I-Fulfilment

Frequently Asked Questions

Find out the answer to some frequent questions we get asked about 3PL logistics and fulfilment. If you can’t find what you are looking for, why not call us.

I-Fulfilment’s core services are as follows: – End to end solutions for brands and manufacturers to manage their domestic and international business 24/7 from any device.

– State of the art software based on 15 years in development and constantly evolving

– Global B2C automated fulfilment with a focus on delivering a first-class end user experience

– Global B2B automated fulfilment

– Integrated returns and reverse logistics (our own global automated returns solution)

– First class Multi-lingual customer services team

– Photography and design studio

– Marketplace management and strategy

– Back-office support

– Packaging consultancy

– Shipping optimisation and strategy

– Importation and product sourcing

 

We work together on a long-term partnership basis with our Clients and that is demonstrated by a 98% client retention rate.

I-Fulfilment in numbers:

– 20+ years’ eCommerce experience working with brands and manufacturers

– 27 years associated distribution experience with business turning over £120M per annum

– 27 years sourcing and importation experience

– 15 years spent developing market leading software to support proposition

– £3M ongoing investment in software development

– We ship to 195 Countries

– We have a 99.9% shipping accuracy level

– 99.9% on time dispatch rate

– 99.9% system up-time

– 98% client retention scheme

– 4 warehouses (with 2 additional sites planned for the near future)

– £0 borrowing, self-funded with no borrowing or debt.

I-Fulfilment have been providing fulfilment solutions for over 20 years, but we have experience in the distribution business for 27 years.

I-Fulfilment work with both Domestic and International Brands, Manufacturers, distributors and importers of all sizes specializing, but not limited to, the following categories:

– Consumer Electronics

– Luxury Goods

– Technology

– Fashion & Apparel

– Sports Accessories

– Beauty Products

– Cosmetics and Toiletries

– Home and Garden

I-Fulfilment has 3 facilities in the UK with over:

– 250,000 sq ft of high bay and mezzanine storage space

– 50,000 sq ft facility in the USA (another facility opening soon)

– 150,000 sq ft facility in Germany

– Australian facility in the planning stage.

All our facilities operate on our proprietary software platform allowing our clients to control their stock across multiple territories through one system.

The advantages of contracting our services to I-Fulfilment are:

– Frees up your time, allowing you to focus on sales and growing your business

– Economies of scale in the form of lower shipping costs and operational costs

– Scalability

– Ability to turn fixed costs into variable costs

– Can benefit from industry leading experience

– Opens up other routes to market.

Technology means it is now possible to outsource key areas of the business and maintain complete control, an aspect that would have previously not been possible. Our market leading software, Blade IMS, means that our partners can control all aspects of their business from anywhere.

It is important to note that keeping up with technology these days is an expensive business as well as time consuming, so it is a clear benefit if you have a technology enabled partner focusing on this area for you.

– Time: finding property, setting up contracts, management and staffing

– Upfront costs and level of investment required

– Fixed costs

– Scalability and capacity: size of facility

– staying ahead of technology to maintain competitive advantage

  • Missing out on economies of scale.

A great deal if you want to do it right which is why for many businesses it makes such a good sense to appoint a specialist 3rd party. There are so many aspects to its infrastructure, staffing, supplier relationships. It is not just the upfront costs; continual investment is required.

It is because it centres around fixed costs. In effect, you need to have a very good understanding of your future requirements. If you get this wrong, you could end up having too great or too little capacity both which have significant cost and operational implications.

Adding space takes time to source and set up. If you are unable to expand at your existing site operating over two can lead to major challenges and inefficiencies.

Yes, we already have established processes and clearance channels in place to resolve these issues.

A lot of new customers we talk to have returns back, but the challenge is then how you deal with products that are not fit for resale. This is where we can assist.

Yes, we often work with businesses who may or may not have UK infrastructure already established but have developed international markets to a point where they need a local stock holding and don’t have an appetite to set up themselves.

Our multi-lingual customer service team are located in the UK and in relevant Countries. Our teams understand the types of Cultural differences in each of the markets and have an excellent rating on Trustpilot representing our customer businesses.

Yes, using our own inventory software – Blade IMS, we look at reducing shipping costs. I-Fulfilment has leveraged its high order volumes to obtain and pass on competitive shipping rates for both domestic and international orders from a specially selected panel of carriers. Our global footprint of warehouses (UK, Germany, USA, and Australia – Coming Soon) also provides our partners with the infrastructure and international reach to control shipping costs and drive additional profits within their own business.

Blade IMS auto selects based on your customer’s requirements (tracked / untracked / quickest / cheapest / etc).

Often International Compliance is very time consuming to research. Our team of experts are on hand to keep you updated of VAT, customs changes etc.

We often have customers who struggle to manage cross platform orders or that their existing software is not up to the job. Some do not have any software at all and work from an excel document. This can become very time consuming.

Our own software – Blade IMS, manages all cross-platform orders and gives you a clear dashboard detailing stock levels whilst allowing you to pull detailed reporting.

In the past, some customers run out of space in their existing facility or during peak periods have a lack of resource to help fulfil orders on time.

Our team of experts in our warehouses are on hand to manage peak periods to ensure your products go out in the time frame committed to your customers.

You can track all orders through our software Blade IMS, or on the go via our App, available on both iOS and Android devices.

We help many of our partners to grow/distribute their brand. There are various avenues we would look to take, so we would prefer to take the time to talk about your existing avenues and create a strategy that would work for you.

Packaging is at the very heart of a lot of brands businesses. We have helped organisations over the years to re-brand their products making their packaging look premium therefore representing the business as a whole.

We enhance this further by ensuring the end to end journey for your customer is the best by our own fulfilment service.

Yes. We have a dedicated team of experts who set up and manage your listings across various marketplaces such as; Amazon, Ebay, Wayfair and more.

We manage everything from A+ content, Brand pages, pricing to ads.

At present you may have a combination of different providers and want to simplify the process for a number of reasons; cost, time, effort, too much to keep on top of.

We can help. As a leading ecommerce fulfilment provider, we can seamlessly integrate our software into retailers, distributors and marketplaces with ease. Taking the stress out of combining all your fulfilment into one place – ours.

When onboarding you, we will provide you with a timeframe of the time it will take to change your distribution from various providers to just us. Giving you peace of mind, it is all being managed on your behalf.

Get a Quote

Our fulfilment experts will listen closely to your needs and tailor a solution around your brand. There is no one size fits all in our industry.

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