Verst Insights Blog

Turnkey Fulfillment Solutions In An Omnichannel World

Written by Verst Logistics | February 7, 2023

A Game-Changing Strategy for Mid-Tier Manufacturers

In an omnichannel world, turnkey fulfillment solutions can provide a platform for growth, greater operational efficiency, and much more. 

First, let’s define the term. Turnkey fulfillment is an outsourced logistics solution that includes the processing of inbound orders across all channels and fulfilling them. Its activities include pick-pack-and-ship, as well as value-added services such as kitting, labeling, and other branding to make products visible and eye-catching. It also includes the coordination of transportation across any mode required to ship products direct-to-consumer (DTC) or to retail stores or. Finally, processing returns and the re-fulfillment of replacement products if necessary.

Now that we’ve clearly defined our terminology, let’s explore the reasons why a turnkey fulfillment solution is a game-changer for so many companies.

Eight Reasons Why You Should Adopt a Turnkey Fulfillment Solution

Reason 1: Seamless brand experience is everything. Consumers today are very sophisticated when it comes to branding – and they have high expectations. They demand a seamless experience, from purchase to delivery and returns. Turnkey omnichannel fulfillment solutions can handle the complexities of today’s omnichannel environment and ensure that brands provide the experience that will have customers coming back for more. By providing a consistent and reliable experience, businesses can build trust and loyalty with customers and increase the likelihood that they will return for future purchases. 

Reason 2: Scalability across all your sales channels. Whether selling in retail stores, via a website, or on third-party e-commerce websites such as Amazon, brand consistency is vital. If a business is growing or adding new channels, a turnkey omnichannel fulfillment solution can ensure that products are packaged and shipped consistently across all channels and that branding and messaging are consistent across all customer touchpoints. This can help to build trust and loyalty with customers, and can also help to streamline operations and reduce costs. Additionally, a turnkey fulfillment solution can also provide valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences, which can be used to improve marketing and sales strategies. Overall, a turnkey fulfillment solution can play a key role in helping businesses to grow and thrive, by ensuring that products are delivered to customers quickly, efficiently, and consistently across all channels.

Reason 3: Geographic scalability. A turnkey fulfillment partner often has multiple distribution or fulfillment warehouses located in various parts of the country or in a highly central location, a fact that enables its clients to offer their customers same-day or next-day delivery regardless of where those customers live. That kind of agility is often difficult to achieve for smaller-scale fulfillment partners with locations on a single coast, especially if they have a lot of customers who live on the opposite coast.   

Reason 4: Dynamic staffing flexibility. Whether planning for peak season, special promotions, product launches, or other types of surges in volume, retailers have to be ready for significant highs and lows. A turnkey fulfillment partner can staff up and down to match predicted – and unpredicted – changes in volumes.

Reason 5: End-to-end accountability for retail compliance. Most retailers have detailed compliance requirements – such as what times they can accept deliveries, how products must be packaged, and when, where, and how inventory to support special promotions should be prepared and delivered. Failure to meet retail compliance requirements can result in delivery delays, delivery refusals, and damage to valued relationships with retail partners.  A large and experienced turnkey omnichannel fulfillment partner understands the ins and outs of retail compliance with all the major retailers you are shipping to such as Walmart, Target, and others because it’s already helped clients comply with these retailers’ exacting requirements numerous times.   

Reason 6: Access to fulfillment expertise. A turnkey fulfillment solution augments retailer expertise by providing access to logistics professionals who have specialized knowledge and experience in the field. This can help businesses to improve their logistics and transportation operations, and ensure that products are delivered to customers quickly and efficiently. The right fulfillment partner can help businesses to navigate the complexities of the supply chain and keep up with the latest trends and best practices in logistics. They can also provide valuable insights into areas such as cost optimization, inventory management, and transportation planning, which can help businesses to improve their bottom line.

Reason 7: Transportation diversity.  One shipping method isn’t enough when it comes to the omnichannel fulfillment model, especially if you want to optimize your overall transportation costs. At Verst, we encourage our clients to assess what aspects of their volumes are repetitive and steady – those are ideally suited for a dedicated fleet to manage full truckload volumes. For volumes that are more seasonal in nature, or have less regular shipping frequencies, a transportation management or freight brokerage solution leveraging spot market rates and third-party carriers is the way to go. 

Reason 8: Returns management. Returns management is time-consuming and can be costly for online retailers. But, the fact is that managing returns successfully ensures customers end their experience with a brand, ultimately getting what they want — a great product they love, or their money back. A turnkey fulfillment solution can also help businesses to reduce costs by managing the logistics of returns, including the reverse logistics of getting the product back to the warehouse, inspecting, and restocking it.

Count on Verst – a deeply experienced turnkey fulfillment solution provider

At Verst Logistics, we offer full turnkey service for your omnichannel needs. With more than 55 years of logistics experience, Verst designs and manages efficient fulfillment operations for small, growing companies and large established brands. Full shopping cart integration with Shopify, Magento, and more—including full EDI and API integration using CLEO, puts Verst at the top of the list when looking for a turnkey fulfillment partner. 

No matter what the requirements, Verst can design a customized solution that helps each client meet or exceed their goals. Our experienced team can do it all: from fast onboarding to ensuring retailer compliance, managing returns, providing vendor-managed inventory, and more. Verst also offers a range of value-added services that provide our customers with extra flexibility.

Need more advice for an exceptional turnkey fulfillment solution?  Visit us online or call our fulfillment experts at 800-978-9307.