Keeping up with fulfillment demands is possibly the most challenging aspect of operating an e-commerce business. By outsourcing fulfillment to a third-party logistics partner, you can keep up with customer demand while scaling your business.
ShipBob is one of the leading outsourced fulfillment providers, helping thousands of business owners to process their orders. This ShipBob review covers everything you need to know about the company’s outsourced fulfillment services, including how they can help you reach your e-commerce goals.
How does ShipBob’s outsourced fulfillment work?
If you run an e-commerce business and have outgrown self-fulfilling orders, ShipBob may be the perfect solution for you. As one of the top e-commerce fulfillment companies, ShipBob makes it easy to sell your products across all major online marketplaces, including Shopify and Amazon.com. With 40 global ShipBob fulfillment centers, your products ship fast to customers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K. and Europe.
Setting up ShipBob is easy; simply connect your e-commerce site and send ShipBob your inventory. Your products are then stored in ShipBob’s warehouses, ready whenever a customer places an order. Once a customer orders one of your products, ShipBob picks, packs and ships the order for on-time delivery.
ShipBob outsourced fulfillment FAQs
Are you curious about ShipBob’s outsourced fulfillment? Here are the top questions business owners are asking.
How do you outsource fulfillment with ShipBob?
Outsourcing your fulfillment to ShipBob is achieved in four easy steps:
- Connect your e-commerce store and send ShipBob your products (their implementation teams help set up your account)
- ShipBob stores your inventory securely in its fulfillment centers around the globe
- Your customer places an order through your online store
- ShipBob quickly picks, packs and ships the order to your customer from the nearest fulfillment center
How many fulfillment centers does ShipBob have?
ShipBob has 40 fulfillment centers (and always growing) serving customers around the world. Of these, 30+ are located across the U.S., two are in Australia, one in Canada, three in the U.K., one in Poland, and one in Ireland.
Does ShipBob own its warehouses?
ShipBob operates its core innovation centers and owns its entire proprietary tech stack. Its warehouse management system and fulfillment processes are built from the ground up, incorporating customer feedback.
Does ShipBob integrate with Amazon?
Amazon merchants love ShipBob because it integrates seamlessly with Amazon marketplace for FBM orders. In addition to their Amazon turnkey integration, ShipBob allows you to import orders and send data back and forth with Shopify, BigCommerce Walmart, and all the other common e-commerce stores.
Performance considerations for outsourced fulfillment
There are several factors you should consider when choosing an outsourced fulfillment partner. Here are some key decision-making metrics smart e-commerce business owners want to know before making their decision.
- Order accuracy rate: Shipping errors can seriously affect customer satisfaction. ShipBob continuously strives to achieve shipping perfection and boasts a 99.95% accuracy rate, with 99.89% of orders shipping on time.
- E-commerce site integrations: Integration with major e-commerce platforms allow you to grow your business and reach more customers. ShipBob has turnkey integrations with Shopify, Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Squarespace, Wix.com and Square.
- Dedicated support: When problems arise, you want a team dedicated to helping you troubleshoot. ShipBob has built-in support with on-site customer service representatives to solve your fulfillment issues.
- Shipping discounts: Most small businesses don’t meet major carriers’ requirements for bulk shipping rates when shipping independently. Because ShipBob has thousands of customers, its ability to negotiate bulk discounts with shipping companies, including UPS, USPS, FedEx and DHL in the US, results in better rates.
- Insurance: Shipping insurance helps protect you financially if your inventory is lost or damaged. ShipBob offers shipping insurance up to USD $100 for each order, with the ability to purchase additional insurance.
- Cost and payment schedule: Fulfillment services should be affordable and consistently priced. ShipBob offers competitive rates and a transparent pricing structure so you can easily compare the cost of its services against competitors.
- Shipping speed: Customers expect orders to be delivered as quickly as possible. Thanks to ShipBob’s extensive network of warehouses, it can offer two-day shipping across the entire continental U.S. (even from only one fulfillment center) and expedited international shipping.
- Warehousing: Inventory can take up a lot of space and storage costs can quickly add up. ShipBob offers competitive warehousing pricing, and its distributed structure helps you fulfill orders as quickly as possible.
Best for
ShipBob is one of the leading outsourced fulfillment companies thanks to its international presence and total third-party logistics (3PL) and fulfillment services. Companies needing the following services and beyond can benefit from ShipBob’s services:
- End-to-end solutions
- Pick, pack and ship services
- International fulfillment
- Squarespace sellers
- Health and beauty startups
- Apparel brands
- E-commerce drop shipping
- High-volume fulfillment
- Subscription box fulfillment
- Shipment management
- Last-mile e-commerce
- Lean supply chain management
- Warehouse automation
- Amazon, Shopify, BigCommerce and Walmart sellers
Pros of ShipBob’s outsourced fulfillment
Using ShipBob to meet your outsourced fulfillment needs has countless benefits, including:
- All-in-one fulfillment services
- International shipping options
- Transparent pricing structure
- Two-day and expedited shipping
- Integrated warehouse management
- Omnichannel and business-to-business fulfillment
- Customizable packaging options
- Advanced fulfillment reports and analytics
- Developer application programing interface (API) documentation and native integrations
- Easy-to-use software
- Integration with the top e-commerce sites
- Inventory forecasting features
- Returns management
- Custom pricing
- Free customer support
- On-demand no contract services
Cons of ShipBob’s outsourced fulfillment
Although ShipBob fulfillment provides added value to e-commerce shipping, there are a few downsides to be aware of, including:
- Higher costs than some competitors
- No refrigerated or freezer shipping options
- Occasional software lags
- Not eligible for Amazon Prime or Seller-Fulfilled Prime (SFP) shipping
Pricing
ShipBob offers complete fulfillment solutions at competitive and transparent prices. Its total fulfillment prices start at $5.66 to $6.03 per month, including pick-and-pack services, free packaging, software and customer support.
Warehousing storage costs with ShipBob are $5 per bin, $10 per shelf and $40 per pallet.
For more information on ShipBob pricing for your business, request a quote.
Outsourcing fulfillment with ShipBob
ShipBob has helped thousands of e-commerce businesses outsource fulfillment and scale operations. With the e-commerce integrations you want and the reliability you need, ShipBob fulfillment is an excellent option for outsourced fulfillment services.
