In the world of e-commerce shipment, there are 3 stages that encompass the entire process. These stages are receiving, processing, and fulfilling and are responsible for the impact on how quickly and accurately an order is prepared in the supply chain for a customer and sent to its end destination.
Once a company receives an order on their e-commerce store, they will then have to ensure they have enough inventory to cover the order process.
Processing an order relates to the processing and verifying of order data to ensure it is accurate and that the related items are stocked.
After the order has been processed, order fulfillment then begins. This step involves picking the items for orders and preparing them to be shipped out.
When a 3PL is involved in the shipping process there are more people involved as they act as the middle man, this differs from the usual process of shipping orders straight to consumers in the supply chain.