If you don’t have enough storage space, you want to expand into international markets or order fulfillment is taking too much of your time, it’s high time you outsource fulfillment.
However, picking a clothing fulfillment center you can actually trust your operations to is a challenge, especially with so many providers promising the same results and offering the same packages.
To help out, this post will explain to you the basic idea behind clothing fulfillment centers, the benefits to working with one, answers you absolutely need to know about your business before reaching out to potential apparel 3PLs and seven criteria to judge candidates against.
By the end of this post, you’ll have a clear understanding of how to choose a clothing fulfillment center that promotes customer satisfaction and the growth of your business.
What is a clothing fulfillment center
First of all, ecommerce order fulfillment refers to a set of operations that ensure products purchased from your online store are delivered to the right customer, on time and in the right condition.
These activities encompass everything, from receiving to storage, picking, packing, and shipping. Having said that, clothing fulfillment centers can simply be defined as facilities dedicated to storing, picking, packing and shipping of apparel products to customers.
Benefits of partnering with the right apparel fulfillment center
In this section, we’ll consider what’s in it for your business when you decide to work with a clothing fulfillment provider;
Time to focus on core business activities
Perhaps the most important benefit of outsourcing redundant operations in many different domains is the time it frees up.
Time to focus on the most productive aspects of your business i.e., product development, customer acquisition, revenue growth etc., especially as an e-commerce seller, outsourcing your fulfillment and logistical operations essentially creates time to devote towards the growth of your company.
Fit and size-related returns management
For apparel companies that offer dozens of SKUs in different styles and across different sizes, managing fit and sizing consistency is an ongoing challenge.
This is why, in addition to displaying accurate sizing on your website, you want to work with a 3PL that operates a straightforward and flexible returns policy.
By prioritizing this, your customers will benefit from an easy return process which will translate to higher customer satisfaction scores.
Cost-effectiveness
First of all, working with a clothing fulfillment partner allows you to pass off significant overhead investment in storage space, labor, and technology.
In other words, you do not have to maintain your warehouse, hire labor, or purchase fulfillment technologies. Furthermore, 3PLs often fulfill orders for several businesses, allowing them to leverage economies of scale.
What this means is that they can negotiate better rates for shipping and other services thanks to the volume of business they handle.
Scaling seasonal demand
Fashion trends, seasonal changes, holidays, and special sales events all have a huge influence on clothing demand. That said, failing to effectively navigate changes in apparel demand can cost your business a whole lot of money.
On the one hand, you may understock and miss sales. On the other, you might hold excess inventory because you over-anticipated demand.
Either way, working with a 3PL that has the infrastructure needed to scale operations as needed will help you ease the pressure of forecasting demand and meeting market demands.
Customer satisfaction
By promptly shipping accurate orders and efficiently facilitating exchanges or returns, a dependable apparel fulfillment center will help improve your general customer satisfaction levels.
Today’s consumers are picky about the brands they work with, so partnering with a qualified apparel 3PL is a priority.
How to identify your apparel fulfillment needs
Before reaching out to clothing fulfillment services, ask yourself these questions:
(I) Your business requirements
- Describe the scale of your business: are you just starting, mid-level, or a large-scale enterprise?
- Are customer orders characterized by a steady flow or frequent spikes? Based on the history of sales you’ve made, do you observe consistent demand or frequent spikes?
- Are there any specific challenges your business faces; for example, a high return rate, unnecessary textile wastage, storage difficulties due to the shape or nature of SKUs i.e., leather, etc.?
- And finally, what are your growth projections; consider potential product lines or expansions into new markets. As you scale, you want to ensure your fulfillment partner can adapt to your changing business requirements.
(II) Consider the nature of the products you want to sell
- Will you be shipping fragile products? If so, be aware that you’ll need extra careful handling and secure packaging to avoid shipping defective goods.
- Do you need customized packaging?
- Are you selling everyday items or high-value products? High-value items are more likely to get stolen or damaged in transit. Therefore, you may need to employ additional security measures when shipping them, such as discreet packaging, express shipping, and foam cushioning to protect them against shocks and vibrations during transit.
