eCommerce Fulfillment Costs Depending on The Model

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The Dropshipping model is suitable if you just started a business and are still figuring out your way around storage and processing. In the long run, it can prove to be difficult as it does not allow you to control inventory and reduces any scope for branding.

Eventually, if you want to scale your business, it can be challenging as you might have to tie-up with multiple drop shippers and coordinate with many for a seamless experience.


The next concern about eCommerce fulfillment is fulfillment costs. How much will the entire eCommerce fulfillment process cost you based on the different models we have presented?

Let’s dive deeper to see what aspects of this fulfillment each model covers and how this will impact your fulfillment costs.

Under self-fulfillment, you need to take care of all fulfillment operations namibia phone number list yourself. That means that you need to put in place a manual inventory and order management system, buy additional storage space, train resources for picking and packaging, and finally tie-up with courier companies to ship your products. Each of these operations is labor-intensive and requires a significant investment. Therefore, you might have to invest much more in self-fulfillment as you scale up your business.

In 3PL fulfillment, you only need to tie up with a 3PL provider to take care of all fulfillment operations. Since you only pay a processing fee based upon your inventory and the storage you occupied, the overall costs are much less as you skip the overheads and the labor costs. This model could be extremely beneficial for your business if you want to scale up eventually.

Usually, 3PL providers also take care of shipping while you only pay for the shipping costs. The hack for this is to choose a 3PL partner closer to your customer’s delivery location. This way, you can reduce your delivery time and delivery costs.