Fulfilment and e-fulfilment

Fulfilment is the entire process of order fulfillment. This includes the entire logistics process of shipping orders. Stocking incoming orders, warehouse management, packing new orders and shipping the packages is all under fulfillment. When we talk about the entire logistics process surrounding online stores, we talk about e-fulfilment.

Fulfilment can be performed by the company or online store itself. In that case, the company has its own warehouse with its own warehouse staff. Another option is to outsource fulfillment to a fulfillment company.

A fulfillment company can handle all of the logistics for another company. This means they handle storage, warehouse management, importing goods and shipping goods for another company. There are different types of fulfillment companies, each with its own expertise.

Below we cover everything you need to know about (e-)fulfillment and the entire logistics process surrounding it. Transportscanner specializes in finding the right fulfillment partner for your business. Consult our business directory or place your quote request with multiple fulfillment companies without obligation.

What is fulfillment?

By fulfillment, we mean the service of both storing and shipping goods. A fulfillment company (also called a fulfillment center) can take this entire process off their hands and perform the logistics operation for another company. So a company can choose to perform its fulfillment itself, or have it done by a fulfillment company. When doing the fulfillment itself, a company must rent a warehouse for storage, hire warehouse workers for order fulfillment, and contract with a transportation service.

If the company chooses to outsource fulfillment, it just needs to find a suitable fulfillment party that can then take care of everything. At a fulfillment center, you pay for the storage of the goods + an amount per shipment. Fulfilment centers have large warehouses and lots of staff and handle storage and shipping for many companies. As a result, they benefit from economies of scale that the small business owner alone would not be able to take advantage of.

Warehouse

Example of fulfillment

A company imports plastic cups from a Chinese factory and sells these cups to Dutch stores. The company may choose to handle the fulfillment itself. This that case, the company rents an industrial hall (warehouse) where it sends the containers of cups to. This warehouse employs warehouse workers who receive containers, enter stock and put everything in the right place. The company contracts with a carrier who can then deliver the cups back to stores. When a store places an order, the warehouse workers prepare the order. The shipping company comes to pick up the order and brings it by the store.

The company may also choose to use a fulfillment company for the logistics operation. They then order the cups from the Chinese factory and have the container delivered directly to the fulfillment center. There they make sure everything is entered. Now when an order comes in, it only needs to be passed on to the fulfillment center (usually that too is automatic) and they arrange for the cups to arrive at the store that ordered them.

E-fulfilment

online storeThe Netherlands is a country with a huge number of online stores. Many of these web stores also use fulfillment parties that take care of the logistics operation for them. In that case, we talk about e-fulfilment. So this is nothing but fulfillment for web stores. Many webshops choose this because setting up their own logistics operation is expensive, complicated and time-consuming. A party with experience can take all this out of your hands and immediately offer the economies of scale. For example, fulfillment centers can easily live up to "Ordered before 5 p.m., delivered tomorrow," which is almost impossible for a start-up online store.

There are also many fulfillment centers specializing in e-fulfilment. Their IT systems can often interface with online store systems such as Woocommerce, Magento, Lightspeed and Shopify. This is a direct link or arranged through software partners. In addition, they offer the track and trace information expected of online stores today.

growth of ecommerce and fulfillment in the netherlands
Growth of ecommerce in the Netherlands

The pros and cons of doing fulfillment yourself or outsourcing it

There are both advantages and disadvantages to doing fulfillment yourself and outsourcing. Several factors come into play. In addition, there are numerous providers who do fulfillment for other companies, often all with their own expertise. For example, one fulfillment center may specialize in pallet shipments, while another is strong in sending (many) small packages. Below is a brief list of the pros and cons, which are explained below:

Perform the fulfillment itself

Advantages

  • Low variable costs
  • Being able to control everything yourself
  • Possibility of pickup
  • Possibility of "custom shipments"

Cons

  • High fixed costs
  • No economies of scale
  • A lot of "arranging"

Outsourcing fulfillment

Advantages

  • Low fixed costs
  • Little "regulation"
  • Easy to scale up or down
  • Later cut-off time

Cons

  • High variable costs
  • Dependent on another party

Fixed and variable costs

At a fulfillment center, you often pay for the amount of space this takes up in their warehouse. This is usually cheaper than renting an entire warehouse yourself. You also pay a fee for shipping a package. This is often slightly higher than if you enter into a contract with a carrier. This is because the package is also processed and packed from the warehouse. A commission is also charged for this handling. However, if a company does the fulfillment itself, warehouse employees must be hired. These are on the payroll and therefore also count as fixed costs instead of variable costs.

