The benefits of outsourcing are not always obvious to someone who has done everything themselves previously or doesn’t necessarily know much about the e-commerce fulfillment industry. To you it may feel like you’re handing over your business without knowing that it’s for the best. We’ve listed a few of the most important benefits of outsourcing which will hopefully answer some of the reservations you have:
In rapid growth periods all processes can expand therefore it’s a good idea to outsource some of those more time consuming operations. This allows you to remove the stress of delivering your products, so that you can focus on growing your business further.
The cost element of outsourcing your e-commerce fulfillment is probably the most obvious benefit. Even if you are skeptical about having someone else do the “doing” for you, it doesn’t take a lot of number crunching to see that a fulfillment house already has the warehouse, IT systems and processes in place, so there is less of an investment for you.
You don’t need to buy a massive warehouse that yes, one day will pay off but at the minute is a huge overhead that you don’t need. It also means less investment in terms of training new people.
You can rest happy in the knowledge that your orders will be delivered in a professional and timely manner.
Blue Hinge Logistics has racking designed especially for quick and easy picking. Our Warehouse Management System designs pick routes for saving time and money; our systems are all state-of-the-art and bespoke for our specific business needs.
With streamlined processes, Blue Hinge Logistics maximizes customer value whilst minimizing waste. In the fulfillment industry “waste” is unused time or time that is used ineffectively, which could be used to generate profit.
In busy periods such as Christmas time, you don’t need to try to round up as many temporary workers as possible or stay until the small hours packing orders; outsource your picking and packing to a fulfillment partner and you will have a pool of highly trained staff that is deployed to meet changing order levels. Less recruitment means less training and therefore less cost.
With all sorts of varying clients, outsourcing to a fulfillment partner will mean that any new projects you undertake will be set up quickly and accurately. With processes already in place and nothing to build from scratch, the only missing component is your business.
Although to some small business owners it will feel like you are adding risk by outsourcing your e-commerce fulfillment, you are actually reducing the risk to your business. It’s in our interest to make your business work and grow. It’s also in our interest to streamline your processes in order to save time. High staff turnover can add uncertainty and inconsistency whereas outsourcing to Blue Hinge Logistics, our low staff turnover can bring continuity to projects and reduce the risk of a substandard level of operations.
Outsourcing to a specialist e-commerce fulfillment company gives you the opportunity to compete with bigger companies in your industry who have in-house support services.
Although a fulfillment house would be located remotely to you geographically, the business will run as one operation and you do not have to make the investment that your competitors have. In fact, you have more room to grow, can do so faster and with less risk attached.
Large projects may require skills that your staff do not possess in house. Outsourcing to Blue Hinge Logistics is a good way of expanding your team and gaining people with the skills that you really need without the arduous recruitment process and the huge expense of taking on new staff.
Blue Hinge Logistics has established relationships with carriers & packaging suppliers meaning we enjoy discounts that would not be available to smaller businesses. At Blue Hinge Logistics will pass on this discount to our clients.
We are accredited to industry standards recognized for quality and environmental management. These accreditations are expensive to achieve but show how trustworthy your company is; so you know that you are getting a good service because it has been audited independently.