FAQ
Fulfillment is an area in logistics. In e-commerce, distribution tasks are delegated to external service providers. The service providers fulfill the agreed tasks for the online retailer. “Fulfillment” means “fulfilment” in German. Fulfillment is already a Denglish term, so it was taken over from English into German. These are typical logistics tasks, such as warehousing, mail order processing or goods management.
How is fulfillment written? According to Wikipedia, both forms of writing can be chosen. In fact, both are used by companies. While “fulfilment” means fulfillment in English, “fulfillment” means “realization”. At Subke, we opted for fulfilment.
Classic fulfillment also takes on contract logistics from manufacturers, such as sending the goods to wholesalers. e-Fulfillment is aimed at merchants in e-commerce. E-fulfillment providers call up the orders directly in the online shop.
E-commerce means trading in goods and services on the Internet. A distinction is made between B2B (corporate customer business), B2C (trade between companies and consumers) and C2C e-commerce (trade between private individuals).
There are many fulfillment providers in Germany. DHL actually stands for “Dalsey, Hillblom, Lynn” and is known in Germany for delivering parcels. DHL is also a fulfillment provider with a warehouse network in Europe, such as “Amazon by Fulfillment”, DPD or Subke GmbH. The differences between the providers consist in the dealer’s plans, their size and the associated costs. For example, DHL calculates the storage fee per liter for goods on the shelf.
He is a service provider for retailers in eCommerce who want to outsource parcel delivery. The service provider stores, picks, packs and ships goods on behalf of the retailer. The service provider agrees the desired services with the dealer in a separate service contract.
Startup: If you are just starting out and only sell one or two items a day, outsourcing the work to a fulfillment partner makes little sense. However, if you are already selling 500 items a month, you will find that you are running out of time with storage, packaging, shipping and accepting returns. After all, as an online retailer, you have many other things to do, like marketing your products.
Large items: If you sell large items, such as bicycles or trampolines, outsourcing to a fulfillment center makes sense for reasons of space and shipping.
External locations: Your company is active in another EU country and you want to sell in the EU? Then using a fulfillment center within the EU is a necessary way.
Amazon Seller: Selling on Amazon? Then storing and preparing the goods in an external fulfillment center is often cheaper and saves you a lot of work.
The advantages for online retailers are that they can save a lot of work steps and concentrate fully on selling. While we scale and optimize the processes as a fulfillment service provider, you can build your business flexibly. You don’t have to worry about storage space, packing, shipping or returns. With our fulfillment, your business and the satisfaction of your customers can grow steadily.
These are logistics centers in which goods are stored, picked, packaged and shipped daily. The acceptance and processing of returns also take place there.
Yes, fulfillment providers also take care of the storage. When the order is received, the goods are packed and shipped directly from the warehouse.
Our fulfillment service includes classic storage in Germany and the EU. Your goods will be reliably packed and shipped. We pick the goods and offer you a supply of spare parts. We take care of your returns and Amazon returns throughout Europe. We offer a refurbishment for returns. We take over the preparation of goods for Amazon Pre-FBA, container service and help with customs clearance.
Yes, you will receive your own contact person in our warehouse with a direct telephone number. If you have a question about the item or the shipping, you can react quickly and call your contact person directly in the warehouse.
We are liable for all damage to your goods for which we are responsible (e.g. due to improper storage or damage). We do not insure your goods in our warehouse against force majeure, e.g. natural disasters or fire.
Please inform your storage insurance company that your goods will be stored externally by us. If you do not have storage insurance, we would be happy to make you an offer.
A warehouse inspection is possible by appointment. The warehouses in Germany are located in Kirchgellersen and in Lüneburg, just outside Hamburg.
We select the most suitable location for your products based on the product category, requirements and preferences.
No, the goods are assigned to a storage location that suits the requirements. You know the location of your goods at all times.
No, we take care of the optimal storage of your goods. Billing is based on volume, so you don’t have to worry about storing the products efficiently and professionally.
Our software automatically calculates the storage volume to the day from the dimensions of the items. This means you only pay for the volume that the total of your items take up. However, at least 1 m³ is always calculated.
Yes, we are happy to forward the FBA goods for you via Amazon restocking and take care of the necessary preparation of the goods.
Another term in Denglish that in fulfillment means something like the reprocessing or repairing of goods. This can not only be the packaging, the product itself can also be renewed.
In fulfillment, this means the returns of the items. It may be that the item simply needs to be repackaged if the box is damaged. However, parts of the item that are missing or damaged can be replaced before the item is offered for sale again.
Remanufacturing, refreshing or refurbishing has increased significantly in recent years, which benefits the environment. In many cases, before a product is thrown away, it can be recycled.
If there are remissions, i.e. goods returned by wholesalers such as Amazon, the reprocessing of the goods consists of checking, sorting, repackaging and labeling the goods.
We currently do not offer a bonded warehouse. However, we will help you with the import and handle the customs clearance in cooperation with your forwarding agent.
We currently do not offer a fresh food service.
We currently do not offer a service for dangerous goods! In small quantities, we only accept lithium-ion batteries with lithium metal or lithium alloy up to a maximum of 100 watts. Cells with lithium metal or lithium alloy are accepted with max. 1 g lithium and max. 20 watts nominal energy on request. Special regulations necessary for the transport must be fulfilled.
Yes, we are registered in the “Central Packaging Register” and licensed through a dual system of disposal.
No, you only see your own inventory in the WMS Dashboard. Other customers have no insight into your inventory. Only authorized persons have direct access to the warehouse.
No, we do not take over the planning of the production chain, nor are we an interim storage facility. We take over the distribution logistics as an external warehouse. But you can also use us as a partial warehouse with cross-docking.
Yes, if you create your own barcodes, they should be tested before shipping. Only print out the barcodes with a laser printer so that they can be read by barcode scanners.