Scalability and "regulation"

A big advantage of outsourcing fulfillment is scalability. Especially with online stores, sometimes there can be a lot of orders in certain months and hardly any in others. That means that with in-house fulfillment, some of the time you'll be short on staff to handle the orders, while at other times you'll have excessive overhead due to too many staff. This allows you as a company to focus on marketing, customer service, product development, etc. You no longer have to worry about the warehouse, staff and operations because that is all taken care of for you. It also allows you to grow quickly. Instead of running into the limits of your warehouse or staff capacity, you can scale up quickly without any problems. For a fulfillment center, it doesn't matter if you do 30 packages a day the first week, and 300 packages a day the week after that. If you do this from your own warehouse, you'll probably have to hire and train additional staff. Being able to grow easily without barriers is called scalability. This also works directly the other way. Suppose you've always had 300 shipments a day, but things slow down overnight and you drop to 100 shipments a day. In that case, you have too many staff for the number of shipments and incur too many costs. If you had outsourced your fulfillment in that case, it's not a problem. So scalability works both ways.

Cut-off time

The cut-off time is the time when another order can be passed, which will be processed the same day. In online stores, for example, you often see "Ordered before 5 p.m., delivered tomorrow." In this example, the cut-off time is 17:00. If you choose to do the fulfillment yourself, it is often difficult to live up to a late cut-off time. Transport companies often come by once a day in the afternoon and by then the shipments must be ready. In addition, as a small online store it is very expensive to pay staff late into the evening. Fulfilment companies enjoy economies of scale and are adjusted accordingly. The cut-off time varies by fulfillment company and can be an important factor in choosing a fulfillment partner. Some fulfillment companies charge a small surcharge for a later cut-off time.

Own warehouse instead of outsourcing

warehouseThere are several reasons why people often choose to have their own warehouse with their own fulfillment anyway. For example, one may want to combine the warehouse with a pickup counter, showroom or store. This is the case, for example, with online stores that also have a physical store (called multichannel or omnichannel). The warehouse should be located next to the store in order to give customers in the store direct products to take away

In addition, you may also have to deal with "custom" shipments. Fulfilment centers are more rigid in this than if you take on order fulfillment yourself. They look at product codes and quantities. Orders that require customization (for example, 5 meters of cable from a 100-meter roll) they won't be able to do. Also, fulfillment centers usually require that all products be barcoded.

In practice, we often see online stores (or other businesses) starting out with their own fulfillment. They start small from home or a cheap shed and cannot yet meet the minimum numbers that fulfillment centers often require. Orders are often handled by the entrepreneurs themselves. The business starts to grow and at some point it becomes unsustainable to continue from the location. A fulfillment partner is chosen. Orders ordered before 5 p.m. (sometimes even 11:59 p.m.) are now delivered the very next day. Business owners pay a little more for a shipment but keep a lot of time and have fewer headaches. The real growth can now begin.

Does the shop manage to become really big? Then it often becomes cheaper to run your own warehouse with your own staff. E-fulfillment is most common for medium to large scale webshops (between €500,000 and €10,000,000 turnover). Below that, fulfillment is often not worth it and above that, an in-house warehouse becomes more attractive.

Bol.com and Amazon: web store and E-fulfilment.

It will not be unknown to anyone that Bol and Amazon are giant online stores. Also, most people know that other online stores can offer products on these online stores. After all, this is often stated on the site with a product (Sales by partner of bol.com). What few know, however, is that these parties can also handle the entire fulfillment. Both parties have huge, highly automated warehouses and a large distribution network. So you can offer your stuff through Bol.com, and they can handle the entire processing of orders. In this case, a company has its entire inventory in a Bol or Amazon warehouse. The company can then sell the products through its own website, or through Bol or Amazon. In either case, they just handle the handling. In that case, companies benefit from the economies of scale enjoyed by giant online stores.

