For high-volume eCommerce businesses, fulfillment is a balancing act between speed, accuracy and cost efficiency. With rising customer expectations for fast shipping—often within two days or less—alongside increasing carrier fees, labor shortages and supply chain disruptions, managing fulfillment can feel like an uphill battle.
If your fulfillment process is slowing down operations or eating into your margins, you’re not alone. Below, we’ll explore the biggest fulfillment challenges eCommerce businesses face and strategies to overcome them.
1. Slow Order Processing Times
Challenge: Orders pile up faster than your team can process them, leading to delays and frustrated customers.
Solution: Automate order workflows. Instead of manually sorting, picking and packing, use an order management system (OMS) that routes orders automatically based on different criteria. Streamlining order processing can shave hours off your fulfillment time.
2. High Shipping Costs Cutting Into Profits
Challenge: Carrier fees, dimensional weight pricing and fuel surcharges make it harder to offer competitive shipping rates.
Solution: Rate shop across multiple carriers. Using a shipping management tool like M.O.M. that integrates with multiple carriers, allowing you to compare rates in real time and choose the most cost-effective option for each order. Additionally, consider regional carriers, which often offer lower rates for specific shipping zones.
3. Inventory Issues Leading to Stockouts or Overstocking
Challenge: Running out of stock causes missed sales, while overstocking ties up cash flow and warehouse space.
Solution: Implement real-time inventory tracking. When inventory syncs across all sales channels and warehouses automatically, you minimize stock discrepancies and can better predict demand. Safety stock levels and automated reorder points also prevent stockouts.
4. Inefficient Warehouse Operations Slowing Fulfillment
Challenge: Pickers and packers waste time searching for products, leading to delays and shipping mistakes.
Solution: Optimize warehouse layout and picking methods. Consider batch picking or zone picking to reduce unnecessary movement and speed up order processing. Barcode scanning and warehouse automation tools also improve accuracy and efficiency.
5. Customer Expectations for Faster, Cheaper Shipping
Challenge: Customers expect free shipping, next-day delivery, and seamless tracking—but these perks come at a cost.
Solution: Offer multiple shipping options at checkout. Not every customer needs two-day shipping. By providing economy, standard, and expedited choices, you can encourage customers to select options that align with their urgency and budget. Subscription-based shipping programs, like Amazon Prime, can also build customer loyalty while offsetting costs.
Final Thoughts: Make Fulfillment a Competitive Advantage
Fulfillment doesn’t have to be a bottleneck—it can be a competitive advantage when managed effectively. By automating workflows, optimizing inventory, and making data-driven shipping decisions, eCommerce companies can meet growing customer demands while controlling costs.
For businesses looking to streamline fulfillment without adding complexity, an all-in-one order and inventory management system like Freestyle M.O.M. can help centralize operations, reduce errors, and improve fulfillment efficiency. Learn how Freestyle Software can help by requesting a demo.
