Just like any function that’s gone digital, order fulfillment requires technology to monitor inventory, orders, and shipments in real-time. A fulfillment platform can help ecommerce brands of all sizes manage all aspects of fulfillment.

What is a fulfillment platform?

A fulfillment platform is software that automates the picking, packing, shipping, and tracking of orders, while streamlining inventory management.

It can generate picking lists for fulfillment associates, provide data and analytics for decision makers, and has native integrations with other tools that need to be connected to the ecommerce fulfillment process.

A fulfillment platform can be for self-fulfillers and is also what a third-party logistics (3PL) company like ShipBob provides the merchants that use its services.

Get more orders out, with less effort

Leading 3PLs or fulfillment providers like ShipBob can dramatically improve scalability for ecommerce brands by handling fulfillment on their behalf, while keeping them in the loop using their fulfillment platform in the following ways.

Automated order processing

With ShipBob’s propriety warehouse management software (WMS) used across its fulfillment network and same-day fulfillment for B2C orders imported into the ShipBob dashboard by the time of the outbound fulfillment SLA (ranging from noon to 6pm local time of the fulfillment center fulfilling it, depending on the location).

That way, you can have orders processed quickly and automatically from the fulfillment center closest to the end customer. As soon as a customer places an order on your online store, the fulfillment platform processes it and you can stay up-to-date as it gets picked, packed, and shipped.

Higher order accuracy

Through automation comes not just speed but an increase in order accuracy. ShipBob’s software lets ecommerce brands upload photos of their products for the receiving, picking, and packing teams to view, has digital verifications for fulfillment associates each time an item is picked or packed, lets brands set packaging preferences, and has other safeguards in place to reduce the possibility of an order going out wrong. This way, a packer checks a picker’s work and so on — all tracked in our fulfillment platform.

2-day shipping

With ShipBob’s robust fulfillment center network, you can offer more customers with 2-day shipping via ground. Based on where your customers live, you can split inventory in two or more fulfillment center locations to deliver customer orders faster and at an affordable rate.

Data and analytics

ShipBob’s proprietary fulfillment platform connects to our WMS and gives each merchant deep insight into fulfillment performance, transparency into how we’re hitting our SLAs, visibility into order status and inventory counts, a breakdown of transit times, tools to help with demand forecasting, and more.

“ShipBob’s advanced software helps us quickly understand shipping costs and how to improve shipping times by being closer to where our customers are.”

Andrea Lisbona, Founder & CEO of Touchland

All the features your business needs

ShipBob is a leading third-party logistics provider that fulfills your orders and offers the best fulfillment platform on the market. Integrated with our entire fulfillment center network, it provides the following out of the box.

Ecommerce platform integrations

ShipBob’s native ecommerce platform integrations automate order management and fulfillment for your online store(s). ShipBob integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Squarespace, Amazon, Walmart, and many more.

Industry-leading inventory management software

ShipBob’s fulfillment platform comes with a built-in inventory management system, allowing you to bundle items, merge duplicates, view real-time stock levels, and even data to help you efficiently split inventory across our warehouses as you grow.

Safety stock and reorder point alerts

Our fulfillment platform lets you set reorder point notifications to alert you about potential stock shortages so you can order and send more inventory in time while staying ahead with forecasting.

A global fulfillment network you can expand into as you scale

ShipBob boasts a large fulfillment capacity for businesses of all sizes. Our fulfillment centers are stationed across the Unites States, in Canada, the EU, the UK, and Australia. With ShipBob, you can grow your brand sustainably across the US, or branch out internationally in the locations of your choice.

Reduced shipping costs

Through ShipBob’s extended global reach and shipping volume, we can pass savings on to our customers and offer bulk discounts. We have strong partnerships with major carriers such as UPS, USPS, FedEx, and DHL and work with them on a daily basis.