What does fulfillment cost?

Fulfilment costs on average between 6 and 8 euros for handling and shipping a normal parcel and around 4.5 euros for a letterbox parcel. In addition, storage is charged around 10 euros per month for a pallet space and 4 euros for a shelf rack. There are numerous other factors that determine the price which we explain below.

The cost of fulfillment depends on several factors, especially the number of orders/shipments the company sends per month. As a general rule, the higher the number of shipments, the lower the cost per shipment. A company with 2000 shipments per month will get better rates than a company with 500 shipments per month.

Many providers work with All-in package prices. This involves a single charge for packing and shipping the package. The fulfillment company often has contract(s) with one or more major carriers (DHL, PostNL, FedEx, DPD and so on) through which the packages or pallets are sent. The cost of the transport company is already included in the all-in price.

Another model is a Pick & pack price. In this case, a price is charged for handling at the warehouse, but the cost of the carrier is added on top. In this case, it may be possible for the company to contract with a carrier itself, but sometimes this can simply be done through the fulfillment company. So when comparing the rates of a different fulfillment center, you need to pay keen attention to what price is being charged.

In addition to fees for handling and shipping orders, there are other fees a fulfillment company may charge, such as storage fees. What a fulfillment company does and does not charge varies widely. We discuss this in more detail at the bottom of this page.

In fulfillment, by the way, not only price should be a decisive factor, but the quality of the service provider is at least as important. There is a real price war going on in e-fulfilment. As a result, several providers have gone out of business in recent years. So here also applies: if the price of one provider is significantly lower than that of most providers, there is often a catch.

Rates shipping e-fulfilment

Transportscanner conducted a comparative study of some large e-fulfilment companies. Here we have looked at the rates charged by some large e-fulfilment companies. However, a big disclaimer has to be made right away: these rates cannot be compared one-to-one. Some companies have a standard cut-off time of 23:00, while others charge a surcharge for a late cut-off time. Furthermore, some companies, for example, include a paper packing slip in the price by default, while at others you pay for it separately.

The checklist we provide here at the bottom gives a good idea of what costs may be involved. The tables we have posted below can be used well as a reference. To keep an overview, we have divided the tables by the number of shipments a company has per month.

