Running a WooComerce store is challenging and managing the order fulfillment process smoothly is more tough. Are you a WooCommerce store owner? If yes, then we know your struggle. 

Whether you are a small business owner or maintain a big-scale business, managing the order fulfillment process is a mandatory part of the work operation. In today’s eCommerce evolution, choosing the perfect order fulfillment system is crucial for your WooCommerce store. 

Because your store’s sales growth depends on your order fulfillment system. To solve your problem, we will describe everything you need to know to choose the right fulfillment system. Keep reading.

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is an open-source e-commerce plugin built on WordPress, the world’s leading CMS(content management system). It allows users to create and manage online stores effortlessly. 

You can customize your store including design, layout, and functionality according to your business needs as it’s a flexible eCommerce platform. WooCommerce can handle a wide range of products and services. 

WooCommerce is flexible to integrate with other eCommerce platforms such as Lazada, Amazon, eBay, etc. 

It’s a powerful solution for small to large businesses looking to run an online store. You are now wondering about order fulfillment. Hold on! We will gonna spill everything. 

What is an Order Fulfillment System?

WooCommerce order fulfillment refers to the entire process of handling and completing customer orders from the beginning to shipping. And, when you use a system to continue this process it’s called an order fulfillment system. 

Lots of tasks are assigned in this process including inventory tracking, supply chain management, warehouse management, product receiving, packing, shipping, customer service, etc. 

An order fulfillment system is really essential for every WooCommerce store owner to maintain operational efficiency. It’s the backbone of customer satisfaction, and, ultimately, the success of an online business.

Read more: How to Add Fulfillment Info on WooCommerce

Types of Order Fulfillment Options for WooCommerce Stores –

As a WooCommerce store owner, you can find several ways to complete your order fulfillment process. You can choose one according to your store’s demand. 

1. Inhouse-Fulfillment: When you handle every process of the order fulfillment from the store it’s called in-house fulfillment. Hence, you possess full control over the fulfillment process and this is suitable for small to medium-sized business stores. 

2. Third-Party Fulfillment: When you hire a third-party logistic provider to handle the order fulfillment process, it’s called third-party fulfillment. It’s ideal for businesses looking to minimize logistics complexities.

3. Print on Demand (POD): This is also a third-party provider but the order fulfillment process is only done when an order is placed. It’s a low-risk method for WooCommerce store owners.

4. Hybrid Fulfillment: It is a combination of in-house fulfillment and third-party fulfillment. If you manage your inventory plus you want to expect some expertise to outsource, then this method is suitable for you. 

5. Dropshipping: In this method, the store doesn’t hold the inventory. When an order is placed, suppliers pack the product and send it for shipping. Dropshipping is popular among WooCommerce store owners due to its low barrier to entry, low cost, and flexibility.

Selecting an option from the above is necessary to have WooCommerce benefits and reach business goals. Plus, if you use an inventory system, all the tasks of the order fulfillment process will be done simultaneously.

Importance of Order Fulfillment System for WooCommerce Store Owners

Having an automated system for order fulfillment management can bring quick success for WooCommerce store owners. It’s also essential for your store’s operational efficiency, business growth, and reducing errors. Here’s the key reason why it is necessary for store owners:

1. Cost Savings: Automated fulfillment processes minimize errors, reduce labor costs, and ensure efficient inventory management. As a result, it saves you time and money.

2. Customer Satisfaction: With fast and accurate product delivery, you can ensure customer satisfaction. And it all happens because of the order fulfillment system. 

3. Your Brand Reputation: A perfect order fulfillment system can make or break your WooCommerce store reputation. An effective order fulfillment system will ensure proper delivery and raise your brand reputation in the industry. 

Learn more about fulfillment advantages: Fulfillment system is beneficial for manufacturing industry

What is The Order Fulfillment Process?

In total, it has 8 steps to complete an order in a WooCommerce store. We are going to break down the steps to simplify the process.

1. Receive Inventory: Before selling any product a seller needs to collect products from suppliers and organize your warehouse ensuring your inventory is accurate. 

2. Order Placing: The order fulfillment process begins the moment a customer places an order on your WooCommerce store. The customer provides the necessary information on your site.

3. Order Processing: When the order is placed, the store receives the order and saves the customer’s information.

4. Inventory Management: The product is collected from the warehouse and adjusts the inventory after picking the ordered product. 

