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The client orders and pays online, after which you send the product to them. Easy, right?

The truth is that e-commerce shipping fulfillment is a bit more of a complex endeavor than that. Rather, modern e-commerce shipping is about creating a well-maintained experience for clients to receive their products while you profit.

Many people claim to have e-commerce fulfillment down to a science, but you may not be there yet. If you’re unsure about how to execute e-commerce shipping properly, here are the things you need to pay attention to:

Getting products to clients is the prime job of any fulfillment service. But the question is how to do it. A lot of fulfillment companies wrestle with which service to use to ship their products out.

The two most common means are currently order fulfillment and drop shipping. However, it is still up for debate which one is better. Retailers should weigh the pros and cons of both to determine which option is best for them.

There are a lot of frustrating jobs, and it’s fair to say that product fulfillment is one of them. There’s a lot to handle when running a fulfillment company, including having a constant product line, delivering proper shipping, and addressing client complaints.

That’s why it’s good to be able to identify the most common frustrations and how to overcome them. Here are eight:

Fulfillment has become even more multifaceted. There’s online order fulfillment, face-to-face retail services, and social media, amongst other aspects. However, more aspects mean more potential issues. That’s why many fulfillment centers now need to segment their fulfillment operations to improve how they conduct business while still meeting client expectations. Succeeding at this allows businesses to continue functioning and satisfying customers while avoiding the perils caused by a lack of structure.

At the end of 2014, the digital marketing experts predicted that visual media will become even more of a prominent marketing tool. This is good news for fulfillment companies as, contrary to popular belief, fulfillment marketing is easy to do.

Here are five techniques to better use visual media marketing in fulfillment:

1. Use Slideshows

A picture is worth a thousand words, which is why quality images of your product line are often enough to generate sales. You can download free, high-quality programs that allow you to upload images of your products and create slideshows that showcase these items. And for the best photos, you might want to consult your supply chain or wholesale companies for the highest quality photos they have.

There have been a variety of predictions for what fulfillment centers can expect in 2015. With the rise of both e- and m-commerce order fulfillment in 2014, the idea of fulfillment companies operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week is a viable one.

People work a lot of hours and have to do their shopping when time allows; this is often at lunchtime and in the middle of the night. While you may think your fulfillment business can’t meet that kind of demand, having such an operation isn’t as hard as you might think. It’s simply a matter of expanding your current services with modern technology and meeting the subsequent demand.

Consumers by nature are ambitious, finding joy in being able to get what they want in spite of the obstacles. And if people far away want your products or your local client base desires foreign goods, it’s time to engage in importing and exporting.

If you’ve never done this before, here are some tips to get you started:

1. Know Your Niche and Buyers

This may sound obvious, but you need to know where your product line is in demand.

Consider the big picture: it’s not just regular clients of your fulfillment center that might be interested, but also governments, corporations, and even the military.

2. Know Your Budget

While this likely also sounds like a no-brainer, costs for importing and exporting goods are pretty varied. There are tariffs, transport fees, foreign distribution, and fulfillment fares to consider, not to mention repackaging, promo material, and marketing campaigns.

3. Know Your Laws

Legal knowledge is a necessity. Product restrictions and laws regarding intellectual property, amongst other rules, can vary between countries. And with the expansion of e-commerce order fulfillment, security measures for imports and exports are stricter about abiding to their standards.

4. Know Your Capabilities

Shipping can be complex, but is manageable provided you plan ahead and obtain the right assistance with your warehousing and shipping. You have to determine which containers, storage, and means of transportation are required, the answers depending on the size and amount of product being moved.

5. Know Your Allies

More than anything, you’re going to need some sort of agent to assist you with your import/export operations—someone to assist with third-party fulfillment. Options include a home-based agent, a multinational product agency, a branch office of a major associate business, a distributor, and a joint venture with another company. To get started, work backwards by contacting your existing distribution and fulfillment source and see what information they can provide you on international representation.

Need solutions to your product fulfillment problems? APS Fulfillment, Inc. has the knowledge and services to make your direct mail and product fulfillment ventures more successful. Contact APS Fulfillment, Inc. by e-mail at [email protected], visit their web site at www.apsfulfillment.com, or phone at (954) 582-7450.

If your fulfillment center hasn’t received a decent-sized order recently or your latest direct marketing campaigns have flopped, it may mean the clients are no longer as interested as they used to be.

This can happen to any order fulfillment business. If it happens to yours, client feedback is often what’s needed to make a difference. Qualitative research helps you to assess certain problems and can provide you with the answers you need to improve your business.

It’s been reported that retail juggernaut Wal-Mart has stepped up its fulfillment solutions in an attempt to go head-to-head with major competitor Amazon.

The times are indeed changing, both for retail and for business-to-business fulfillment. Wal-Mart is now under pressure and they may not come out on top. Either way, some of their new methods should be noted buy other fulfillment centers.

Here’s five things you can learn from Wal-Mart to stay on top of your fulfillment game:

With 2014 winding down and various holidays approaching, you can bet that your fulfillment business is about to get very busy. To meet the shorter deadlines and demands of clients, there’s a good chance you’ll have to bring in some outside assistance.

Temp help in product fulfillment is necessary and one of those situations where you have to spend money to make money. Here’s some info you can use to get the most bang for your temp worker buck.