0-500 shipments

Small webshop: up to 500 orders per month

BedrijfAantal ordersLandPakketPrijs All-in zendingPrijs pakket verwerking (geen verzending)
Montapacking300 tot 1000 per maandNederlandStandaar pakket€ 7,64-
QLS Fulfilment300 tot 1500 per maandNederlandBrievenbuspakket€ 5,40-
QLS Fulfilment300 tot 1500 per maandNederlandPakket 0-10 kg€ 7,25-
QLS Fulfilment300 tot 1500 per maandNederland10-30 kg€ 8,20-
QLS Fulfilment300 tot 1500 per maandBelgië0-5 kg€ 7,80-
QLS Fulfilment300 tot 1500 per maandBelgië5-30 kg€ 9,50-
MVN1 tot 300 per maandNederlandPakket€ 8,75-
MVN300 tot 1000 per maandNederlandPakket€ 8,25-
MVN1 tot 500 per maandNederlandBrievenbuspakket€ 5,50-
Cenfil50 tot 250 per maandNederlandBrievenbus€ 6,00-
Cenfil250 tot 500 per maandNederlandBrievenbus€ 5,75-
Cenfil50 tot 250 per maandNederlandKlein pakket (27x15x14 cm)€ 7,95-
Cenfil250 tot 500 per maandNederlandKlein pakket (27x15x14 cm)€ 7,15-
Cenfil50 tot 250 per maandNederlandMedium pakket (40x30x20 cm)€ 8,10-
Cenfil250 tot 500 per maandNederlandMedium pakket (40x30x20 cm)€ 7,40-
Snappex-NederlandPakket€ 7,4-
Snappex-NederlandBrievenbuspakket€ 5,2-
Snappex-België Pakket€ 9,3-
Snappex-België Brievenbuspakket€ 7,1-
Snappex-DuitslandPakket€ 10,3-
Snappex-DuitslandBrievenbuspakket€ 8,1-
Snappex-FrankrijkPakket€ 15,3-
Snappex-FrankrijkBrievenbuspakket€ 13,1-
Snappex-OostenrijkPakket€ 15,3-
Snappex-OostenrijkBrievenbuspakket€ 13,1-
We fulfil300 tot 1200 per maandNederlandPakket zending€ 7,95-
We fulfil300 tot 1200 per maandNederlandBrievenbus pakket€ 5,05-
We fulfil300 tot 1200 per maandNederlandBrievenbus post€ 3,95-
Fulfilnetic1 tot 500 per maandNederlandXS Brievenbus€ 4,80-
Fulfilnetic1 tot 500 per maandNederlandS (36 x 25 x 4,5 / 10 kg)€ 6,65-
Fulfilnetic1 tot 500 per maandNederlandM (40 x 30 x 20 / 10 kg)€ 6,85-
Fulfilnetic1 tot 500 per maandNederlandL (80 x 50 x 35 / 20 kg)€ 7,55-
BringleBringle startNederlandStandaard pakket€ 8,4-
BringleBringle startNederlandBrievenbus pakket€ 7,05-
BringleBringle startBelgië Standaard pakket€ 10,95-
BringleBringle startDuitslandStandaard pakket€ 10,95-
e-fulfilment shop0 - 50 per maandNederlandLuchtkussen envelop: 0 - 0,5 liter-€ 1,60
e-fulfilment shop0 - 50 per maandNederlandBrievenbusdoos: 0,5 -2 liter-€ 2,00
e-fulfilment shop0 - 50 per maandNederlandDoos: 2 - 10 liter-€ 2,40
e-fulfilment shop0 - 50 per maandNederlandDoos: 10 - 20 liter-€ 2,80
e-fulfilment shop0 - 50 per maandNederlandDoos: 20 - 50 liter-€ 3,40
e-fulfilment shop0 - 50 per maandNederlandDoos: 50 - 100 liter-€ 4,20
e-fulfilment shop0 - 50 per maandNederlandDoos: 100 - 400 liter-€ 5,40
e-fulfilment shop50 - 125 per maandNederlandLuchtkussen envelop: 0 - 0,5 liter-€ 1,55
e-fulfilment shop50 - 125 per maandNederlandBrievenbusdoos: 0,5 -2 liter-€ 1,95
e-fulfilment shop50 - 125 per maandNederlandDoos: 2 - 10 liter-€ 2,30
e-fulfilment shop50 - 125 per maandNederlandDoos: 10 - 20 liter-€ 2,70
e-fulfilment shop50 - 125 per maandNederlandDoos: 20 - 50 liter-€ 3,25
e-fulfilment shop50 - 125 per maandNederlandDoos: 50 - 100 liter-€ 4,05
e-fulfilment shop50 - 125 per maandNederlandDoos: 100 - 400 liter-€ 5,20
e-fulfilment shop125 - 250 per maandNederlandLuchtkussen envelop: 0 - 0,5 liter-€ 1,50
e-fulfilment shop125 - 250 per maandNederlandBrievenbusdoos: 0,5 -2 liter-€ 1,90
e-fulfilment shop125 - 250 per maandNederlandDoos: 2 - 10 liter-€ 2,25
e-fulfilment shop125 - 250 per maandNederlandDoos: 10 - 20 liter-€ 2,65
e-fulfilment shop125 - 250 per maandNederlandDoos: 20 - 50 liter-€ 3,20
e-fulfilment shop125 - 250 per maandNederlandDoos: 50 - 100 liter-€ 4,00
e-fulfilment shop125 - 250 per maandNederlandDoos: 100 - 400 liter-€ 5,15
e-fulfilment shop250 - 500 per maandNederlandLuchtkussen envelop: 0 - 0,5 liter-€ 1,45
e-fulfilment shop250 - 500 per maandNederlandBrievenbusdoos: 0,5 -2 liter-€ 1,85
e-fulfilment shop250 - 500 per maandNederlandDoos: 2 - 10 liter-€ 2,20
e-fulfilment shop250 - 500 per maandNederlandDoos: 10 - 20 liter-€ 2,60
e-fulfilment shop250 - 500 per maandNederlandDoos: 20 - 50 liter-€ 3,15
e-fulfilment shop250 - 500 per maandNederlandDoos: 50 - 100 liter-€ 3,95
e-fulfilment shop250 - 500 per maandNederlandDoos: 100 - 400 liter-€ 5,10

