High Concept—Thinking Digitally for Product Fulfillment

New Horizons

The vinyl records, the VHS and audio tapes, those cranking sixteen millimeter projectors from high school health class—they’re all gone. Sure, you can dig them up in specialty shops, the library, or even see them in a museum. But for all intents and purposes, their time for regular commercial use has passed. Tragic? Maybe. But the fact is that technology changes, and that’s something humans have to come to terms with.

Oddly, a lot of critics say certain businesses have fallen by the wayside because of modern technology changes. This is partly true, as industries like publishing and film production have radically changed with new technology. But contrary to many others’ beliefs, product fulfillment isn’t one of those industries. If anything, it’s only become a better business for today’s entrepreneur.

If you mention product fulfillment to others in different fields, they will probably think you are operating out of a warehouse with a mimeograph press and mail order business on top. But those are realities from the past. Nowadays, product fulfillment has adapted with the times and become more modern than one might expect.

If you’re in product fulfillment, though, you have to see what’s new on the horizon. More importantly, you have to adapt the new practices to your business in order to make it better. There are so many ways the new technological age has made product fulfillment lucrative for entrepreneurs. It’s just a matter of knowing how to use the new formats to their full effects.

Necessary Adaptation

Adaptation is always key with new technology in any business. Be it the fax in favor of the telex or the e-mail over the telegram, you have to get hip to what you need. Product fulfillment is no different.

Product fulfillment pros looking for new areas of technology to advance their businesses can start with digital printing services. The reason for this is two-fold: you can print your own materials quickly, and you can offer this service to other product fulfillment pros as professional digital printing services. The days of lead-and-ink presses and typesetting have given way to really fancy digital printing services where you can do photos, graphics, special content styles, huge batch mailings, and full direct mail packages all with one great digital printing unit. It can be a slightly big operation to set up, as you need a workstation and presses, but once you have it up and running, you can become the wizard of digital print.

Getting to know logistics solutions for the digital world is good, too. In the past, product fulfillment pros simply crossed their fingers to make sure materials got to customers on time and safely. But that was then. With today’s digital tracking solutions, you can now offer clients peace of mind by informing them of their deliveries’ statuses and offering the same digital delivery method to other pros as well.

The Road Ahead

Going right up to the peak of modern technology for product fulfillment purposes, creating a full e-fulfillment service is a good vehicle for future success. People still love product fulfillment, but they want the modern media giant, the Internet, to be in place to take their orders and get the products they love. If this is the case, why not get the whole package installed for your business, including online ordering interfaces, e-commerce order fulfillment, and digital invoicing? It takes some work to get it for your business—but it’ll be well worth it in the end.

In the past, many have predicted a sad road ahead for product fulfillment, and subsequently abandoned it all together. But the true enthusiasts understand that nothing is dead if it can adapt. And product fulfillment has adapted. If you are willing to adapt your own business to these changes, your road ahead is golden indeed.

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 info@apsfulfillment.com, visit its web site at www.apsfulfillment.com, or call (954) 582-7450.