates - Over the years, we’ve built up a comprehensive system of shipping links. These established partnerships will allow you to get shipping at a heavily discounted rate, further boosting the amount you’ll be making for every single sale.

• Customize your packaging - Part of the Selery process will allow you to customize your packaging and add leaflets or other additions to your boxes. With this, you’ll be able to give your business more of a cohesive voice. From your site to your marketing to your boxes, this cohesive voice will build your brand identity and ensure that you’re on the right track towards making it big. 

Our Shopify fulfillment pathways will ensure that your business is scalable, passive, and has an advanced level of personalization. In short, this small logistical change can make a huge impact on how you run your business.

How to Connect Selery To Your Shopify Site

One of the advanced features of Selery that makes it stand out from the competition is the incredible extent of integrations that we offer with eCommerce websites. Shopify order fulfillment is no different here, with Selery integrating directly back into the platform.

You’ll be able to click on your Shopify store control panel and link it directly to Selery. With this connection, you’ll then be able to make the logistics of your business completely passive. Any time that your Shopify platform receives an order, the connection will pass the information through for automatic fulfillment.

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From there, we’ll start packaging your order, ensuring a perfect standard of care that impresses your customers when their package arrives at their door. Additionally, through this integration, you’ll get access to the Selery control panel. This screen will give you live information about the current stock in our facility. You’ll be able to monitor your products, check in, and ensure that everything is in order.

We’ll also send you information when your products are running low, ensuring that you never have to put up a ‘Sold Out’ sign on your eCommerce store. You’ll always be able to keep your business running as smoothly as possible when using our Shopify Fulfillment Service for Ecommerce companies.

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