5. Packing: The ordered product is packed with an invoice. This step should handled carefully to avoid errors. 

6. Shipping and Delivery: The order is transferred to a shipping carrier such as FedEx, DHL, etc and they provide hassle-free delivery to the customers. 

7. Tracking: While the order is in shipment, both the customer and seller get continuous notifications and can track the order till delivery. 

8. Return Handling: In case, the customer requests to return, exchange, or refund the product, the management will effortlessly handle it by adjusting inventory. 

The order fulfillment process looks lengthy but it’s quite simple with a software system. Because a system can automate the whole order fulfillment process and complete it within a short time. 

Benefits of Using a WooComerce Order Fulfillment System

Using a WooCommerce order fulfillment system has uncountable benefits. We can’t list them all, but we will tell you the key benefits to decide why you should use an order fulfillment system. 

• Work Efficiency: An order fulfillment system automates the work operation and enhances workflow better. It ensures inventory tracking, order management, shipping, etc. 

• Real-time Inventory Management: The system shows real-time updates about inventory, stock levels, and shipping. Plus, keep store owners and customers informed about order status. 

• Balance Stock Levels: A synced inventory software with your WooCommerce store maintains balance stock levels reducing overstocks and stockouts. 

• Extra Storage Space: When you balance your stock levels using an order fulfillment system, you can save extra storage space from your warehouse. 

• Saves Time: An order fulfillment system automates your order process, as a result, it saves you time.

• Save Cost: Automated order processing and shipping reduce labor costs, operational costs, product return costs, etc. 

• Accuracy: With an order fulfillment system, you can reduce human errors and improve order accuracy. In effect, you can win customers’ reliability as a WooCommerce store owner.

• Shipping Integration: An advanced order fulfillment system integrates with various shipping platforms like FedEx, DHL, and UPS to simplify shipping management. 

• Faster Workflow: An order fulfillment system can speed up the work operation by making fewer errors and automating the fulfillment process. Due to this, customers get faster delivery.

• Smooth Communication:  An order fulfillment system ensures smooth communications with all the entities including suppliers, inventory managers, customers, shipping providers, and delivery persons. 

• Increase Sales: Having all the benefits of an order fulfillment system automatically increases your stores’ sales. 

Now it’s guaranteed that you grow interest in having an order fulfillment system to uplift your WooCommerce store sales. Tell me! Who doesn’t want an automated system for their store?

How to Select The Right Order Fulfillment System?

Well! Picking the right order fulfillment system is crucial to improving your WooCommerce store. If it feels tricky to select, then consider our below factors to pick the perfect order fulfillment for your store. 

• Inventory Management: For seamless order fulfillment service, pick a system that offers effective inventory management. The system should provide real-time inventory tracking, automated stock updates, and multiple location options.

• Order Processing, Accuracy, and Speed: Choose a system that can handle high-volume order processing. Plus, it should complete the order processing with proper accuracy and speed. 

• Features Availablity: An order fulfillment system should have some useful features including user access management, centralized data tracking, warehouse and return management, invoice and labeling, etc. Choose one that can offer all these features. 

• Integration Flexibility: Your desired order fulfillment system should have integration flexibility with other eCommerce and shipping platforms such as Amazon, eBay, FedEx, or DHL. Integration flexibility is necessary to streamline customers’ order processing. 

• Pricing: Maximum order fulfillment charges some fees such as setup fee, subscription fee, shipping fee, and so on. Select an order fulfillment system that offers a competitive pricing plan. 

Also, look for features like client service and support, scalability, data analytics system, and trial period opportunities. 

Do you think that it is hard to find a software system that offers all the features? No, it’s not. Read below.

Stay Ahead with FullStro

FullStro is a comprehensive solution for the WooCommerce order fulfillment process. We know that managing order fulfillment is challenging in multiple sales channels. 

Here comes FullStro, a multichannel inventory system, that optimizes the order fulfillment process, automates workflows, tracks every update, and offers other features. It offers multichannel integration including eCommerce integration, shipping integration, and payment integration. 

Ready to take your WooCommerce order fulfillment to the next level? Try FullStro and simplify your store inventory process with constant sales growth. 

Read more about managing multiple sales channels: Multi-channel selling

Wrap Up

No doubt, picking the right order fulfillment system is mandatory for the success of your WooCommerce store. So, choose as your requirements. But, consider the above facts that we have said. 

Whether you sell physical or digital products having a Multi-Channel order fulfillment system will streamline your work operation effortlessly and profit your business. If you have any further queries, please contact us.