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5 Best UK Fulfilment Services You Won’t Regret Using

By
December 6, 2023
6 min read

5 Best UK Fulfilment Companies for Ecommerce Brands

The UK is home to some fantastic fulfilment companies, each offering a unique set of services to help ecommerce businesses manage their logistics needs. Including picking, packing, storage and shipping, these companies provide businesses with the tools they need to streamline their operations and save time.

When choosing a fulfilment company, there are many factors to consider, including cost, location, inventory management, and scalability. To help you find the best fit for your business, we've compiled a list of the five best UK fulfilment companies. These companies have been chosen based on their ability to meet the needs of ecommerce businesses, providing affordable and efficient services that support growth. 

The top pick is our very own Bezos. We offer a logistics solution designed specifically for fast-growing direct-to-consumer brands, offering time-saving, cost-saving, transparent order fulfilment services. Start saving now and discover why we are the right fit for you.

Key Points

  • The UK has a lot of fulfilment companies to choose from. They provide high-quality logistic services such as picking, packing, storage, and shipping.

  • Using a fulfilment company helps you outsource logistic tasks to save your company time so you can focus on different aspects of your business.

  • There are many factors to consider when choosing the fulfilment company you will be working with. Weighing each company's pros and cons and understanding their services is key in picking the right partner for your business.

  • Platforms such as Bezos, Amazon FBA, and ShipBob offer a great range of services to streamline logistics and take businesses to the next level. 

  • To select the best fulfilment solution for your business, you must assess your company's requirements, such as storage, cost, and delivery times. 

Factors to Consider when Choosing a Fulfilment Company

The importance of choosing the right fulfilment company shouldn't be underestimated, as their services can play a crucial role in the success of your business. We've compiled some of the key factors to consider when looking for a fulfilment company to help you make the right choice.

  • Location: Choosing a company that can facilitate your target market’s location is key to reducing shipping costs, improving delivery times and growing your customer base.

  • Inventory Management: Go with a company which offers great inventory management so you can easily track your stock, condition, and returns.

  • Scalability: Anticipating your company’s future needs is important, so finding a fulfilment company that can match your requirements as you grow is essential. 

  • Services Offered: Map out your business functions and pick a fulfilment company that offers the set of services you need.

  • Shipping Rates: Analyse the shipping rates from each fulfilment company to compare costs and find the best deal.

  • Reputation: Reviews are important. Go for a company with proven results and a good history of satisfied customers.

  • Returns Handling: Keeping your customers satisfied is very important, so ensure the company you pick can handle and return exchanges quickly, efficiently and fairly.

  • Integration: Make sure the fulfilment company can integrate with any ecommerce platform you use easily.

  • Cost: Ensure you’re getting the best value for your money with the fulfilment service you go with by doing a cost comparison exercise. The costs can vary for each company, and watch out for hidden charges.

  • Communication and Transparency: Transparent communication is vital as it helps keep you and your customers up-to-date with information like stock availability, orders and delivery times.

The 5 Best Fulfilment Companies in the UK

You're in luck if you are a business on the hunt for a fulfilment company to work with, as there are a ton of options to pick from. We've compiled a list of the five best UK fulfilment companies to help you find the perfect fit for your business.

  1. Bezos

Are you tired of fulfilment companies and their functions being reserved just for big companies with big budgets? With Bezos, those days are over. This is a logistics solution for fast-growing, direct-to-consumer brands. It is the number one place for your company to grow its online sales quickly and with reliable fulfilment. 

Bezos helps ecommerce businesses grow by offering fulfilment services, scalability and all at an affordable price. Clients receive full transparency with real-time visibility of all their orders in a ‘one-in-all’ portal. We help to reduce the costs of fulfilment and delivery, making it easier for our customers to grow their ecommerce business. 

Key Features

  • Time-Saving: You can save up to five hours a day on logistics tasks

  • Cost-Saving: There is an average of £1 to £2 per order and up to 80% on all international orders when switching to Bezos.

  • Transparent Order Fulfilment Tracking: Our ‘all-in-one’ portal offers full transparency. We tell you things the way they are, so you will be the first to know if something does not go as expected.

  • Dedicated Account Manager: You’ll be provided with a fast-responding team of experts to answer your questions.

  • AI Technology That Handles Issues: Logistics problems are quickly recognisable and resolved through our AI technology.

  • Expansion Network: Your growth opportunities are endless through the Bezos fulfilment Network of 63 fulfilment centres in 17 countries.

  • Integration With Major Ecommerce Platforms: You can integrate with over 30 well-known platforms and marketplaces.

Pricing

Bezos is known to be very competitive when it comes to fees, which means we can accommodate companies of all sizes. Bezos has two types of fees: a monthly subscription fee for using our technology and fulfilment charges. The total costs will vary based on what you need and use. These services include receiving and storing your products, picking and packing orders and shipping. The monthly subscription fee can be cancelled any month, and you’re not tied into a long-term commitment.

How is Bezos.ai different?

We are not your traditional third-party logistic (3PL) distribution service. Bezos offers an extensive fulfilment centre network, extensive global reach, and broad sales channel integration capabilities. Our commitment to fast and responsive customer support can be seen in our response times to client inquiries and issues. We also offer perks such as same-day delivery, heavy and large parcels, batch tracking, and zero-emission deliveries.

We have built our technology from the ground up, with input from our clients on what features are important to their business. Where other 3PLs technology will only give you visibility to orders being dispatched, Besoz goes the extra mile by giving its customer the ability to track every order journey through to delivery and proof-of-delivery. Best of all you can do this in 1 simple platform and a couple clicks.