From supplier to customer, ShipBob handles it all

3PLs  like ShipBob provide order fulfillment services to ecommerce businesses of all sizes. Our process involves picking and packing your orders before shipping them off to your customers’ doorsteps, all of which can be tracked from our fulfillment platform.

Receiving inventory

Send your inventory to a ShipBob fulfillment center, where we receive, count, and stow it.

Storing products

Your inventory is stored in any combination of ShipBob’s fulfillment centers (of your choice) until a customer places an orders.

Picking and packing orders

Once your customer places an order, items are picked from storage and packaged according to the preferences you set in our fulfillment platform.

Shipping packages

The package is shipped to its final destination by one of our many partner carriers, and tracking info is sent from our fulfillment platform to your online store.

Trusted by leading ecommerce brands

ShipBob is a leading 3PL solution with an intuitive fulfillment platform that has helped thousands of brands grow sustainably. Here’s what some of our clients have to say about ShipBob:

Organic Olivia

Where ‘healthcare meets self-care products, Organic Olivia sells probiotics, herbal formulas, tinctures, capsules, juices, and syrups worldwide, and ShipBob handles shipping on their behalf.

“ShipBob’s capabilities have been tremendously useful for us. Having the analytics and seeing how everything is working together has been extremely helpful for me on the operations end.

It definitely helps me with inventory management and seeing what’s going on.

The enhancements ShipBob has made over time truly helps us on a day-to-day basis. Even though we’ve grown, I haven’t spent more time on the business from an operations standpoint.”

Dana Varrone, Director of Operations at Organic Olivia

Pot d’Huile

Pot d’Huile is a CBD brand that offers premium infused olive oils and other condiments. They needed a reliable fulfillment partner and chose ShipBob after extensive research.

“ShipBob’s fulfillment platform is easy to use and navigate, the interface is intuitive, and the analytics are very clearly laid out. I give ShipBob’s technology a 9/10.

Getting our WooCommerce shop integrated with ShipBob was easy, and it’s been fantastic to have; we had no problem with it.

We can see our orders come in and get fulfilled in real-time without any hiccups for the most part, which is great.

Our fulfillment is on autopilot. ShipBob saves us so much effort, and the opportunity cost savings has been substantial.”

Yannick Crespo, Co-Founder & President of Pot d’Huile

Bathorium

Bathorium is a leading Canadian brand that specializes in luxury bath products. When the company planned to break into the US market, they sought the services of a reliable 3PL that would help reduce shipping costs. They chose ShipBob and have since enjoyed a 70% reduction in US shipping costs.

“ShipBob was the obvious solution for us. They align very well with Shopify and don’t have older, archaic technology like other 3PLs.

With ShipBob’s intuitive, clean fulfillment platform, our team has all the tools we need to manage orders, payments, shipments, and more. The seamless integration between the two systems has made it very easy to do everything from manage inventory to create prepaid orders.”

Greg MacDonald, Customer Success Manager at Shopify & CEO of Bathorium

Learn more about our fulfillment platform

Optimizing the order fulfillment process helps ecommerce brands save on costs, fulfill orders faster, and keep customers happy.

Leading fulfillment platforms like ShipBob automate and improve the efficiency of the fulfillment process, helping your brand grow sustainably in a competitive market.

Have your own warehouse? ShipBob has a best-in-class warehouse management system (WMS) for brands that have their own warehouse and need help managing inventory in real time, reducing picking, packing, and shipping errors, and scaling with ease.

With ShipBob’s WMS, brands with their own warehouse can even leverage ShipBob’s fulfillment services in any of ShipBob’s fulfillment centers across the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia to improve cross-border shipping, reduce costs, and speed up deliveries. Request WMS pricing here.

Request a quote below to learn more about ShipBob’s fulfillment platform and see if we’d be a good fit.

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Fulfillment platform FAQs

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about fulfillment platforms.

Can ShipBob help small businesses?

ShipBob offers its complete fulfillment platform to even the smallest ecommerce businesses through its Growth Plan for businesses shipping under 400 orders/month.