Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a third-party logistics provider that allows small businesses to take advantage of Amazon’s massive size and money to fulfill their online sales. Using FBA, sellers are able to sell their products and store there inventory in an Amazon warehouse. From there, Amazon handles the fulfillment of the online order including the picking, packing, shipping and returns. Many sellers saw the value in having the fulfillment aspects of their sales completed by one of the most recognized and trusted online retailers. FBA used to be the biggest fulfillment service provider able to offer reliable, lightning-fast delivery.
But times have changed. Now, in part because of the explosion of online retailers in the past few years, and further amplified by the global pandemic, sellers have more options for fulfillment service providers.
Deliverr is a 3PL provider that can also offer ultra-fast fulfillment for fast growing merchants. Deliverr understands that customers have come to expect 2-day delivery at no cost and was built to help make this a reality for any size business.
Why Deliverr Outperforms FBA
Deliverr is one of the fastest growing fulfillment service providers whose mission is to enable any seller to compete with online retail giants by offering fast and reliable delivery at a fair price. While both services are able to handle the entire fulfillment process including inventory storage, pick and pack, and delivery, Deliverr has some clear advantages.
Easy to use
Integrating Deliverr with you online store could not be easier. It supports a number of merchants on a wide range of websites from Wish to Shopify to Walmart. Onboarding is quick and easy. In about a week, sellers can be up and running with Deliverr. FBA requires merchants to be approved before they can start adding pages. This can sometimes take up to a month, depending on Amazon’s backlog. This can be frustrating for any small business looking to get started (and especially so for those with seasonal products).
Less restrictions on what and how you can ship
FBA has set up a number of fairly specific requirements that can be a hassle for new merchants who are learning FBA best practices for their business. These restrictions are often regarding how products are packaged and while some are fairly obvious, (like no loose packaged batteries or illegal goods) others are less obvious and can be quite a hassle (and costly) to merchants. Some of these include restrictions on products that have not been prepped according to FBA packaging and prep requirements or, products that are not properly registered with Amazon or mislabeled.
Deliverr, on the other hand, is rooting for small businesses to succeed. Deliverr will help ensure merchants understand how to prepare and package products for shipping and has less prohibitive restrictions. You can also choose to have Deliverr handle everything from inventory placement to pick and pack to order handling.
Transparent and affordable pricing
Unlike FBA, Deliverr’s prices are transparent and affordable. Using their handy online price calculator, you will understand exactly how much to budget for fulfillment and shipping. There are no hidden fees, no confusing charges, and no surprises when calculating costs.
What’s more, with Deliverr you will never be locked into an unfair contract with difficult to understand terms in the fine print. Sellers can decide exactly how long they wish to outsource their fulfillment based on their own unique needs.
Many customers are surprised to learn that FBA charges fees for mislabeled products or for those that needed to be repackaged for not meeting FBA standards. While both Deliverr and FBA charge for inventory storage, FBA’s fees go up during certain months of the year making it more difficult to manage costs. With Deliverr, merchants understand the clear pricing structure before ever signing a contract.
Helps Build Your Branding
With FBA, your products will be shipping using Amazon packaging, making it more difficult to distinguish your brand. While FBA does have the advantage of the trusted Amazon name, when you’re trying to grow your own business, Amazon packaging can be confusing and dilute your brand recognition.
Uniquely branded boxes and inserts are not supported by Deliverr because doing so can be costly and time consuming. (Imagine having to package 100 different products, in 100 uniquely colored boxes!) To ensure they are not harming your brand, but remaining true to lightning-fast delivery times, Deliverr uses brand neutral packing.
Addtitionally, Deliverr has a number of features designed to help build and market your business. Deliverr helps make your shop and product placement SEO friendly. With Deliverr, you can easily improve your search rankings.
Deliverr also knows that one of the number one ways to convert more clicks to sales is by offering fast shipping. Merchants who use Deliverr quickly get a customizable 2-day shipping badge. This badge is extremely valuable in gaining more visibility, improving search rankings and building a reputation as a reliable brand.
Deliverr continues to expand to meet your needs
Deliverr continues to grow and expand, onboarding new warehouses so they can continue to fulfill order for more and more new sellers. Deliverr is more flexible and nimbler than FBA, continually improving a d expanding their offerings to help you compete with larger online retailers.
Especially during the global pandemic, FBA has run into problems fulfilling orders due to heavy restrictions. While their delivery services slowed, Deliverr was better able to meet the needs of merchants.
A commitment to merchants
Deliverr’s mission is to provide fulfillment services for all online sellers to allow them to compete with massive online retail giants. They understand that as consumers become more and more reliant on fast delivery, merchants need reliable and efficient shipping partners. The more successful Deliverr is, the more successful their partners will be.
That’s why Deliverr continues to build a helpful and resourceful website and focuses on offering unparalleled customer service. In addition to chat boxes, extensive FAQs, and customer service request forms, when you partner with Deliverr, you will be assigned an account manager. Your account manager will not only be able to help answer all of your questions and concerns, but also provide advice and insights to help you grow your business.
Helpful reports and analytics
Deliverr also provides sellers with easy to understand and useful reporting and analytic tools. You can track your website traffic, website conversion, sales and returns. The Deliverr analytics dashboard is intuitive and comprehensive so you can get a clear picture about the health of your business.
Deliverr also has an ever-expanding catalogue of resources to help you manage costs and maximize profits. With a growing number of case studies and blog articles, Deliverr wants to provide merchants with knowledge and know-how to help them grow their businesses and brands.
Deliverr v. FBA Conclusions
Online merchants have more choices than ever when it comes to how they plan to fulfill their orders. Because the needs of sellers vary widely – from how larger to how many to where their products need to be shipped – fulfillment services need to be flexible, efficient and reliable. While FBA has been one of the more obvious choices, it no longer means it’s the best. Customers have shown they are willing to pay higher prices for faster shipping, and companies like Deliverr have been able to offer the same quick delivery speeds with additional benefits to the merchant. Whether it’s better customer service, a more intuitive and comprehensive interface or the ability to adapt to the needs of sellers both big and small, Deliverr beats FBA.