Fulfillment is the process of taking and executing customer orders by completing all necessary steps to prepare items for delivery. It includes activities like warehousing, packaging, labeling, and shipping. Fulfillment is categorized as either product fulfillment, which delivers finished goods, or service fulfillment, which makes services available to customers. While startups initially manage fulfillment in-house, it becomes difficult to focus on core functions as the company grows, so seeking fulfillment solution providers is most appropriate. Leading fulfillment companies provide supply chain solutions like warehouse services, inventory control, order management, and freight management to ensure efficient fulfillment.

1. A Brief Introduction to Fulfillment
Fulfillment is defined as the process of taking and executing an order by taking all the appropriate steps to make it ready for delivery
to its intended customer. It includes activities like warehouse pickup, packaging, labeling, shipping etc. When it comes to
eCommerce, the fulfillment solutions also include activities such as managing online inventories, activating new accounts for online
customers, managing accounts of old customers, managing active customer lists and so on.
Fulfillment is categorized into product fulfillment and service fulfillment. Product fulfillment refers to the different activities that are
involved in delivering finished goods directly to the customers. This includes storage and warehousing, inventory control, pick up
and packaging, shipping and so on. Service fulfillment on the other hand refers to the different activities that are required in order to
make services available to the customers. Membership fulfillment is an important example of service fulfillment and it includes
activities such as set up of customer profiles in computer systems, management of various service providers, email customers log in
details for accessing membership details, and so on.
Usually most startups manage their fulfillment requirements in-house. Handling fulfillments in-house is feasible in the beginning but
not in the long run. This is because as the company begins to grow and expand, it becomes difficult to dedicated time to focus on
core functions such as product research and development, sales and marketing and so on. In such a scenario, the most appropriate
solution is to seek the services of fulfillment solution providers. A good partner can ensure:
 Shipping only the most recent products that too in the quantities ordered by the customers
 No stocking of products especially those that have a limited shelf life
 Saving clients from investing in costly excess and/or obsolete inventory
 Delivering the highest quality product to the consumer
 Lower inventory, lower overhead, more responsive supply chain fulfillment design and more flexible manufacturing
 Easily monitoring and supervision of the fulfillment process from client’ desktop computer
The following are some of the supply chain solutions provided by the leading fulfillment companies.
 Warehouse Services
 Inventory Control
 Order fulfillment & Management
 Serial Number Capture
 Lot Control
 Retail Packaging
 Fulfillment and Retail Distribution
 Direct to Store or Distribution Center
 POP (point of purchase) display manufacturing
 Freight Management
 Freight Tracking
 On-line Inquiry and Reporting
Fulfillment is a delicate area that requires expert handling and management. One false step and it can make all your products gather
dust in warehouses. Hence, when selecting a fulfillment services partner, great care must be taken to make the right choice.