A successful product launch or a successful crowdfunding campaign involves order fulfillment and logistics as crucial components, which directly affect customer satisfaction and future repurchase rates, and also have a significant impact on the brand's image. Therefore, I have written this article today on the latest updates in package fulfillment methods, options, and best practices in the current market, hoping it will be helpful.
The Basic Pattern of Order Fulfillment
Usually, to complete the delivery of orders, many creators need to consider the following two aspects:
- Freight: Freight companies transport products from the factory to several different fulfillment centers (Australia, Canada, the United States, and Europe). Depending on your scale, you can choose sea freight, air freight, or direct freight shipping to distributors (who sell games to retailers).
- Fulfillment: Fulfillment centers will pick goods according to orders, perform value-added services according to your instructions, and then use local logistics companies (USPS, DDP, DHL, etc.) to complete the last-mile delivery, sending orders to customers in the area covered by the fulfillment center.
This method is very effective for crowdfunders because you know exactly how many products to send to each region. (However, there may be differences from a cost perspective, which we will introduce later in detail.)
But for companies that only accept orders after the products have arrived at the fulfillment center, it's more like a guessing game. Setting up a front warehouse at the factory location might be a good solution.
Fulfillment Center Recommendations
When choosing a fulfillment company, the basic process is to inquire and test the quality of packaging, speed, communication, customer service, and the ability to solve problems independently. At the same time, please believe that consistent high quality is more important than price, especially in fulfillment centers.
There are some excellent companies in the board game fulfillment field in each region, and I will try to recommend some fulfillment centers that I have tried:
- United States: Fulfillrite, I am very impressed with the services they provide, and their packaging quality is satisfying.
- Europe: Spiral Galaxy is pleasant to work with, and they offer a full range of VAT options. They are very responsive, fast, and do a great job packing games. They even have an optional system that can confirm customer addresses before printing labels.
- Australia/New Zealand: Aetherworks continues to do a good job in shipping to customers in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia.
- Asia/China: Since most factories are located in China, setting up a front warehouse in China can be very helpful in terms of cost and flexibility. SDS will provide a very cost-effective solution for completing order fulfillment in China. If you can give clear instructions, their personalized packaging will also be done well.
- Other Areas: I currently do not have fulfillment centers to recommend in other areas, but if you have good experiences in 2023-24, I would like to hear from other creators.
Communication Skills with Fulfillment Centers
Every time you cooperate with a fulfillment center, please try to be as clear as possible and inform them in advance about the products you are about to launch. Here are some instructions you can freely copy and paste (or add/subtract):
- Send all packages so they do not require a signature for delivery.
- Send customers their tracking number by email on the same day that their order leaves the facility (not when the label is made and no later than the day after the package departs). In addition, it is crucial that backers see their FULL address in tracking notifications, not a partial address that will make them wonder if we forgot half of their information.
- Either sync tracking numbers with our e-commerce platform or send me a spreadsheet of tracking numbers and couriers within 2-3 days of fulfillment completion. If we have this data, we can answer 90% of customer service questions.
- If an order is sent in multiple packages, please make sure the customer knows they are receiving more than one package. This will prevent a lot of customer confusion.
- Please pack the products with plenty of cushioning around the edges, corners, and between differently sized components.
- Please use eco-friendly, space-efficient packaging if possible. (It generally depends on whether the creator specifies that certain products can be shipped in a padded mailer or envelope instead of a reinforced box.)
- Please let me know in advance what your estimated daily order completion volume/weekly target is.
Tips and Thoughts
- Transparency: Many crowdfunders have switched to charging for parcel shipping costs after the project. Parcel shipping is the labor, packaging, and postage of the fulfillment center, which is separate from the landed cost of the product (manufacturing plus freight; this is already included in the reward price). Basically, when customers place an order, they assume they have paid the entire landed cost and only need to pay for the parcel shipping cost later.
- Responsibility: Inevitably, some customers will report that a package was not delivered despite the courier's "proof of delivery." You can try asking customers to check with their neighbors—you'd be surprised how many times the package is next door. If the customer still can't find the package, please confirm the address with the customer, then require a signature for delivery if possible, and resend the package. For customers reporting product discrepancies, you can ask the fulfillment center to provide videos of the goods being packed, which can sometimes serve as good evidence in some return cases.
