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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.

As the holiday season picks up and there’s a greater rush to complete fulfillment jobs, you can bet you need all of your fulfillment staff on the ball.

But the time of year isn’t the only thing you need to be aware of. Economic analysts are predicting a busy fulfillment period in 2015, making it necessary now more than ever to have a properly outfitted order fulfillment center. And to do that, you need the right tools.

The pressure of managing product fulfillment’s many duties can be taxing. If it’s getting to be too much, you might want to consider drop shipping. But what is drop shipping? It’s a relatively new term and one that many in product fulfillment have never even heard before.

Drop shipping is when you, as the product retailer, don’t hold the stock. Instead of coming to you, orders are sent to the wholesaler, who then ships them. Rather than doing all the work yourself, you simply offer the products while third-party fulfillment handles distributing them.

Contests not only offer clients a chance to win prizes, but also drive more business to your product fulfillment company. Doing a sweepstakes or other contest falls under the banner of direct marketing solutions, and like other direct marketing tasks, it requires some effort in order for it to be successful.

Skill-Testing Question

A good contest requires knowing what the prize will be, how people can participate, and how you can determine the results. Also decide if the contest is open to anyone or if entry requires being a paying client.

Product fulfillment businesses often use a call center to improve their business; it’s a necessary tool for quality delivery. Luckily, having a strong call center isn’t as tough as one might think. Here’s what you need to know to run a successful call center.

Services and Sales

Call centers have two primary duties: customer service and sales. The former is the most important; if you have an order fulfillment center, you have to make sure those orders delivered, otherwise you will be contacted by upset clients looking to resolve the problem.

Like any business, product fulfillment is susceptible to outside influence. Things can go wrong at any point of the product fulfillment process, which means you need to be ready to deal with problems at all times.

Implementing new efficiency measures can help to prevent any issues. Depending on the size of your business, you might be looking at a full-scale implementation of new tech within your order fulfillment center to ensure clients receive items on time. If you are doing pick-and-pack orders, this technology can be an especially big help.