Advantages of E-Commerce Fulfilment over Drop Shipping

02/12/2019 | Share:

What’s the difference between Fulfilment and Drop Shipping?

As an e-commerce business, you may have a fulfilment model or a drop shipping model. E-commerce fulfilment involves having products pre-stocked and ready to be shipped out upon placement of an order. It will be picked and packed, then shipped from a warehouse.

A drop shipping e-commerce store, on the other hand, does not hold stock. Upon receiving an order, it will place an order with its supplier. The store owner will never handle the goods, as they are shipped directly from the supplier to the customer. In this article, we discuss the advantages of fulfilment.

Bigger and better rewards

Drop shipping means you don’t need to hold any inventory until an order is placed. It’s a low-cost setup, but with it comes a potentially lower reward. With fulfilment, it will perhaps require a larger initial investment, but profit margins are likely to be a lot higher. This is because a drop-shipper is likely to charge more than a supply contract with a manufacturer or when buying in bulk. If your e-commerce store is your full-time job, fulfilment is going to be the best option, as you are in control.

A Personal Touch

With e-commerce fulfilment, you see your products before they are shipped. This means you’re able to customise your packaging should you wish to and many businesses already use this to their advantage.

With drop shipping, a lot of products come from China and are sent out to different countries across the world. If you customise your packaging in a fulfilment model, you make it unique to your customers, which can even inspire brand loyalty or positively contribute to your marketing.

Also, be aware of the exciting experience some people have when unboxing a product. There are plenty of people today, brands and their advocates, who share videos of unboxing items. There is excitement in opening something for the first time and by having packaging that adds to the suspense or curiosity, really helps make your product memorable.

Another benefit to customising your packaging is that you can be sure that when the product ships out of the door, it was securely wrapped and will be sufficiently protected whilst in transit. Imagine ordering a new iPhone only to find it comes in plain packaging.

Quality Control

Along with control over the packaging, there is also quality control. When products are drop shipped from another source directly to the customer, it is difficult to understand what the quality of the product is like for yourself, unless you’ve ordered one of everything for yourself.

Having everything within a warehouse, you can ask your fulfilment company or stop by at any time to inspect products, ensuring they are what you’d expect.

Ideally located

Depending on your business, drop shipping products usually come from another country, where is it cheaper to manufacture. As a result, orders can often take a long time to fulfil. With a warehouse in an ideal location, you can have stock ready and waiting to be shipped out. This means delivery can happen within a matter of days rather than weeks, with the added option to offer express delivery should you wish.

Ogden is ideally located within the centre of the UK and is able to ship nationally and internationally. We’re a great Amazon Fulfilment alternative, with a focus on bespoke, personal service that is cost-effective. Get in touch today to find out more about the benefits of bespoke fulfilment.