- Product Size: You can communicate with your manufacturer or fulfillment center to improve the packaging of orders. Your manufacturer will usually use the same box size for everything they send. However, in the fulfillment center, they may need to combine boxes of different sizes or SKUs into one order, so you can optimize the packaging size, reducing unnecessary space waste and weight (in the transportation field, volume is converted to weight according to certain methods [e.g., 1cbm=167kg for air], and the larger of the calculated weight or the actual weight is used as the billing weight), you may end up paying a lot of extra transportation costs for air. Optimizing packaging size provides a significant competitive advantage in freight costs.
- Pre-packaging: To speed up the fulfillment process, slightly reduce the cost per unit, and ensure consistent packaging quality, manufacturers can pre-package products at the factory. This method is most effective if customers only order one unit of the product and nothing else. You can even design expansion packs and accessory boxes so that shipping labels can be placed directly on them without the need for a box inside a box. Of course, handing this task over to the fulfillment center might be a better option.
- Damaged Boxes: Publishers usually do not have replacement boxes, so if customers receive a dented or damaged box and request a replacement, the only way is to send them another complete game. When we do this, we give customers a prepaid shipping label to send the dented and scratched game to a reviewer of our choice (we check with the reviewer in advance to see if they are fine with this arrangement).
Other Tips on Shipping and Fulfillment
- Barcodes/SKUs: Fulfillment centers and retailers require barcodes (gs1, then generate codes here); most also need SKUs. Make sure you have both and ensure you have a system to ensure you do not use the same barcode on different products. Factories in China can usually provide these two barcodes; if not, the fulfillment center can complete this task. Ensure your fulfillment center's warehouse management system can manage with barcodes, which can greatly improve the accuracy of picking.
- Made in China: Most board game factories are concentrated in China, so setting up a front fulfillment warehouse in China and having them coordinate with the factory for goods storage is particularly useful when your different product components come from different factories. Also, due to time differences, they communicate more efficiently. Shipping from China can also be optimized based on order quantity and direction, which can be a significant advantage in terms of cost. Finally, if you manufacture in China, put "Made in China" on the box (or where you manufacture the product). If you do not do this, customs will have issues.
- Add-Ons: The more add-ons and various configurations you offer, the more trouble you will encounter when fulfilling rewards. This not only increases the possibility of human error but also increases costs: some fulfillment centers charge fees for each item in the box. This can lead to increased fulfillment costs. My current practice is to use the Chinese front warehouse to complete the fulfillment of these complex orders. If your instructions are clear, they can do a great job.
- Cost Accuracy: When calculating the shipping rates for your crowdfunding project, use the accurate costs for each country, not a one-size-fits-all rate.
- Europe/VAT/Brexit: If you ship from within Europe, put the address on the back of the box (i.e., your local address plus your fulfillment center address in Europe, although ask for their permission). If your game has a CE mark (which you need to do if you advertise it as a game for children under 14), you need to have an address of an EU-based company that can act as your "authorized representative" and hold your Declaration of Conformity for you. You need to pay VAT, and I recommend using DDP (delivery duty prepaid) if you ship from the UK to the EU so that customers know the price they see on your webstore (including VAT) is the total price they will pay for the product (no surprises upon delivery—and if there is a surprise, it's a mistake by the courier that can be resolved). I also recommend adding UK and UKCA markings next to the CE markings.
- Latin America and Africa: We have tried shipping to customers in these regions in the past, but very few packages actually arrived at their destinations. I know this is not ideal, but my recommendation to these customers is that they ship to forwarding addresses in regions where we do ship (i.e., to a friend or to a service like Shipito and MyUS). Recently, we have tried sending orders directly to Latin America from our fulfillment warehouse in China, and their "cross-border small packet" service is also worth considering.
- Communication: Frequent updates to backers and customers during the fulfillment process are very helpful in easing their anxiety, even if we have no news to share.
