The Amware Fulfillment & Logistics Blog

When you outsource product fulfillment to a third-party logistics company (3PL), you place your trust and your customers' satisfaction in its hands. Yet it's shocking how many Etailers have no well-developed KPIs for order fulfillment to monitor performance.

If you're looking to improve throughput in your B2C warehousing operations, setting productivity standards may do the trick. Many brands do not set such standards, but those that do see a 10% to 15% uptick in throughput.

When it comes to warehouse picking error rates, most fulfillment centers operate within a 1-3% margin of error. A warehouse with a 97% picking accuracy rate operates on the lowest end of the scale in terms of acceptable performance. Modern eCommerce businesses should expect at least 99.5% picking accuracy from their in-house or 3PL-run fulfillment operation.

Every hour counts in eCommerce orders, making it essential to leverage order fulfillment metrics to streamline the fulfillment process. Order fulfillment service providers typically leverage a broad range of technologies that allow them to gather various data. Analyzing this data allows a fulfillment partner to identify problems and trends that may impact cost-effectiveness and operational efficiency.

Fast-paced warehouse functions such as pick and pack fulfillment need clear standards to ensure the job gets done in the best possible way. Therefore, any efficient fulfillment operation will establish productivity standards that span the entire length of the operation, from the moment a trailer full of inventory hits the dock door until the individual item gets shipped to the end customer. These productivity standards play a

Fulfillment warehouse quality management programs have good intentions, but often fail in execution. Why is that?

Your online store is pulling in a ton of sales. Great!

But are you getting your orders where they need to go quickly, accurately and cost-effectively?

Is your fulfillment program enhancing or dragging down customer satisfaction and company profitability?

In today’s hotly competitive eCommerce environment, it’s easy to assume that more is always better.

But that’s not necessarily true for eCommerce fulfillment KPIs, especially if you’ve just started working with a new 3PL or have added a fulfillment operation.

In this past election, voters were faced with two very contrasting alternatives. Decisions on peak season fulfillment center staffing are similarly distinct: you have two very different alternatives to choose between.

On the one hand you have the Don’t Get Caught Short-Handed camp, which presumes any understaffing during peak season leads to inexcusable fulfillment bottlenecks and delays.

If you could use only one KPI to guide your fulfillment operations, what would you choose – and why? 

Here at Amware, we don’t even have to think twice, because we’ve recently begun using and sharing a metric that’s about as close to perfect as you can get.