What is order fulfilment?

Order fulfilment is defined as the process of receiving, picking and packing, and delivering orders to customers. It sounds simple, but order fulfilment is about more than putting products in the post – it’s about creating a brilliant experience for your customers.

That’s where James and James Fulfilment comes in.

We provide order fulfilment services to retailers of all sizes. This enables you to outsource the order fulfilment process to the experts, and focus your time and energy on other things.

There are usually five key steps in the order fulfilment process:

1. Goods in: you send your inventory to a warehouse or fulfilment centre
2. Warehousing: your inventory is stored ready for orders to come in
3. Pick and pack: the items in each order are collected and assembled in a parcel
4. Shipping: the parcel is despatched to the customer via a courier
5. Returns: products are returned to the fulfilment centre for processing.

At James and James, all of the steps are managed and optimised by our order fulfilment software, creating a seamless experience for you and your customers.

1. Goods in

We create an account for you in our order fulfilment software, enabling you to integrate your store, set up your products, and send your inventory to one of our global fulfilment centres.

We receive your stock and check it carefully. We then add barcodes, photos, weights and dimensions for each item to the system. This lays the foundations for accurate, efficient fulfilment later.

Learn more about goods in

2. Warehousing and storage

Next, we find a place for your stock in one of our fulfilment warehouses. We put small, fast-moving lines into pick storage, ready for speedy delivery, while larger items remain on pallets.

Thanks to the information we collect on each item as part of goods in, we can segregate and trace batches, and only charge you for the exact space your items take up.

You can monitor your stock, in real time, using our order fulfilment software.

Learn more about warehousing and storage

3. Pick and pack

Pick and pack is the step in the order fulfilment process that has the biggest impact on customer experience. It ensures the correct items arrive on time and free from damage.

Through our expertise, processes and technology, we pick and pack with an industry-leading accuracy of 99.9%, updating you and your customers on each order in real time.

We also offer a range of recycled and recyclable packaging and void fill options as standard, ensuring each order is packed safely and securely.

Learn more about pick and pack

4. Shipping

Once your orders are picked and packed, the next step is to despatch them to our global courier network.

We ensure that 98.0% of orders are despatched same day. Each one is automatically allocated to the most cost and time-effective shipping service, and your customers can track its progress in real time.

In short, we deliver the fast, affordable and trackable shipping that keeps customers coming back for more.

Learn more about shipping

5. Returns management

92.0% of shoppers say that they’ll buy from a business again if the returns process is easy. Our returns management service creates this simple experience.

We first eliminate returns that should never happen – due to incorrect or damaged items. We then make it easy for customers to initiate and track returns online.

Finally, we receive and process returns quickly, enabling you to refund customers and re-stock products fast.

Learn more about returns management

Want to know more?
Get in touch today

Contact us and we’ll arrange a consultancy call, to discuss your current operations, future ambitions and barriers standing in your way.

We’ll then create a tailored proposal, including an online platform demo, full pricing breakdown and tour of one of our locations.

Contact us