Fashion has always been a competitive market, with online shopping further boosting competition over the last few decades. To run a successful fashion brand in 2022, you need to stand out from the crowd.
Fortunately, there are ways to get your brand out there and, in return, gain loyal customers who love your products. Outsourcing fulfilment for your fashion brand to a 3PL company is one sure way to do this.
Among a host of other benefits, product personalisation is a vital part of fashion fulfilment and one that ambitious fashion brands can leverage to make their fulfilment cost-effective and hassle-free while giving orders a bespoke feel.
What is a 3PL Company?
If you’re not already familiar with the concept, ‘3PL’ stands for third-party logistics, and organisations with this designation specialise in distribution and order fulfilment on behalf of other retailers. They typically handle every step of the fulfilment journey, from fulfilling e-commerce orders to warehouse storage, and order packaging/processing to delivery.
Many 3PLs also offer added value services such as gift wrapping and product personalisation, making them the best choice for order fulfilment for brands looking to enhance their fulfilment process without scaling up in-house.
As mentioned, product personalisation is a perk that many 3PL providers can offer, and a service that can delight customers with personalised branded products that stand out from the competition.
Leveraging Ecommerce Personalisation for Your Business
Now more than ever, e-commerce customers want more from brands when online shopping. Low prices and quick delivery are great, but added-value services can really be the difference-maker against your competitors.
How Personalised Branded Products can Enhance Your Fashion Fulfilment
Today’s e-commerce customer is used to special offers and buying experiences tailored for them. This means demand is growing for personalised branded products as part of that online buying process. When done at scale, e-commerce personalisation can endear customers to your brand – and by entrusting personalisation to a 3PL company, you can reap the benefits without the labour-intensive process of personalising every order yourself.
What are the Personalisation Options with a 3PL Provider?
Naturally, the personalisation options available to every brand will depend on the type of product. Beauty product personalisation, for example, will have different personalisation services from those available on fashion products.
Generally speaking, fashion products are most commonly personalised with embroidery, but certain items can also be engraved or embossed for a truly unique gift.
What Products Can Be Personalised?
Ecommerce personalisation can be fulfilled on a number of different products, from cosmetic items to fashion products, baby clothes to children’s toys. Naturally, the level of customisability will vary by product, but your 3PL provider can work with you to ensure orders are personalised to your specifications.
If you’re unsure what products can be personalised, talk to your 3PL provider for bespoke recommendations. After all, it’s this level of added value that customers and brands alike appreciate – adding a name, initials or personalised message can enhance your product range with a tailor-made feel.
Personalised Baby Clothes – a One-of-a-Kind Gift
As an example, personalised baby clothes are extremely popular with children’s e-commerce brands. They allow online retailers specialising in baby clothes to distinguish themselves from the crowd of competitors, giving their customers the chance to tailor their products to their needs. A personalised baby gift can be the perfect gift for new or first-time parents, or even for first birthdays.
Embroidering a name or adding a personalised message is a great way of personalising baby clothes. The best part? This can be handled entirely by a 3PL provider, who can process the personalisation along with the other order information for seamless fulfilment that meets your brand’s standards.
How Are Ecommerce Orders Personalised?
With a 3PL company, e-commerce personalisation takes place as part of an order’s fulfilment, streamlining the whole process and ensuring your business itself doesn’t need to worry about personalising orders before they are fulfilled, resulting in fewer production and delivery delays.
As a fashion brand, it’s essential that your warehouse is handling quality control so your customers receive products that meet your brand’s standards. When partnering with an outsourced fulfilment company, this quality control is a given, allowing you to focus on growing your business without distraction.
What’s the Personalisation Process?
Once an order – alongside its personalisation instructions – is processed by the 3PL company, the warehouse experts will then embroider, emboss or engrave on the order, depending on the customer’s specification.
This is most effective when handled entirely in-house; a 3PL provider with modern technology and warehouse facilities can effectively streamline the process, fulfilling every stage of your order within their own facilities so you know exactly where and how your goods are being handled.
At ILG, for example, we use high-end machinery to perform every personalisation function that we offer – before being packaged to your specifications and dispatched for delivery.
Personalising Ecommerce Orders Sustainably
Sustainability is an important piece of the fulfilment puzzle. It’s no longer enough to give customers a tailormade experience; they need to know that their purchasing habits aren’t having a detrimental impact on the environment.
Historically, the fashion industry can be wasteful, so employing the services of a 3PL company that cares about sustainability means you can rest assured knowing that your own sustainable policies are being complemented by your fulfilment partner.
Order personalisation can be made more sustainable in a number of ways, including using more efficient machinery and effectively training staff to avoid mistakes made during the embroidering, embossing or engraving processes.
Choose ILG as Your Fashion Fulfilment Partner for Ecommerce Personalisation
At ILG, our reputation for excellence throughout our range of services has established us as a key player in the 3PL space.
We pride ourselves on giving our clients a bespoke fulfilment experience, with added value services like our fashion personalisation that help set you apart from your competitors. Get in touch with our team today to find out more.
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