500-1500 shipments
1500-3000 shipments
More than 3,000 shipments

Rates other fulfillment services

In addition to the cost of shipping, there are often other costs involved. This is sometimes a bit difficult to compare between companies. For example, some companies charge for a later cut-off time (the time until when an order is processed). For example, to make it true that ordered before 11 p.m., delivered tomorrow is charged a small fee, while other companies include this as standard. The additional costs to watch out for:

  • One-time start-up costs
  • Adding additional producs to an order (i.e. more than 1 item in the box)
  • Packaging costs if boxes are not supplied by yourself
  • Add paper packing slip
  • Processing returns
  • Entry of goods (enter new goods coming in into the system)
  • Later cut-off time
  • Adding new items to the assortment. These products should be added to the system
  • Software links between the online store or accounting software with the fulfillment company's system
  • Storage costs
    • Per pallet
    • Per shelf rack
  • Shipping of large packages
  • Shipping heavy packages
  • Shipment of ADR hazardous goods (such as, for example, lithium batteries, fuels or paint)

For this reason, we always recommend using our checklist. Always walk this through with a fulfillment partner beforehand to be sure. As mentioned, it is difficult to compare prices. In the table below, we have listed some of the prices that fulfillment companies charge for reference:

BedrijfExtra kostenPrijsPer
montapackingLegbordlocatie per maand€ 2,50per maand
montapackingToevoegen extra items€ 0,90per item
montapackingStandaard toevoeg artikel€ 0,15per item
montapackingToevoegen papieren pakbon€ 0,15per stuk
montapackingCut-off tijd 20:00€ 0,30Per order
montapackingCut-off tijd 22:00€ 0,50Per order
montapackingCut-off tijd 23:45€ 0,90Per order
montapackingRetourenverwerking€ 3,29Per retour
SnappexOntvangen en inslaan producten€ 9,95Per levering
SnappexOntvangen en inslaan producten€ 2,70Per SKU
SnappexSupport & Automatisering webshopkoppeling€ 49,-Per maand
SnappexEenmalig aansluiten webshop€ 299,-Eenmalig
SnappexEigen naam op pakbon€ 299,-Eenmalig
BringleOpslagkosten per item per maand€ 0,12Per maand
BringleRetourenverwerking€ 2,25Per retour
BringleVerzendkosten retouren (NL)€ 8,15Per retour
e-fulfilment shopPer extra artikel per order€ 0,40Per order
e-fulfilment shopPer extra stuk van een artikel per order€ 0,05Per order
e-fulfilment shopInslag starttarief€ 2,50Starttarief
e-fulfilment shopInslag per artikel€ 0,70per artikel
e-fulfilment shopInslag per stuk van een artikel€ 0,05Per item
e-fulfilment shopPalletplaats€ 2,50Per week
e-fulfilment shopLegbordstelling€ 1,63Per week
e-fulfilment shopRetourenverwerking€ 2,50Per retour

 

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Fulfilment companies

Finding a good fulfillment partner can be quite a task. And that makes sense! A fulfillment company is not a company you hire once but should actually function as a partner to your business. That is why we have created a database with fulfillment companies that are happy to provide you with a price offer. Completely tailored to your needs, of course. Keep a close eye on what is and is not included in the quotation, as you have read above. The easiest way is to request several quotes from various fulfillment providers at once.

The largest fulfillment companies in the Netherlands

The Dutch market has several large fulfillment and e-fulfilment parties that excel at providing logistics processes for both physical and online stores.

Some of the most prominent parties are PostNL, DHL Parcel, Monta, Active Ants and bol.com Fulfilment. PostNL, one of the largest and best-known players, not only provides postal and parcel services, but also offers integrated e-fulfilment solutions for online stores. DHL Parcel, another major player, handles both national and international shipments and offers a wide range of complementary services.

