Shopify store owners, fulfilling orders is a crucial aspect of your business. Your customers are eager to receive their purchase(s), so you want to make sure your products arrive in perfect condition in a timely manner. 

But if you’re a Shopify startup or a rapidly growing Shopify store, building and scaling an efficient fulfillment process can be tough. There are many moving pieces and little room for error. 

In this blog, we’ll dive into why order fulfillment is so important and what fulfillment options Shopify merchants can choose from. 

What is Shopify order fulfillment and why is it important? 

In a nutshell, Shopify order fulfillment is all the work that happens in between the time a customer places an order and the moment they receive that order on their doorstep. 

You might be thinking, “Well, it can’t be that hard to package my products into a cardboard box and call FedEx to come pick it up.” But a lot can go wrong during the order fulfillment process. In the time it takes to process, pick, pack, ship, and deliver the order to your customer’s doorstep (not to mention deal with last-minute customer order changes or stock shortages), items might get damaged or lost. The delivery time could get delayed. 

And online shoppers have high expectations when it comes to order fulfillment in 2022. 

• 55% of consumers abandon cart because of the perception of high “extra” costs like taxes, shipping rates, and other fees 
  
• 40% cancel their orders because of high shipping costs 
• 69% are less likely to shop again with you if their order is not delivered on time 
• 82% want visibility into the shipping process; this includes receiving a timely confirmation of order and the ability to track the package 

How you fulfill orders directly impacts your Shopify store’s reputation, and by extension, your sales and place among your competitors. Let’s look at your options for order fulfillment. 

What are your options for Shopify order fulfillment? 

1. Fulfill orders yourself. If you’re a small business that mostly sells locally, handling the order fulfillment process yourself is the most economical option. You’d have control over your entire supply chain and can take advantage of in-store/in-person pickups to minimize shipping costs. But setting up an order fulfillment infrastructure yourself isn’t easy; you must figure out all the details, including inventory, packaging, order tracking, returns processing, which fulfillment software to use, and shipping fees. 
   
   
2. Drop-shipping. Dropshipping is a fulfillment method in which your manufacturer or supplier directly ships orders to your customers. As the merchant, you never see or handle the products. Dropshipping can help keep fulfillment costs low, but it involves a higher level of risk. There are plenty of scammers who take advantage of inexperienced shop owners.
   
   
3. Outsource to a third-party fulfillment company like TransAction Heroes. Working with a fulfillment partner is a great option if you are a fast-growing Shopify store, ship internationally, or have high volume of orders. A third-party fulfillment company takes care of end-to-end order fulfillment so you can focus on other aspects of your business. 

What about the Shopify Fulfillment Network? 

Created in 2019, the Shopify Fulfillment Network (or SFN) is Shopify’s network of fulfillment centers across Canada and the US. The benefits of SFN are that it easily integrates with your Shopify store and keeps all your fulfillment operations—warehousing, inventory, shipping, tracking—under one central system. 

But before choosing to fulfill orders with SFN, consider the following: 

• Shopify’s fulfillment network isn’t as wide-reaching or established compared to other fulfillment platforms (like Amazon FBA). It only has fulfillment centers in Canada and the US, which makes it unsuitable for merchants who also sell internationally. And in January 2022, Shopify announced it would potentially reduce the size of its network. 
  
  
• Shopify merchants aren’t eligible for SFN unless you ship more than three orders per day. So if you’re a startup, SFN may not be the best option in terms of ROI. 
  
  
• Shopify does not publicly disclose SFN pricing. The Shopify website outlines the various fees they include in their pricing, but merchants must apply for SFN to get a quote. Nonetheless, it’s safe to assume that the more services you require and the higher your volume of outbound shipments, the more expensive your SFN bill will be. 
  
  
• You can’t build a direct relationship with the people moving your products. Shopify uses their own network of 3PL companies, so you won’t have control over who handles your products. You will also have to go through a middleman (Shopify) if you have any questions or concerns. 

Why TransAction Heroes is your partner for eCommerce fulfillment 

Working with a fulfillment company you can trust is the best way to keep orders moving quickly and efficiently to your customers. 

TransAction Heroes is a boutique order fulfillment company with extensive experience in providing the end-to-end order fulfillment solutions. We understand what makes customers happy, and we’re here to help eCommerce store owners like you. Here’s how. 

We can help you set up a shipping strategy 

Choosing your mail carrier and shipping rates is an important decision. At TransAction Heroes, we have strategic relationships with major mail carriers like Canada Post, UPS, Purolator, Amazon, and FedEx. We receive regular, on-the-ground information that helps us: 

• Be instantly notified if a carrier is maxed out with shipping volumes 
• Avoid shipment processing bottlenecks at distribution centers before they happen 
• Arrange extra pickups to ensure packages are always moving (Our distribution center runs 24/7, so we can do pickups outside of regular work hours) 

We can help you reduce shipping costs 

“Free shipping” is the key to your customers’ hearts. To provide that option at checkout, you want to keep your shipping costs to a minimum. Our Heroes can advise you on choosing the right packaging and package protection for your shipments to avoid incurring costs for lost or damaged products. Before shipping, we help you minimize your packages’ dimensional weight to reduce shipping costs and be more environmentally friendly. And when it comes to selecting protective packaging, we help you find the best materials based on your packages’ sizing specifications. 

We make processing returns easy 

No one likes to deal with return orders. That’s why TransAction Heroes makes returns processing painless and hands-off. Our Heroes can pick up returns and ship them back to you or our warehouse at any time. 

How we help you mail, pickup, and receive returns: 

1. Any customer who wishes to make a return speaks directly to your store about initiating a return. 
2. You receive from us a mailing label on our account. All you have to do is send the label to your customer. 
3. We receive the returned product at our distribution center and update you on the product’s successful delivery. Then we decide if the product should be remarketed, donated to charity, or recycled. 

Final note on Shopify order fulfillment 

Order fulfillment can be a long and stressful process, especially during the busy holiday season. TransAction Heroes is here to support Shopify merchants just like you. We’re experienced in the entire order fulfillment process, from building a high-level fulfillment strategy to the front-line tasks like order pickup and delivery. We make Shopify order fulfillment easy, so you can focus on running your business.