- Do you have a ton of SKU variations? This is often the case with clothing retailers who sell multiple products in a variety of sizes and colors. If you’re going to be handling dozens of SKUs, understand that you’ll need a partner equipped to track, store, and fulfill these product variations.
By identifying your unique bottlenecks, your apparel fulfillment center is better equipped to provide tailored support.
What to look for in a clothing fulfillment center
If you’re an ecommerce seller looking for a fulfillment partner, here are key qualities and services to search for:
What fulfillment services do they offer?
When screening potential clothing fulfillment centers, find out their range of fulfillment services and compare it to your business needs.
While most fulfillment companies offer basics such as storage, ecommerce fulfillment, pick and pack, and shipping, you might be better suited to work with end-to-end providers if your needs extend beyond these staples, i.e., if you need help sourcing inventory, kitting SKUs, or manufacturing blanks into final products.
Strategic warehouse locations
Thanks to easy access between various transport hubs, having multiple strategically located fulfillment facilities allows for faster order fulfillment to customers across different states and countries.
Today’s consumer society expects next-day delivery or some form of express delivery, so you cannot expect to compete at the highest level if your customers have to wait several days for their orders to arrive.
Furthermore, working with a 3PL that owns multiple facilities will enable you to cut down on shipping costs and minimize the impact of shipping delays.
Technology and automation
Since the very purpose of outsourcing your fulfillment operations is freeing up time by automating certain tasks, you need to make sure prospective apparel 3PLs you negotiate with have the right systems and technologies to do just that.
For example, check if they have robust inventory and order management systems that automatically receive orders and reflect inventory updates, relieving you of the burden of manually checking for new orders or updating stock counts yourself.
Depending on the scale of your operations, you may also inquire whether they’re equipped with warehouse robotics, which streamlines repetitive and physically intense tasks such as walking and searching for goods or moving heavy SKUs.
Experience in Apparel fulfillment
As with any other industry, every ecommerce fulfillment company is best equipped to work in a certain sector or to handle specific types of SKUs.
For instance, some are better equipped to handle electronics while others are specialized to handle food and drink SKUs.
In your case, you want to research and prioritize a 3PL that specializes in navigating the challenges of apparel fulfillment and possesses the technology needed to meet your clothing fulfillment requirements.
But how do you do so? Visit prospective 3PLs’ websites to search for case studies or evidence of previous work. Using whatever you come across, you can accurately gauge the kind of businesses that 3PL is accustomed to working with.
However, because this information may not always be readily available on a website, I would advise asking the question directly too.
International Shipping
Having the capacity to ship internationally allows you to enter new markets as you wish. Therefore, when evaluating your clothing fulfillment center options, it’s crucial to confirm whether the fulfillment provider can ship internationally.
As you do so, inquire about the costs associated with international shipping, and ensure they have a history of complying with international regulations to avoid costly penalties down the line.
Transparent pricing structures
Find out exactly what prospective 3PLs plan to charge you for, how those pricing tiers change with fluctuations in demand or volume, and if there are any hidden fees such as storage fees, initial setup fees, pick and pack fees, and shipping fees, among others.
As this is probably your first time making the switch from self-handled fulfillment to outsourced, it’s natural to question the prices you receive from 3PLs.
Having said that, you want to focus less on finding the cheapest prices and more on finding a reputable provider that offers all the services you need whilst offering reasonable prices.
Branding and custom packaging
Seventy percent of consumers say package design influences their purchase decision, and forty percent say they are more likely to share a purchase on social media if the packaging is unique.
These stats tell you that regardless of the types of products you sell or the size of your customer base, personalized packaging is essential for building memorable and lasting relationships with the individuals who buy your products.
To that end, as you consider 3PLs, find out whether they offer custom packaging services such as labels, notes, cards, and bonus materials. But remember, inquire about the added costs of personalization to ensure you make calculations within your budget.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, a clothing fulfillment center is a facility where logistics providers fulfill orders and ready them for shipping. In fashion retail, working with an efficient and dependable 3PL enables you to focus on growing your business while your partner streamlines the redundant back-end processes that go into satisfying customers.
As we conclude today’s post, remember to identify your business requirements before reaching out to potential 3PLs. And even then, evaluate your options against the criteria we explained earlier before finalizing contracts with any of them.
