We all know that a huge part of e-commerce is getting orders to customers in a quick time frame and in a cost-effective manner.

A 2018 study found the cost of shipping influences 83% of online shoppers with shipping cost being the reason for 54% would decide to abandon their shopping baskets.

Along with cost being a major factor, the study also found that 25% of shoppers have been stopped from completing an order when the shipping time was not quick enough. 

No matter the size of your business, none of us want to be losing orders and customers. So we have two options…

Using a fulfilment house

First option is to go down the route of using a fulfilment house, such as Fulfilment By Amazon. A fulfilment house will accept, check in and store your products. Then, once an order is made, they will process and ship the order. Using a fulfilment house will take some tasks from your to-do list but it comes with a price tag. And if you are a small start-up business, you may not feel you are at the stage for a fulfilment house to take over your order process.

Also, you have to pick the right fulfilment house by doing plenty of research to make sure that they have quick turnaround times for checking in your products, for picking and processing orders and for dealing with any returns. 

All in all, a fulfilment house can be a great asset but it is putting faith and money into someone else taking the same time and care over every order, like you would. 

So, that leads us to option two.

Going it alone…

You process and ship your own orders. This is an area of expertise for anyone who has ever run their own e-commerce business. And if you have run your own business, you know the difficulty which comes with processing your own orders.

Running out of space. 

Our houses just don’t come with the space to be a home and the place to grow your empire. Before you know it, the house is full, the garage is full and everyone is a little fed up.

… with the help of self storage

This is where self storage can be a game changer. 

With self storage, you can be in charge of the entire process of fulfilling an order because a self storage facility will be able to provide you with a unit which fits to your space needs, whilst being fully flexible to your ever changing business needs. 

At Cinch Self Storage, we have hands-on experience of what an e-commerce business owner needs for their business to thrive, as many of our current customers run their own e-commerce businesses. 

One of these customers is Florence Ledwith, owner of Envy Shoes. Florence has a storage unit and office space in our Huntingdon store. As her business began to flourish, she was quickly running out of space in her home. 

“I was using my parents garage but, last summer, it got to the point where we were having to leave deliveries outside because we had no space at all.”

Getting a storage unit and office at Cinch Storage Huntingdon, made work a much easier and happier experience.

“Now we average around 200 orders a day and I’m really happy at Cinch Storage Huntingdon. It has worked out great for us. It’s ideal.”

If you think self storage could be the way forward for you and your business, please get in touch today: cinchstorage.co.uk

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Source: https://redstagfulfillment.com/ecommerce-fulfillment-definition-process-resources/

UPDATE 2022

We are very happy to say that we still offer excellent business storage to our customers which will help them to fulfil all their orders and grow their business.

In many of our stores we also have offices and enterprise units on offer which allow our customers the space they need to handle the administrative side of their business. 

We want to help as many local businesses as possible to grow and thrive. This is why we offer full flexibility within our rental agreements and have amazing teams on hand in each of our stores to help in any way they can, whether that’s taking in orders for you or just being someone to have a friendly chat with. 

We are here for you and your business.