Monta (formerly Montapacking), with more than 20 years of experience, is known for its innovative approach and customized solutions for e-commerce companies.

Active Ants, a fast-growing company, differentiates itself by using robotization and automation to provide efficient and scalable fulfillment solutions.

Finally, there is bol.com fulfillment (briefly mentioned above), the logistics arm of the Netherlands' largest online shopping platform, which helps its partners with storage, packaging and shipping of products.

Checklist for picking a fulfillment company

Unfortunately, it often goes wrong in practice. Companies go into business with a fulfillment company, but afterwards it turns out that something was not quite rightly discussed. A certain software connection turns out not to be possible, the cut-off time did not apply to pallets, more costs are charged for inbound than expected, shipments outside the EU are not possible, etc. To avoid surprises, we have prepared this checklist. Our urgent advice is to go through this complete list with the fulfillment company. This way you can be 100% sure that there are no ambiguities. These are questions that should be answered by both the company itself and the fulfillment company. Sometimes things seem trivial but that is why it is all the more important to discuss it. Be 100% sure you can put a check mark behind each question so it is answered.

  1. Does the fulfillment center charge an all-in price for shipping? Is there a separate price for packing and shipping, or is this one price. Read more about what an all-in price means above.
  2. What sizes can the fulfillment company send? Sometimes certain dimensions fall outside what a fulfillment company does by default.
  3. Up to what weight can the fulfillment center ship? Usually this is 20 or 30kg. Are heavier shipments even possible with a surcharge?
  4. What transportation companies do you work with? Usually this is PostNL or DHL, but sometimes the company has some of its own distribution.
  5. Could another transportation company (perhaps on their own contract) possibly come by? Most major shipping companies can visit all over the Netherlands. Just because a fulfillment center works with PostNL by default doesn't mean they can't also print a label for DHL.
  6. Can mailbox packages be sent? Some companies do not do this, although it can save substantially in cost.
  7. Should and can pallets be shipped? And who supplies those pallets? Are half or quarter pallets also an option?
  8. What are the rates for sending
    1. Packages in different sizes (XS, S, M, L, XL)
    2. Letterbox packages
    3. Pallets
  9. What are the rates per quantity of orders per month? It often becomes cheaper when there are more orders per month.
  10. Will there be additional costs when packing more items per box? Sometimes companies charge a small amount per item per order.
  11. Who arranges the packaging materials? Such as boxes and padding material. And are there additional costs involved if this is done by the fulfillment center?
  12. Is it possible to include a paper packing slip with the shipment? And will there be additional costs
  13. Is it possible to customize the label and packing slip? With your company's logo and contact information.
  14. Should there be shipping outside the Netherlands? If yes, which countries. Go through all the countries and their rates.
  15. Should there be shipping outside the EU? And then who arranges the export documents. This is often forgotten, but even for a package to Switzerland, this must already be arranged.
  16. What are the rates per package size per country to which shipping is done? Also take into account growth in the future. Perhaps one day you will want to take your business across the border.
  17. What are the storage costs
    1. Per shelf rack (inquire about dimensions)
    2. Per pallet location
  18. What are the insertion costs? These are the costs when new goods come in
    1. At a time
    2. Per item
  19. What is the cut-off time? This is the time you can still submit an order that will be processed the same day.
  20. Are there additional charges for a later cut-off time?
  21. Can returns be processed by the fulfillment center?
    1. What are the shipping costs of returns
    2. What are the costs for processing returns
    3. What does this return process look like? For example, is there any particular (quality) control?
  22. Are all software links possible for order entry
    1. With the online store
    2. With the software system
  23. Are all software links possible for inventory management
    1. With the online store
    2. With the software system
  24. Are there any costs involved in the software links?
  25. Should all products have an EAN code? This stands for European Article Number. This is a requirement for some fulfillment centers.
  26. Are there any other delivery requirements?
  27. Should and can ADR hazardous goods be shipped? For example, lithium batteries, paint or combustibles.
  28. Can customers pick up orders if necessary?
  29. Are there start-up costs?
  30. Are there other fixed costs?

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