Asking a third-party supplier to take over your order fulfilment often happens when a business grows larger. It could be that you no longer have the storage space for your products, are importing or exporting to a new market and need faster delivery times, or you are just losing too much time packing boxes and shipping orders in-house – time that could be spent on generating new business.
At International Forwarding, we have 30 years of warehouse logistics expertise and are able to help clients with their third-party logistics (3PL). We offer a range of cargo handling services – pick and pack, product reworking, pallet picking, and container destuffing and offloading – as part of our core freight forwarding and logistics services.
Here are three case studies showing how IFL has helped e-commerce and business customers with their order fulfilment processes.
1. Next-day delivery enabled
With faster shipping speeds comes the need to keep transit times down and costs low. We worked with a leading German distributor of video and security technology to offer their UK customers a next-day delivery service. In a short period of time we set up a designated area for their products and integrated their inventory tracking system into ours. Using IFL, they could accept orders up to 4pm each day, get them picked and packed, and sent out for next-day delivery across the UK.
2. Complex or tailored pick and pack requirements
We try to be as flexible as possible to help our clients’ e-commerce or shipping requirements. We currently work with a number of importers with additional or more complicated pick and pack needs. For example, we may change plugs over on European electrical items to fit UK sockets; pair specific products as part of order fulfilment, such as adding speakers to a music system; separate multiple SKUs as required, and provide custom packaging.
3. Storage solutions for international supply chains
Many of our customers import and export products or components from dynamic worldwide markets such as China and India. For example, IFL worked with an NGO in Bangladesh to store Fair Trade handicrafts and toys before picking, packing and shipping them out to stores around the UK. Our Midlands hub lies at the heart of the UK road network and we have significant warehouse space available. We help customers reduce costs by receiving goods into our warehouse, storing them for as long as required and then using low-cost shipping by road to the UK and Europe for final order fulfilment.
Find out more or get a quote
To receive a competitive quotation on your cargo handling or find out about our very reasonable storage rates, get in touch with IFL. Or just give us a call on +44 (0)1675 434690 to discuss your requirements if complex – we like a challenge!
You can read more about International Forwarding’s cargo handling services here – or find out why we think you should choose IFL for pick and pack services.
If you still need help deciding whether you’re ready to outsource, we’ve also highlighted some of the benefits of using third-party logistics in 5 reasons to outsource pick and pack services, as well as some of the risks and checks you should carry out before choosing your 3PL supplier.