UPS has expanded a piloted service to help small-to-medium-sized businesses worldwide consolidate their ecommerce fulfillment to customers in the U.S. and Canada, across 21 different marketplaces and web stores including eBay, Walmart, Etsy and Amazon.
The service, called UPS eFulfillment, handles storage, packaging and shipping from warehouses in Shepherdsville, KY and Bloomington, CA. It was first piloted in 2017.
“UPS understands that small-and medium-sized businesses want the same high-quality services as large ecommerce companies without the same amount of complexity,” said UPS CMO Kevin Warren in a release. “We are laser-focused on giving merchants the tools for success by offering this easy-to-use technology platform, full-service fulfillment capabilities and simplified pricing and billing that many smaller businesses couldn’t afford to offer or build.”
Inventory stored in other warehouses, either a company’s own or a third party, can be added to the platform, with the system updating in real time as sales occur to make fulfillment more efficient. Shippers can also select when the package needs to be delivered.
Pricing for UPS eFulfilment is bundled, so sellers get an accurate picture of costs. It also integrates tracking and billing, making it easier for sellers to keep track of orders and shipment costs. They ca also dynamically update product listings on multiple ecommerce sites.
According to the most recent UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper study, over 96% of online shoppers in the U.S. have purchased on a marketplace.
MCM Musings: In the past couple years FedEx, UPS and Ryder have all come out with fulfillment service offerings aimed at the growing number of SMB ecommerce sellers eager for a piece of the action, but who don’t have the resources or expertise to handle it on their own. FedEx has also made it easier for merchants to do next-day delivery of online orders from local stores by extending pickup hours.