What Happens After a Customer Places an Order? Inside the Order Fulfillment Process

Modern order fulfillment processes are completed so fast that it can be easy to forget how much goes into filling a single customer order. Capturing data, managing inventory, working with carriers — these are just a few steps in the order fulfillment journey, and the process becomes even more complex when you add reverse logistics into the mix. 

This guide will walk you through each stage in the order fulfillment process, with a view to the many phases that take place after a customer places an order. We’ll also show you some common ways to improve your performance at each phase in your order fulfillment operation, and how working with a third-party logistics (3PL) can help. 

Order Confirmation and Data Capture

Once a customer places an order, the first step is to record any data needed to fill it. On the supplier side, that could include any changes in inventory, stock-keeping unit (SKU) data, and profit generated from the sale of the product. On the customer’s side, it could include personal identifiable information (PII), such as the customer’s name and address, as well as financial data, such as credit card numbers, bank accounts, or routing numbers. 

Some steps that go into the order confirmation and data capture phase of the order fulfillment process are:

• Reception and Confirmation: The customer’s order is received by order management software (OMS) and confirmed via automated systems.
• Verification and Storage: The customer’s payment information is verified for accuracy to ensure payment and securely stored in your data collection system.
• Transfer and Specifications: All order details are transferred to the warehouse management system (WMS) along with all product specifications, to ensure prompt order picking and maximum fulfillment accuracy.

After you capture your order data, you can transfer it to your WMS data analytics tool and mine it for actionable insights into your customers’ purchasing preferences. This enables more accurate demand forecasting and reveals which products sell best or drive the most value. The result is better inventory optimization, a better understanding of customer trends, smarter business decisions, and, ultimately, a boost to your bottom line.

Inventory Tracking and Product Picking

When the customer’s order reaches the warehouse, the next step is to check your inventory to make sure you have the right products on hand. After that, workers and robots must pick them off the shelves. Some stages within the inventory-checking and product-picking phases of the order fulfillment process are:

• Confirmation: Real-time inventory tracking systems must first confirm the item’s availability within the warehouse before pickers hunt for an item that’s out of stock. Stockouts can lead to shipping delays and lost sales opportunities, which is why accurate demand forecasting and inventory management are a must. 
• Picking: If the item is available, warehouse staff or automated robots walk through the warehouse to pull it from its location, being careful to only pick the right quantities of the right products. Traveling through the warehouse to find the right item can consume 55% of a warehouse worker’s time on the job, so many warehouses implement batch, wave, or zone picking to speed up the process. This lets them process orders faster, so they reach customers sooner. 
• Scanning: Barcode scanning improves picking accuracy by ensuring the employees pick the right products. It also lets you track inventory levels with greater precision. Pick-to-light systems furthermore reduce searching times by clearly indicating an item’s location and reducing the potential for picking errors. 

An incorrect order can greatly impact customer satisfaction and cut into your profits. For example, 81% of customers said they would abandon a retailer altogether if they got their order wrong more than 2–3 times, resulting in lost sales opportunities. Low order accuracy can also lead to higher inventory and operational costs, as suppliers must replace incorrect items and refund any returns, placing further strain on their reverse logistics processes. 

3PL providers implement inventory checking and picking protocols that give them higher order accuracy rates than the average supplier, so working with them can root out the inefficiencies caused by low order accuracy. For example, while the average supplier’s order accuracy rates range from 96–98%, Relentless Fulfillment’s processes achieve an order accuracy rate of 99.8%. This superior order accuracy means fewer errors, lower reverse logistics costs, less lost inventory, higher customer satisfaction, and greater profitability. 

Packing and Labeling for Shipment

Proper packing and labeling are essential parts of an efficient order fulfillment process. Not only must products be packaged to prevent damage during transit, but workers must also attach any specialized branding, logos, or packaging requirements that sellers use to make their products unique. 

A few stages of the packing and labeling parts of the order fulfillment process are:

• Packing: In this phase, products are securely packaged according to brand or carrier guidelines. Eco-conscious sellers may also choose sustainable packaging solutions such as biodegradable packing materials, reducing their carbon footprint while aligning with their customers’ values.  
• Branding: Warehouse workers may add any branding materials associated with the seller to convey their brand image, as well as packing slips to explain the order contents or other specifications.  
• Labeling: WMS systems can generate shipping labels containing the customer’s address, company name, and delivery method, to guide the designated carrier. 

The type of product you offer significantly impacts your packing and labeling requirements, so finding a 3PL with experience in your product line can ensure proper packaging and increase customer satisfaction. For example, some services that 3PLs such as Relentless Fulfillment offer are: 

• Ecommerce fulfillment to improve your online retail processes
• Subscription box fulfillment for monthly standard or custom packages
• Kitting, packaging, and assembly for complex orders that require some prior bundling or that have multiple components
• Apparel fulfillment to meet the shipping conditions needed for delicate garments
• Cosmetics fulfillment for fragile skincare, haircare, and cosmetic products in the beauty industry, which must be safely shipped to consumers 
• Supplement fulfillment to ensure proper storage conditions and first-in, first-out (FIFO) or first-expired, first-out (FEFO) picking processes, preventing expiration and maintaining compliance with all associated health regulations

Another key packing and labeling service that leading 3PLs offer is Fulfillment by Amazon preparation, or FBA prep. Amazon has strict packaging, labeling, and quality requirements that vendors must meet in order to use their platform, and 3PLs offering FBA prep help their clients meet them. This allows sellers to tap into Amazon’s vast fulfillment network, giving them greater visibility and increasing their access to customers. 

