What is fulfillment?

In the context of e-commerce, fulfillment is the process of preparing and delivering a customer’s order. It generally includes all the steps that happen between the point-of-sale to the final delivery of the product to the hands of the consumer.

For most companies, order processing generally involves receiving an order, processing it, then picking, packing, and shipping the order. Frequent bottlenecks can occur in any stage along the way, which is why various technologies are used to manage these systems and to help deliver products to consumers in a timely and cost-effective way. For example, a common solution used by e-commerce companies is an order management system (OMS), which is a software solution that allows retailers to manage the life cycle of orders, starting from order creation through to delivery and returns.

Within our fulfillment resources page, we provide fresh perspectives from leading experts on a range of topics including inventory management, order management, fulfillment, and logistics. If you’re looking for ways to streamline operations, optimize costs and delivery, and improve order processing, check out some of our articles below.