Seeking Advice on Efficient Order Fulfilment and Packaging for My Small Business

[Tousifm1]

Hi everyone,

I’m in the process of setting up a small business where customers can order specific items from me. Here’s my current plan:

1. Customers place their orders on my website.
2. The items are sent to me directly.
3. I package these items using custom boxes I’ve purchased in bulk from another supplier.
4. I then ship the packaged items to the customers.

I have a few questions and would greatly appreciate any advice or insights:

1. Is this an efficient method? Should I consider outsourcing the assembly and packaging to another manufacturer instead? If you have experience with this, what has worked best for you?
2. Logistics Concern: If I have a high volume of packages being delivered to my house regularly, is there a risk that Royal Mail might refuse to deliver due to the frequency? Has anyone encountered issues with this?

My goal is to find the most efficient and cost-effective way to manage order fulfilment while ensuring high-quality packaging for my customers.

Thank you in advance for your help!

[JoesIdeas · Accepted solution]

I like the idea of starting yourself, but I would have a scalable plan ready to execute when the orders come flowing in.

I used to run a store and we had a variety of fulfillment methods / phases

- My business partner shipped items out of his house

- We used ShipBob, a fulfillment service

- We set up multiple Amazon FBA accounts (USA, UK, Germany) and used those to fulfill orders from Shopify in their respective regions

I'm guessing you're in the UK (Royal Mail reference). You might consider setting up Amazon UK and shipping your inventory there. Gives you marketplace exposure / Amazon sales, and you can have Amazon ship your UK orders automatically. Then for non-UK orders you could ship manually or with a fulfillment service. Not sure what is the assembly part exactly or if that model would work with Amazon, if it's just bundling products then it should, if it requires actual assembly you could contact your suppliers and see if they have a partner in their network that does that.

Or, if you want to just have a fulfillment service handle for you, ShipBob was great for us and the one I most recommend. You'll have more control and can send in custom packaging to use. You could ask them if they can handle the assembly part you mentioned, I know they've done customizations, would just depend on your request.

For hiring another company near your supplier that can handle putting things together, that's doable. You could ask your suppliers, they might know of one. I remember we had a similar workflow idea at one point and the supplier had recommendations for partners in their network.

[rajimulislamjoy · Accepted solution]

@Tousifm1  You're welcome! For outsourcing assembly and packaging, consider 3PL companies like ShipBob, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), and ShipMonk. Shopify does support integration with 3PL providers. To set this up, choose a 3PL provider that integrates with Shopify, create an account with them, and follow their instructions to connect your Shopify store. This typically involves installing the provider's app from the Shopify App Store and configuring your shipping settings.

[rajimulislamjoy]

@Tousifm1 Your plan for handling orders and packaging in-house is a good start, but consider outsourcing assembly and packaging to streamline operations and reduce handling errors. Outsourcing could be more cost-effective and allow you to focus on other aspects of your business. Regarding logistics, frequent high-volume deliveries might raise concerns with Royal Mail, so exploring a third-party logistics (3PL) provider could help manage shipping and warehousing more efficiently. This approach can enhance both efficiency and quality while ensuring smooth order fulfillment.

[Tousifm1]

Thank you for your insightful feedback.

I agree that outsourcing assembly and packaging could streamline operations and reduce handling errors. Since this is my first business venture, I don’t have any contacts or know of any 3PL companies that offer these services. Do you or anyone in the community have any recommendations or know someone who could point me in the right direction?

Additionally, does Shopify support integration with 3PL providers? If so, how would that process work? Any guidance on setting this up would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[rajimulislamjoy · Accepted solution]

@Tousifm1  You're welcome! For outsourcing assembly and packaging, consider 3PL companies like ShipBob, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), and ShipMonk. Shopify does support integration with 3PL providers. To set this up, choose a 3PL provider that integrates with Shopify, create an account with them, and follow their instructions to connect your Shopify store. This typically involves installing the provider's app from the Shopify App Store and configuring your shipping settings.

[JoesIdeas · Accepted solution]

I like the idea of starting yourself, but I would have a scalable plan ready to execute when the orders come flowing in.

I used to run a store and we had a variety of fulfillment methods / phases

- My business partner shipped items out of his house

- We used ShipBob, a fulfillment service

- We set up multiple Amazon FBA accounts (USA, UK, Germany) and used those to fulfill orders from Shopify in their respective regions

I'm guessing you're in the UK (Royal Mail reference). You might consider setting up Amazon UK and shipping your inventory there. Gives you marketplace exposure / Amazon sales, and you can have Amazon ship your UK orders automatically. Then for non-UK orders you could ship manually or with a fulfillment service. Not sure what is the assembly part exactly or if that model would work with Amazon, if it's just bundling products then it should, if it requires actual assembly you could contact your suppliers and see if they have a partner in their network that does that.

Or, if you want to just have a fulfillment service handle for you, ShipBob was great for us and the one I most recommend. You'll have more control and can send in custom packaging to use. You could ask them if they can handle the assembly part you mentioned, I know they've done customizations, would just depend on your request.

For hiring another company near your supplier that can handle putting things together, that's doable. You could ask your suppliers, they might know of one. I remember we had a similar workflow idea at one point and the supplier had recommendations for partners in their network.

[Tousifm1]

That is amazing! I will definitely look into shipbob. Just to clear things up, I am assuming they are able to receive my items (this may be from several different suppliers), store them, package them with my custom packaging that i will also deliver to their center with another supplier and finally also deliver them to the designated customer that has ordered that specific item. 

I apoligise for the amount of confirmation I am asking but it is my first time building a business and it can be very daunting. Hope you understand!

[JoesIdeas · Accepted solution]

We sent our items to them from our supplier, and also sent in our custom boxes, and then their app connected to our Shopify store, syncing inventory + handling fulfillment. When a customer placed an order, it would automatically go to ShipBob then they would ship it.

For the details on your situation, I would reach out to them to see if they can handle that exact process, and what it would cost.

I understand first time business building, infinite things to learn haha, enjoy that phase though it's always nice to look back on the early days 🙂