In the highly-competitive world of ecommerce, the shipping options that you offer customers can make or break your business. Even with the highest quality products, the best website, and the most responsive customer service, if your customers have to pay $15 for shipping that takes 5 days, you are going to lose a lot of potential revenue.
The problem that many ecommerce businesses have is that offering fast, affordable shipping requires a system of distribution. You can get by using just one Florida fulfilment centre if all of your customers live in Florida. But if your customers live across the United States, you’ll be stuck paying high shipping costs for the vast majority of orders. So how do you solve this problem?
Rather than using a single Florida fulfilment centre, you can partner with ShipBob and take advantage of our network of fulfilment centres. Distributed inventory allows you to shorten shipping distances, which means your packages are delivered faster and at a lower cost. ShipBob has an Atlanta fulfilment centre as well as several Texas fulfilment centres that can ship to the South (including Florida), and you can store your inventory at our other fulfilment centres based on customer data.
“ShipBob has been a great ally as they have fulfilment centres all over the US, facilitating a 2-3 day delivery time for any customer in the US. This is helpful especially when weather challenges happen; being able to have different locations to ship from allows for a more seamless supply chain.”
Andrea Lisbona, Founder & CEO of Touchland (based in Miami, FL)
Below, we’ll explore the services and benefits we can offer Florida-based ecommerce businesses.
Hear from a ShipBob customer
ShipBob has helped thousands of ecommerce businesses (find all case studies here). Hear from one customer on how splitting up their inventory in states outside their own has helped them scale:
“Now that we’re working with ShipBob, we can easily ship to all 50 US states with ease. We use ShipBob’s fulfilment centres in Dallas, Texas, Chicago, Illinois, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. They help us to maximise our shipping and ultimately our growth potential. And 100% of our orders are going out via 2-day shipping.”
Andrew Hardy, COO of Nature’s Ultra
ShipBob’s Florida fulfilment services
Let’s start with a brief rundown of ShipBob’s fulfilment process:
- First, you connect your store to ShipBob’s platform, so we’re notified when orders are placed on your store.
- Ship your products to a ShipBob fulfilment centre (we have several across the country, and you can store your products at any/all of them).
- Orders are routed to a fulfilment centre so our team will pick, pack, and ship orders as soon as possible.
- Customers receive ecommerce order tracking info for their package.
- You get improved shipping margins and speedier deliveries, with no need for a Florida fulfilment centre!
Track your inventory levels
There’s nothing worse than running out of a high-volume product (or any product). Deliveries are delayed, orders get cancelled, and customers aren’t pleased. ShipBob’s inventory tracking makes it easy to avoid this scenario. You can check inventory counts in real-time at each fulfilment centre and set reorder points, so you get notified when product is running low.
Manage order fulfilment
Ecommerce businesses need transparency into the order fulfilment process so they can quickly answer customer questions, and that’s exactly what ShipBob provides. Track packages and search for orders with ease, so you’re always in the know.
Offer 2-day shipping
Storing your inventory closer to your customers allows you to offer faster shipping options at a lower cost. Whether your customers are in the South, the Midwest, the East Coast, or the West Coast, ShipBob has the fulfilment centres to broaden your reach and help you ship more speedily than ever.
Why ShipBob is the best fulfilment solution for Florida ecommerce businesses
ShipBob does more than just fulfil your orders. We leverage our extensive infrastructure and best-in-class technology to streamline your shipping, so you can offer better shipping options. And shipping more efficiently can positively impact your business in a number of ways.
Navigate rapid growth
Most businesses have a limited capacity to fulfil orders in-house. By outsourcing fulfilment to a 3PL and increasing your shipping capacity, your business can grow faster (and with minimal growing pains). A great example is Touchland, a fast-growing brand that has successfully upgraded the hand sanitizing experience to a whole new level. Touchland launched in 2018 and grew quickly after a successful Kickstarter campaign, and then grew even faster after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Earn more revenue
Many of our clients find that with better shipping options on the table, customers spend more and come back more often. ShipBob customer iloveplum, a tutu brand, saw their average order value increase by 97% after offering 2-Day Express Shipping.
Spend less on labour
Picking, packing, and shipping orders takes up a lot of time, not to mention all the manpower that goes into areas like inventory management, order management, and warehousing. Outsourcing fulfilment to a 3PL allows you to reallocate your energy and focus on actually growing your business. Sunglasses brand Rainbow OPTX was spending 20 hours a week on fulfilment until they partnered with ShipBob, and they’ve grown 115% since then.
ShipBob’s partner ecosystem
A smooth ecommerce fulfilment process is one that seamlessly connects with each cog in the ecommerce machine, from your digital storefront to the packaging solutions that make your brand unique. ShipBob is integrated many of the best-known names in the industry, including:
Ecommerce platforms like:
Shipping platforms including:
Packaging solutions including:
When is a third-party logistics provider right for your Florida-based ecommerce business?
Retail fulfilment is one of the most difficult aspects of ecommerce to scale, since it requires considerable resources, manpower, warehousing, and software that links it all. A 3PL can hand you this capacity readymade, without the growing pains or logistical headaches. And scaling isn’t the only problem that a 3PL can solve for your business. Here are a few more common pain points that outsourcing to a 3PL can fix:
- Shipping costs: Using just one Florida fulfilment warehouse will make shipping to the East or West Coast expensive. A 3PL with multiple warehouses can reduce shipping zones, so you spend less on shipping out-of-state.
- Delivery times: Reducing shipping zones also speeds up delivery times. With a 3PL, you can offer 2-day shipping to customers all over the country.
- Ecommerce warehousing: No more digging through disorganised warehouse shelves. A 3PL will store your products securely and keep your inventory organised with expert warehouse management.
- Sales: Slow or overly-expensive shipping options will likely cost you sales. Optimising shipping with a 3PL will help convert more sales and drive more revenue.
If you’re having the above problems, an order fulfilment company like ShipBob can help. Whether it’s optimising your inventory management system, lowering shipping rates and storage fees, or helping you build a multichannel fulfilment process, ShipBob can help with any fulfilment needs.
Ready to get started with a 3PL? Request a quote from ShipBob today.
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We ship all over the world
We use our network of fulfillment centers to help you strategically split and manage your inventory to reduce shipping costs and transit times.
