Shipping is shipping to the average person, but to a business that does fulfillment services the differences in shipping are more apparent. In a business-to-business transaction fulfillment services will be wildly different than in a business-to-consumer transaction. Here are a few key differences in fulfillment services depending on the customer.
- Order Size: This goes without saying, but typically a business will order larger amounts than a standard consumer. This means that your fulfillment services will need to accommodate smaller packaging for a consumer who orders a smaller amount, and a larger size that a business can buy in bulk.
- Cost: A business order will be significantly larger, and therefore cost significantly more, however it will cost less in the end. Usually when a business buys a product in bulk the price per unit will go down.
- Speed: With an increase in online commerce a customer will expect fast shipping, sometimes as fast as a single day. A business will buy their bulk items and will hopefully do it in advance. While they shouldn’t be kept waiting for a long time, they should expect that their large shipment will take longer than the average online consumer.
- Shipping Method: Larger orders require different shipping methods. If a business order is large, then it may be shipped on pallets then it cannot simply be delivered to your door and delivered by a mail delivery truck like with a consumer.
Shipping products is not as simple as packaging the products and bringing it to the post office. In fact, different sized packages will require different fulfillment services depending on who is buying the product.
