5 Tips For a More Stress-Free, Efficient Shipping Day
Do you LOVE fulfillment day for your subscription box, or do you dread it? Does it fill you with EXCITEMENT, or does it drain your energy? There is no right or wrong answer. Just because you own a subscription box business does not mean that you have to love, or heck even likes, every single aspect of it.
Here are five tips and tricks to make fulfillment day a little more smooth and less tedious.
1. Batch, Baby, Batch! - Create an assembly line, rather than completing one box at a time. Line up your boxes and put crinkle-cut in all the boxes first, then put product one in all the boxes, then product two, and so forth.
2. Organize - Seems simple, right? Well, organization isn’t everyone’s strong suit, and when it comes to fulfillment and quantity it can be a little tricky. Most sub-box owners doing their own fulfillment do so at their homes. Pick one spot and designate that as your business area. For me, when I had my subscription box business, my dining room was command central. Keep products in boxes or on shelves, house bubble wrap or crinkle-cut in bins, and have scissors, tape, tape guns, pens/pencils, and any other office supplies you may need to use when boxing up each months’ orders.
3. Review & Prep - Before you start filling orders, double-check how many boxes are going out this month, and then make sure you have the correct number of any inserts or other printables needed. Place those in your organized holding area.
4. Ask For Help - This can be a particularly hard one to do for many reasons, but it is so very important to help you decrease stress and increase efficiency. Asking for help may mean you ask for actual help fulfilling the boxes. It may also look like asking someone to watch the kids so you can focus solely on fulfillment. Whatever help you are going to need, ask ahead of time and don’t be afraid.
5. Outsource - What?! You want me to give up control?! I know, I know. Relinquishing control over this part of your business is a BIG deal. Hear me out… you will not be able to sustain growing your business by doing it all yourself. At the same time, this will allow you to focus your time and energy on income-producing activities that only YOU can do. Outsourcing can allow you to work on collaborations, have more time to focus on marketing, or let’s be honest, provide you with more time to enjoy yourself with your family. There are lots of fulfillment centers out there, so make sure you do your due diligence in finding the best one for your business needs. Maybe Sub SupportHer’s fulfillment center is the one for you?