What Fulfillment for Marketplaces Is
Fulfillment is outsourced operations: a third-party operator (a fulfillment center) receives your goods, stores, packs and labels them to the platform's requirements and ships deliveries to marketplace warehouses or directly to buyers. In effect you hand all the physical work to a contractor and focus on the product and promotion. It is not a separate Wildberries/Ozon model but an intermediary that works on top of FBO or FBS.
In short: fulfillment is a contractor that handles intake, packing, labeling and deliveries for you. On top of FBO/FBS.
How it differs from FBO and FBS
- FBO — you prepare and deliver the goods to the platform's warehouse yourself.
- FBS — you store and ship the goods yourself against each order.
- Fulfillment — an operator does all of that for you; you only supply the goods to them.
When you need it
- Volume has grown, and packing, labeling and deliveries eat up all your time.
- You have no warehouse or staff of your own for peak seasons.
- Complex labeling (Chestny Znak, Russia's mandatory product tracking system, and box requirements) is easier to outsource.
- Not needed at the start with low volume — it is an unnecessary expense.
Related guides: Dropshipping on marketplaces.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
"What does a fulfillment operator do?" It receives your goods, stores, packs and labels them to the platform's requirements and ships deliveries to marketplace warehouses or to buyers. It is fully outsourced operations.
"How does fulfillment differ from FBO and FBS?" FBO and FBS are models for working with the platform. Fulfillment is a third-party contractor that handles intake, packing and deliveries for you on top of those models.
"How much does fulfillment cost?" It depends on the operator and the set of services (storage, packing, labeling, shipping). You should count it into your unit economics as part of logistics costs.
"When does a seller need fulfillment?" When volume has grown and operations get in the way of selling, when you have no warehouse of your own, or when labeling is complex. At the start with low volume it is usually cheaper to do it yourself.