  1. Amazon FBA

Amazon Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) is a service offered by Amazon that lets third-party sellers store their products in Amazon's fulfilment centres. Amazon is also responsible for handling the shipping and customer service for those products. Services such as multi-channel fulfilment and storage are also included in the package. Using FBA, your company automatically becomes eligible for Amazon Prime, which can drive even higher sales and exposure to your products.

Key Features

  • Customer Service: Amazon offers customer service handling for your products, including returns and exchanges. 

  • Automated Tracking and Reporting: You receive detailed tracking and reporting on key metrics such as inventory levels, sales and more.

  • Multi-Channel Fulfilment: Whilst using Amazon FBA, you can still sell your products on other marketplaces and websites.

  • Prime Eligibility: Every product fulfilled by Amazon becomes eligible for Amazon Prime, making it more likely to sell and be seen by more potential customers.

Pricing

Amazon FBA comes with several layers of fees, such as fulfilment fees, storage fees and referral fees. The fulfilment fees depend on the size and weight of the item you are distributing and its destination. Such fees cover picking, packing and shipping your items to customers. The storage fee goes towards storing your items directly in Amazon's warehouses. It is important to note that these storage fees are very high and remain the same regardless of your numbers in sales. Referral fees are percentages of the sale price, which can be up to 15%, which can result in profit cuts (not something any ecommerce business wants).

  1. ShipBob

ShipBob is a technology-enabled fulfilment provider which works with businesses to help with shipping and logistic needs. The company has a wide range of services — from order fulfilment and inventory management to real-time tracking. Alongside that, ShipBob partners with ecommerce platforms to make it easy for businesses to integrate their key functions and fulfilment services with their online stores. You also receive a network of fulfilment centres located in the USA, just in case your company wants to spread globally.

Key Features

  • Inventory Management: With ShipBob, your business can store its inventory in its warehouses with real-time inventory updates.

  • Order Fulfilment: ShipBob covers picking, packing and shipping orders straight to the customer.

  • Multi-Channel Integration: ShipBob offers integration with a wide range of popular ecommerce platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce and more.

  • Shipping and Tracking: You receive discounted shipping rates with major carriers such as UPS and FedEx, and your customers receive active tracking information.

  • Reporting and Analytics: Your business receives detailed reports on your inventory, sales and overall business performance.

Pricing

ShipBob offers simple and transparent pricing. They provide a calculator which gives you a rough estimate of how much the fulfilment cost is based on the space you're using and the size of your packages. However, to get more accurate pricing, you will need to request a quote from ShipBob.

  1. Huboo

Huboo is another order fulfilment company that excels in providing warehousing and shipping services for ecommerce businesses. The platform offers a great set of functions and helps businesses grow by handling the difficult part of logistics and ecommerce order fulfilment needs.

Key Features

  • Real-Time Inventory Tracking: With this inventory management function, your business can keep track of its stock levels.

  • Ecommerce Platform Integration: Huboo is easily integrated with your favourite ecommerce platforms, allowing you to manage your orders from one dashboard.

  • Customised Packaging Options: Huboo offers customised packaging options, adding a personal touch of branding to each order.

Pricing

Huboo's pricing is heavily based on the volume of orders, inventory size and the subscription level you chose. On the bright side, there are flexible plans to choose from that can be modified to suit the needs of each business that Huboo works with. There are some task fees, but you can contact Huboo directly for clearer information on pricing.

  1. Zendbox

Zendbox is an eCommerce 3PL fulfilment provider. They bring a great experience to their customers, offering complete care of an entire fulfilment process for ecommerce businesses. Picking, packing and dispatching are handled as inventory management as well. It is a good platform to automate your ecommerce fulfilment needs.

Key Features

  • Easy Onboarding: With this perk, you receive a dedicated onboarding team to guide you through the transition of using Zendbox.

  • Real-Time Storage: Ensuring you can store thousands of different products and calculate the space you are taking up without overpaying more than what you use.

  • Hassle-Free Customer Returns: A great experience catered to your customers, ensuring they can return a product fairly without difficulties.

  • Live Inventory and Order Management: With the Zendportal, you can keep track of your stock live and calculate when you need to restock a specific product.

Pricing

Zendbox's pricing is unique to each business — from the size of your products to their quantity. You'll have to contact them directly to receive an accurate pricing estimate.

Conclusion

When it comes to choosing a UK fulfilment company, there are many options available, each with its own positives and negatives. However, the choice is clear — Bezos. Our company stands out as the best choice for any business looking for expert and effective fulfilment solutions.

At Bezos, we are committed to delivering fast and accurate order fulfilment, as well as a wide range of features that will take your ecommerce business to the next level. Our cutting-edge warehouse management systems guarantee efficient and high-quality processing of your orders, while our excellent customer support team is dedicated to ensuring that you receive the support and guidance you need.

We believe in maintaining strong partnerships and great communication with our clients, and our transparent and competitive pricing options ensure that businesses of all sizes can benefit from our expertise. Get your free quote today and take your ecommerce business to the next level!

FAQ

What is a fulfilment centre in the UK?

A fulfilment centre streamlines the supply chain by taking care of logistics tasks like picking, packing, shipping and inventory control. It is a crucial function for a smooth and reliable supply chain operation.

What are the best fulfilment centres in the UK?

There are many fantastic fulfilment centres across the UK. The best fulfilment centre is the one that aligns with your specific business needs and operates seamlessly with your company.

How much do fulfilment centres charge in the UK? 

Fulfilment centres across the UK all charge differently, with price structures dependent on factors such as product size, dimensions and weights, quantity, order volume, amount of storage space used and operational requirements. 

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