Carrier Handoff and Tracking Activation

Once the packing and labeling phase is complete, the next step is to get the order into your customers’ hands. Sellers must ship their products to destinations across the country, and sometimes even the world, so efficient transportation is critical for keeping costs low. And because 90% of consumers want to be able to track their order’s status, accurate tracking is an important component of shipping processes. 

The main stages of this part of the order fulfillment process are:

• Handoff: During this step, packages are sent to carriers like UPS, FedEx, or regional providers, including local carriers, for last-mile delivery.
• Tracking activation: Your WMS system can generate tracking numbers and share them with the customer, so that they can identify their product’s location in transit.
• Real-time tracking: Both sellers and customers can use their order tracking numbers as the order ships to the consumer, improving visibility on both sides. 

Using a fulfillment center strategically located near your largest customer demographics can reduce the distance your product must travel, delivering savings on multiple levels. For example, Relentless Fulfillment’s fulfillment center is located near the leading commercial hubs in California and Nevada, speeding up shipping to customers located on the West Coast and reducing shipping costs in the process. 

3PLs also fill orders for a large number of clients, classifying them as high-volume customers with major carriers. This status gives them cheaper shipping rates — savings they can pass on to you. 

Post-Delivery Support and Returns Management

Also known as reverse logistics, returns management refers to all the processes involved in sending a product from the customer back to the seller. This portion of the order fulfillment process entails: 

• Support: While the supplier may handle questions about product usage, the 3PL can provide a dedicated customer support team to answer questions regarding shipping delays or delivery issues.
• Returns: Returns processing specialists provide return labels to send back customer orders and maintain client portals to streamline product exchanges. This simplifies the returns management process and improves the customer experience at a crucial moment when buyers could be dissatisfied. 
• Feedback: Whether it’s a damaged product, a wrong-sized article of clothing, or a malfunctioning item, customers may return their orders for many reasons. The feedback phase gives you a chance to collect information on the reason for the return, yielding valuable insights on potential areas for improvement. 

An efficient reverse logistics pipeline also allows you to recover lost profits. Pending careful inspection, some products may be in adequate condition for resale and can be placed back on the shelves to be sold later on. This reduces the need for extra inventory and eases the burden on your supply chain, all while helping you make up for lost sales. 

Why Choose Relentless Fulfillment

Relentless Fulfillment excels at elevating every part of our customers’ order fulfillment processes. We offer a wide range of benefits to our customers, all of which are designed to enhance the efficiency of your order processing. When you partner with Relentless Fulfillment, you can expect: 

• Scalability: Rather than charge you a flat rate for fixed services, our service-level agreements (SLA) let you toggle your 3PL usage up or down as you need. That way, you can scale your order fulfillment strategies as demands fluctuate, giving you a flexible infrastructure that grows alongside you. 
• Technology: Whether it’s automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) and autonomous robots that improve picking efficiency or integrated software that enables omnichannel fulfillment, our warehouse is complete with cutting-edge fulfillment technology. These systems drive maximum speed, accuracy, and visibility across your entire order fulfillment process, letting you fill orders faster than ever.  
• Support: We understand that sellers often have unique needs for their products, which is why we offer custom quotes to each of our clients. Our dedicated team of customer support specialists also works with you to deliver the tailored fulfillment solutions you need, so you can delight customers and keep them coming back for more.  
• Reliability: In addition to our 99.8% order accuracy rate, our on-time shipping rate exceeds 99.9%. With such a proven track record of reliable, on-time delivery, our clients can rest assured that their customers will get the products they need when they need them. 

Location also plays a critical role in the quality of a 3PL provider, and Relentless Fulfillment leads the way here, too. Stationed in Reno, Nevada, our fulfillment center provides 2-day shipping across the West Coast, enabling the timely delivery that consumers demand. And since we’re located outside but near California, we can avoid the higher business costs associated with shipping to West Coast markets, without sacrificing delivery speed. 

Elevate Your Order Fulfillment Processes Today 

Whether it’s keeping your warehouse stocked with just the right quantities of each item or applying custom branding to each product, a lot goes into your order fulfillment strategy. Implementing key ecommerce best practices can go a long way in helping you optimize your operations, and integrating technology into your workflows is essential for eliminating errors, improving efficiency, and cutting costs. Yet even with these steps, the resource-intensive demands of the fulfillment industry can prove overwhelming, so working with a trusted 3PL expert may be the best way to level up your fulfillment performance. 

Relentless Fulfillment has the infrastructure, technology, and expertise in place to elevate your order fulfillment processes. Our 250,000+ sq/ft. The facility is strategically located near one of the largest commercial hubs in America, and we offer over 100 pre-built integrations to seamlessly link into the leading ecommerce platforms. We also offer specialized packing and assembly services as well as kitting, subscription box fulfillment, and Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) preparation, to help your order fulfillment service meet industry standards and delight customers at every level. Ready to see how Relentless Fulfillment can improve your order fulfillment strategy? Reach out for a custom quote today.