Due to the occurrence of supply chain problems in recent years, a lot of companies are turning to local U.S. fulfillment center. This is in an attempt to improve the consistency of their supply chains. However, you might be observing that companies mistakenly believe that local fulfillment will solve their supply chain problems. But the true issue lies in their underutilization of China fulfillment.
Let’s examine the evolution of China fulfillment throughout the years, how you can use it to great effect appropriately. Moreover, and how companies may work with suppliers to maximize the benefits of China fulfillment.
A Brief of China Fulfillment Center History
Not always has China fulfillment been dependable. Around 2018, dropshipping began to gain popularity. Also, YunExpress and other services expanded in tandem with dropshipping. Actually, this is also the approximate time that companies began. Dropshipping does have some obvious disadvantages, though, and many of these services like fulfillment center worldwide shipping have expanded beyond dropshipping.
- For instance, although YunExpress has long been a go-to dropshipping service, dropshipping is not even close to accounting for the majority of their business.
- Their main source of revenue is Amazon FBM which does not use dropshipping and has stringent fulfillment deadline criteria.
Even though dropshipping was our primary focus at first, we’ve always wanted to encourage dropshipping clients to employ more conventional supply chains. We don’t currently have any dropshipping customers. Rather, the majority of our volume comes from customers who give us merchandise for fulfillment in which case we function as a 3PL with a base in China. But we also source products and manage supply chains on their behalf.
When you compare it with conventional dropshipping, China fulfillment offers enormous advantages. We make the decision to fully abandon dropshipping in favor of assisting our clients in taking advantage of China fulfillment’s greatest opportunities with ease.
Advantages OF China Fulfillment
Businesses, particularly those who have a supplier situated in China, can reap great benefits from direct-from-China fulfillment. Following are some advantages and read in detail to know how we make Dropshipping easy for you in the best way!
Lower Risk Without Giving Up Opportunity
Businesses often have two choices when it comes to traditional bulk purchases from China suppliers: either understock to free up capital. But run the danger of selling out and losing potential sales, or overstock to prevent selling out but tie up a significant amount of cash in inventory. Let’s examine a few fictitious instances of this.
Let’s imagine you ship a big order to a 3PL in the United States using sea freight. Considering that it can take up to 60 days to transport products from the factory to a local fulfillment center. You should generally budget for at least 90 days of inventory. These examples assume 0% lead time from factories for ease of math, which isn’t realistic. Let’s examine purchasing a $3 commodity in bulk and transporting it by sea freight.
Inventory Risk is Calculated As Follows:
90 days of inventory x 100 orders per day x $3 COGS (cost of goods sold). Let’s now examine the identical calculations using air freight. You should usually just budget for 30 days of inventory because shipping is quicker. Also, Fast shipping in China and the USA matters a lot.
- It may take 20 days to transport things from the factory to a nearby fulfillment center.
- We’re simply going to be examining inventory risk expenses for the time being. But bear in mind that air freight transportation will be much more expensive than sea freight.
- 30 days of inventory multiplied by 100 orders per day and $3 COGS equals $9,000 in inventory risk.
Utilizing China Fulfillment DTC
How do these choices compare with China fulfillment? Products can arrive in a China fulfillment center from a Chinese plant in as little as three days, sometimes even faster. Your fulfillment facility receives inventory so quickly that you only need to budget for about five days’ worth of inventory. How does the math appear now?
- Inventory risk is $1,500 (5 days of inventory x 100 orders per day x $3 COGS).
- Straight-from Your inventory risk is reduced by China fulfillment without raising the possibility of a sellout.
For companies that face with supply chain interruptions that affect large shipments, such as port traffic or container shortages, it’s an amazing option. The easier it is, the quicker you can send inventory to your fulfillment facilities. For this, find an expert Dropshipping sourcing and fulfillment agent within your reach.
