One of the most frustrating things for any eCommerce brand owner is when their orders don’t get dispatched on time. Sure, you may have understanding customers, but that doesn’t mean you should settle for poor quality services. One of the main purposes of a fulfilment centre is that they’re supposed to improve your order accuracy and dispatch/delivery times – if they’re not doing that, its time to go. Over time, your customers will become sick of late orders, and they will turn to your competitors instead. Not only this, but an inability to meet deadlines can have a negative impact in other areas too. For example, if you sell on Amazon Prime and rely on your 3PL to fulfil Prime orders, you’re likely going to lose your badge at some point due to Amazon’s strict SFP requirements.

OK, they may be getting your orders out on time, but that’s no good if your customers are receiving damaged or incorrect orders. This will increase your return and refund rate, but will also decrease your customer satisfaction level. This leads to you losing customers and money.

A few incorrect orders here and there as a result of natural human error is common, but it shouldn’t occur on a regular basis.

Sometimes, damaged orders occur as a result of the shipping and handling process so the 3PL isn’t always at fault, but if it is happening regularly it may be because your 3PL uses unreliable carriers or improper dunnage for your products. If that’s the case, it’s time to switch.

One of the main goals of any brand owner is to grow and scale the business. As your business grows, and orders increase, you may find that your 3PL can no longer support you in the way you need. They may not have the space for you to grow, and they might not have the staff to keep up with your increasing order demand. Not only this, but if they aren’t actively helping you grow, its time to leave. A good fulfilment centre (like us!) will actively work with you to grow, because when we grow, we grow too!

There is nothing worse than having your growth restricted, and it can be very frustrating since you feel like you are stuck. You’re not stuck, you just need to find a new fulfilment centre.

One of the main reasons eCommerce brands decide to outsource is because a fulfilment centre aims to improve your inventory management – so what do you do if they’re constantly losing or miscalculating stock? Are you frequently having to replace damaged stock, or find yourself with random stockouts that weren’t supposed to happen? It’s time to find a 3PL that can manage your stock properly.

Poor inventory management can be extremely costly, and unfortunately, its coming out of your pocket- not the 3PL’s.

Honesty and transparency are key factors in successful relationships, and the same can be said for your business relationship between you and your fulfilment partner.

So, if you find that your invoices are full of fees that weren’t disclosed in your initial proposal, it is time to leave. A good fulfilment centre won’t drop hidden fees on you out of the blue, and you’ll always know what you’re paying every month.

Much like honesty and transparency, communication is also a key factor in successful relationships. Is your 3PL taking too long to respond? Are they completely ghosting you? It’s time to switch. When you’re spending money with a 3PL and you’re letting them handle your fulfilment, you should be able to get in touch with them whenever you need to, and you shouldn’t feel like you’re talking to a brick wall. A good 3PL will have an SLA in place for response time, and will provide you with multiple points of contact.