Custom Fulfillment at Scale

D2C merchants will break the bank to create programs that connect customers with their brands and build loyalty. Then they’ll ship products out using uninspired packaging in plain brown boxes to create a totally generic, totally forgettable brand experience.

What a disconnect! And what a wasted opportunity.

D2C brands need to consider custom fulfilment solutions to create memorable brand interactions that build loyalty and repeat business.

Most brand interactions are digital – emails, social community participation, loyalty program communications. But the point when consumers open your package in their homes is the real moment of truth. It’s when they experience your product and your brand directly.

Yet brands pour buckets of money into digital interactions and pinch every penny when designing the order fulfillment process.

Amazon is part of the problem. If you rely on Amazon for a good part of your revenue and use Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) to ship your orders, let’s face it, the fulfillment experience is more around the Amazon brand. Product will be placed in an Amazon-branded box with some basic filler material and shipped out, along with the millions of other orders FBA ships every day.

With its massive fulfillment center network, Amazon can fulfill at scale; it just can’t customize at scale.

What is Custom Fulfillment?

When you manage your own order fulfillment operation, either with an internal team or through a third-party fulfillment company (3PF), you have the freedom to design a custom fulfillment approach. Here are some examples of how a few of Staci Americas' clients create a more personalized packaging process:

• A nutrition supplement company drops a promo flyer into certain outgoing orders – the system alerts the packer which flyer to include with certain products
• A direct selling company uses high-end tissue paper in its brand colors as filler material
• A children’s toy company uses playfully designed and branded tape to seal boxes
• A wellness company includes a hand-signed note with every shipment – “carefully packed by _____” – with the signed name of the packer.

It’s these little touches that help your brand stand out and create a stronger emotional bond with customers.

Custom fulfillment can even help boost margins. If you market a premium product, you want your package appearance and approach to reflect that premium image. If it doesn’t, it’s like a swanky Four Seasons hotel that makes you wait 10 minutes to check in and then sends a porter with an oil-stained t-shirt to help with your bags. There’s a disconnect with the brand promise that the customer recognizes immediately.

Custom Fulfillment at Scale

Custom fulfillment is easy if you’re doing it on a small scale in your basement.

It becomes more challenging if you’re managing fulfillment on your own, or with a smaller fulfillment partner, and your business begins to take off.

It’s just about impossible for high-volume shippers to customize fulfillment processes without the necessary systems and processes. Flexible, scalable fulfillment services are a must.

In these cases, you’ll want a 3PF that can delivery custom fulfillment at scale. Such partners can design a fulfillment program that is completely customized but implemented in a way that minimizes labor and keeps per-unit fulfillment costs low.

Here are some things you should look for in such a provider:

• Process engineers. Your best partners will have engineers that analyze the steps in a multi-step packout process and assist warehouse operators to design the most efficient SOPs.
• Systems-aided processes. Rules can be programmed into the warehouse management system to direct the packer to take specific steps (insert flyer, add a free sample, etc.) if certain order criteria are met.
• Scalable labor. Some custom fulfillment projects require a short-term labor spike. In these cases, it helps to work with a 3PF that has a well-developed cross-training program (to share labor among different accounts in the warehouse) and strong relationships with temporary staffing agencies.

Impact on the Customer Experience

Brands that need highly efficient fulfillment operations as well as a more customized fulfillment process no longer must trade one for the other. With the right fulfillment partner, you can have both. In fact, you might be surprised just how much customization is possible in the fulfillment process – even on a large scale.

It’s become increasingly difficult to differentiate your brand based on product or price. What matters most these days is the total customer experience, of which order fulfillment is a major component.

Don’t underestimate the power of order fulfillment to boost brand affinity and customer loyalty. To discuss the possibilities, talk to an Staci Americas fulfillment specialist.