Ecommerce fulfillment is the process of receiving, storing, picking, packing, shipping, and managing returns for online orders. It begins when a customer places an order and ends when the product is delivered or returned. Ecommerce fulfillment may be handled in-house, by a third-party logistics provider, by a marketplace fulfillment program, or through a distributed warehouse network. Strong fulfillment operations help online sellers improve delivery speed, inventory accuracy, customer satisfaction, and order scalability. Sellers with international customers may use global fulfillment, storing inventory in multiple countries so orders ship closer to the end customer.
Key Ecommerce Fulfillment Models
- Self-fulfillment: seller manages their own warehouse and shipping
- 3PL fulfillment: outsourced to a third-party logistics provider
- FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon): Amazon stores and ships goods sold on its marketplace
- Drop shipping: supplier ships directly to the end customer without the seller holding inventory
Key Performance Metrics
- Order accuracy rate
- Same-day or next-day ship rate
- Returns processing time
- Cost per order fulfilled
Learn more about Dedola’s global logistics services. Related terms: SKU, Final Mile Delivery.
