Cons of In-House Order Fulfilment – That You Control
Wasted Money
One of the cons of in-house order fulfilment is wasted money. E-Commerce sellers become overwhelmed if the right supports are not in place. The right systems need installment to automate daily tasks. Otherwise, when a few orders spike to a couple hundred, you could be caught flat footed. Don’t simply throw money at labor. Know what areas you can automate and be conservative with the resources spent on fulfilling orders. That way when its time to spend, you get the most out of your money.
In-House Order Fulfilment Eats Time Up
In-house fulfilment quickly becomes a full time job. Any experienced seller will confirm that one of the con’s of in-house order fulfilment is time consumption. This is an example of working in the business – but not on the business. What’s that mean? It means you are not growing the business. Time spent on orders is time spent away from marketing, social media, PPC campaigns. Make sure you utilize software automation where available to manage each area with an optimized amount of time. Make sure to hire labor when you automated everything and need more help.
In-House Order Fulfilment Errors
We are not computers. In fact, we are prone to errors. This can manifest itself in many ways for a business owner. One of the cons in in-house order fulfilment, is managing moving parts across the business. For example, the manual process to count, pick, pack and label products leaves alot in the hands of your owner or employee. That’s the bulk of your work day too! When errors arise here, this results in returns, poor reviews, and lost money.
Cons of In-House Order Fulfilment – That You Do Not Control
In-House Order Shipping Costs
Did you know Amazon receives the cheapest UPS shipping rates in the country? That’s because Amazon’s fulfilment center do work. They receive and ship more product than any other fulfilment centers in the world.
Now think about your in-house shipping costs for order fulfilment. Do you receive any discounts from UPS? What does that do to you overall margins? Maybe you don’t need Amazon’s level of discount, but perhaps you could benefit from a 3PL warehouse who does pass those savings along.
Delays in Order Fulfilment & Shipping
As mentioned, owners are prone to being distracted, in-efficient, wasteful, and error-riddled. However, what we haven’t mentioned is what’s out of our control. How do you deal with delays in 3rd party shipping. What’s more, what if you forget to ship and order and is late to begin with? 3rd party shipping partners can be difficult to navigate. For example, just try getting a UPS rep on the phone. Unfortunately, Amazon’s Prime 2-day delivery guarantee created a culture of immediate satisfaction. Can you satisfy that demand? Do you have a high volume shipping account with UPS, like a 3PL warehouse boasts? You know, that gives them special access to service, in the event that a package goes missing. All things to consider, if you want to take on the responsibility of scaling in-house.