Today I want to talk about a traditionally unsexy topic, fulfilment.. otherwise known as ‘3PL’ (third party logistics). For anyone new to this area i’m referring to the handling, storing, picking, packing and sending of parcels 📦 This is a critical element of our business, being a subscription box with various different products and quantities each month.
At Rise we spent the first 6 months packing boxes in our flat which was nothing short of hell at the time (although I look back at those days fondly now!), another 6 months in a storage unit (a very dark and cold one), before getting another larger unit and 2 part time packing staff. We finally bit the bullet and moved to a fulfilment team after 18 months. The main reason? I knew we needed to be ready to scale and to act like the big business we aspired to be. At the time it felt like a huge leap and of course, effected our costs, but it was a big relief and gave us the freedom of time we never thought we could have! It also gave us a much improved customer experience.
However after a while it transpired that our first partner wasn’t the right fit for us, and the search started for the UK’s best in class fulfilment partner. I am pleased to say we have found that in the company Tarlu - based in Dorset, the team there are exceptional at what they do and we have had not one mispick in 3 months. Not only that, but they are communicative, patient and passionate. 🤛🏼
So what have I learnt about choosing a fulfilment partner? Here’s my top pieces of advice for any Founder/Entrepreneur looking to move to 3PL or upgrade their current fulfilment.
⭐️ Build a relationship from Day 1. We spent time face to face with Tarlu before we started working together. Every business is unique and ours certainly has its quirks, so talking these through in person to get to complete transparency on potential issues was invaluable 🗣️
⭐️ Get a recommendation. It sounds obvious but we never read a client testimonial or got a referral for our first fulfilment partner, and so we were really going on blind trust (which turned out to be wrong). Tarlu came recommended by several BUY WOMEN BUILT brands, which immediately gave us some confidence 👩
⭐️ Make the contract work for you. No business is one size fits all and for us getting to a commercial agreement that made sense for our product was super important. If you’re a business with 15 items in each parcel you probably don’t want to pay ‘per pick’, you might want to see if you can agree a flat fee for the first X items. Likewise if your product is super straightforward to pack, maybe there are other areas you can discuss 💰
⭐️ Keep communicating. Once you’ve decided to go with a partner, keep the lines of communication wide open. I love that I can call my contact James at any time and he immediately helps us with whatever challenge we are facing. 🙏🏻
I’ve learnt alot about fulfilment over the past few years, so if anyone has any questions do reach out! 😃
