Order fulfillment

Sara Heegaard March 3, 20222 minute read

Sara is a copywriter focused on lifting up Recharge's merchants, partners, and their customers. Before Recharge, her past lives included writing and editing at four different subscription... Full bio

What is order fulfillment?

Order fulfillment is the steps a business takes to deliver orders to customers. The order fulfillment process begins with receiving customer orders. In between, the complete process can include sending order confirmation emails to customers, locating items in warehouses or fulfillment centers, managing the shipping process, sending the customer tracking information about their purchase, and more. Optimizing your order fulfillment strategy plays a key role in increasing customer satisfaction, boosting customer retention, and driving revenue for your business.

Considerations for optimizing your order fulfillment strategy

The order fulfillment process is hugely important to customers. When customers have a negative delivery experience, their opinion of your online store can plummet—but ship in an orderly and timely manner, and you can build trust in your brand. Therefore, before implementing an order fulfillment strategy, be sure to compare shipping costs between different shipping carriers to determine which and how many options you should provide. For inventory management, consider the amount of incoming inventory you expect to bring in and how much space you’ll need for inventory storage. Depending on your unique business needs and resources, you can opt to provide in-house fulfillment or outsource some or all of your fulfillment needs to third-party fulfillment providers.