Increasingly, in the UK and many other parts of the world, people are working for themselves. A lack of work and job security is leading many people to set up small businesses from home. Many of them are setting up their own retail businesses.
The most popular business model for small-scale retailers is to make unique products and use the internet and other advertising mediums to market those products. At first, running this type of business from home is viable. Existing space in the home, such as a garage, can often be used to store and dispatch products to customers.
However, when the volume of sales outstrips the space available, the business owner is left with a huge problem. Frequently they no longer have the space or time to fulfil all of their customer’s orders. However, many are not making enough profit to be able to afford warehousing and staff.
Solving the Order Fulfillment Problem
Years ago, many businesses folded because of this dilemma. They effectively became victims of their own success. Today, small businesses are turning to third party fulfillment services. These firms store, manage, pick and dispatch products on behalf of all kinds of firms, and do so at a very low per item cost.
Their service allows firms to focus on their core business so they do not need to worry about distribution; leaving them time to go out and find new customers. Economies of scale means that the cost of distributing each item is usually far lower than it would otherwise be.