China Fulfillment Frequently Costs Less Than Regional 3PLs
In addition to being simple to budget for without overstocking or understocking, China fulfillment is frequently directly less expensive than working with regional 3PLs. Check out this spreadsheet we created to compare our rates to those of well-known US 3PL ShipBob, for instance. These expenses come out straight from their online fulfillment cost calculator. For better processing rates/handling fees, runto agent is the best.
Sample weights and costs for actual products that we have fulfilled for customers are shown in the calculations below. These costs, which were of previous year and keep in mind that prices change frequently, also imply LCL (less than container load) shipments.
USA Fulfillment Center
A few vendors do face with the decision of whether to ship from a fulfillment center in China or complete orders in the United States. It is contingent upon your product categories, volumes, market, supplier location, and financial constraints. This post will assist you in weighing the advantages and disadvantages of these two order fulfillment strategies. Meanwhile assuming that your supplier is from China and that your target market is in the US.
Pros:
Swift shipment to endure during the busiest time of year. International vendors would deliver the goods on the same day. Also, the shipping delays would arise during shopping carnivals, such as Black Friday. The global warehouse expedites the customs clearance process. This allows buyers to receive their purchases in one to three business days.
The return and restocking ease, customers have the option to return and exchange their purchases. This is possible if they are unhappy with the merchandise. In addition to gaining back the trust of customers, a simple return and exchange process can lower shipping costs. Moreover, it also minimizes losses for vendors. Favorable to the growth of the market. Orders fulfilled by nearby warehouses and order fulfillment service provider will increase the number of buyers who see your listing if you are an Amazon seller.
Cons:
The overseas warehouse would typically charge more than Chinese warehouses. If your goods don’t sell within sixty days, your warehouse expenses add up.
It is not appropriate to take your items’ particular customizations into account when storing them in the US fulfillment center. A perceptive shoe vendor, for instance, would update his inventory whenever a fresh fashion emerges. The storage would result in a warehousing fee if the turnaround rate is low.
Additional Expenses to Think About Fulfillment Center
The shipping expenses and EcommOps savings were the main topics of this section, but there are other costs that firms should take into account as well these costs include:
- Quicker shipping: The cost increases with the speed of delivery.
- Duties and freight expenses: If you fulfill orders from China, you will be able to avoid most duties on your products. Because any package valued at $800 or less is exempt from U.S. tariffs.
- Storage expenses: ShipBob bills forty dollars for each pallet, and since you sometimes retain goods for months at a time, these expenses can mount up. In contrast, Runto Agent does not charge for the storage of goods if they are sold within 30 days.
Adaptability and Simple Scaling
Direct fulfillment from China provides the flexibility and easy scaling that businesses require to consistently develop. As there is no need to pick between overstocking or understocking, China fulfillment is less expensive than local 3PLs logistics.
Moreover, overseas shipping is significantly less expensive. Due to China fulfillment’s continuous cost reduction, companies can save costs and allocate resources to other endeavors. Recall that China fulfillment will free up resources in ways that many firms may not have encountered previously. So they won’t have to tie up resources by over-purchasing goods.
Conclusion:
We at Runto Agent advise to use the nearby local warehouse if the items are overweight and huge. For every additional kilogram and size, shipping costs from China would increase. However, if you’re just getting started, say you receive fewer than 300 orders a month. It is more secure to ship from China rather than using local facilities, particularly when the products are likewise uniform in size and weight.Also, get your items safely packed in the most suitable way for better results.
Moreover, you can employ the US fulfillment center for your best-selling items as well as those that are expected to explode in demand. If the products run out during the busiest time of year, your best bet is to use worldwide fulfillment facilities. You can combine these two fulfillment tactics in a strategic manner. In the event of a supply shortfall, ship products to the US warehouse two months before to peak season. And continue to fulfill your orders from China on regular days.
Even though Runto Agent now provides free 30-to 90-day warehouse storage with best marketing strategies for dropshipping business. Keep in mind that every product has a life cycle and avoid storing an excessive amount of items at initially. Our well-trained workers handle your goods with care because this our first priority. It is meeting customer wants and preferences so that products may be produced more quickly. In addition, weigh costs and revenues while selecting your shipping options.