The Complete Guide to Onboarding with a New Logistics Company
Copyright © 2021 Red Stag Fulfullment. All rights reserved.

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ONBOARDING
WITH A NEW LOGISTICS COMPANY
Onboarding with a new logistics provider can be a challenging time. If you’re moving from selffulfillment to outsourced logistics for the first time, you might be learning a whole new orderprocessing lingo. Even if you’re a seasoned eCommerce pro, switching 3PL services companies
means learning new systems and procedures.
Still, your orders don’t stop just because you’re moving to a new fulfillment warehouse. You wantto avoid any hiccups that could lead to delays and backorders. If you know what to expect, you cananticipate challenges and solve them before they hold up the transition.
At Red Stag Fulfillment, we take onboarding seriously. We have staff dedicated to helping newclients get integrated into our systems and set up in our warehouses. We’ve based this guide on
our onboarding process. Other logistics companies may have slightly different approaches andprocedures, but the basic outline should be mostly the same. We hope this guide helps you have abetter onboarding experience, no matter who your new 3PL is.

The Complete Guide to Onboarding with a New Logistics Company
Copyright © 2021 Red Stag Fulfullment. All rights reserved.
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BEFORE YOU START WITH A NEW 3PL
The on-ramp to a successful onboarding process witha new logistics company starts before you choose
your 3PL. Picking the right order fulfillment company
for your brand is vital. It’s worth investing the timeto thoroughly research your options. Going with afulfillment center that isn’t a good match for youreCommerce company can turn into a painful andfulfillment to someone outside your company.
That’s understandable. Excellent fulfillment
is vital to growing your business. However,
you may be surprised at the results when you
outsource your order processing to a top-notch
3PL like Red Stag Fulfillment. We treat ourclients’ customers as if they were our own.

costly mistake.

CLARIFY YOUR ORDERFULFILLMENT PRIORITIESThe first step is to get clear about why you’relooking for a new logistics company. If you
already use a 3PL, list what’s not working
for you. Make sure your new fulfillment provider
meets the needs that the old one couldn’t.
For eCommerce businesses that have beenhandling fulfillment in-house, list your pain
points. When you outsource your fulfillment,
you can say goodbye to everything from staffing
headaches to storage space issues.
You may feel reluctant to hand over your order

Red Stag Fulfillment’s warehousing professionals
pack each order carefully and efficiently,
following the client’s specifications. You mighteven find that professional fulfillment reduces
your error rates, lost stock, and returns.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT FULFILLMENT
COMPANY FOR YOUR NEEDS
Every eCommerce business is different, andso is every eCommerce fulfillment company.
Make sure the 3PL you choose has experience
working with the types of products you sell.
If you sell food products, you need a fulfillment
center that is prepared and equipped tohandle food items. If you sell clothing, choose

The Complete Guide to Onboarding with a New Logistics Company
Copyright © 2021 Red Stag Fulfullment. All rights reserved.
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a warehouse set up to store, process, and ship
clothing orders. Whatever you sell, you want awarehouse familiar with items like yours.
One question many people forget to ask is the
typical weight shipped by the 3PL.
Most eCommerce packages weigh lessthan 1 pound. Therefore, most eCommerce
warehouses are set up to pick, pack, and shipsmaller parcels. If you sell bulky, heavy, oroversized products, you’ll get better service froma company that regularly ships larger items, like
Red Stag Fulfillment.
We have warehouse space specially-designed
to accommodate larger items. Plus, because we
ship so many bulky products, we have become
experts at reducing dimensional (DIM) weightcharges. We work hard to keep shipping costs
for our clients’ larger items as low as possible.

from our warehouse, we pay you the wholesalecost. If shrinkage was one of your pain points,
reducing product loss in the warehouse could
boost your bottom line.

SIGNING A FULFILLMENT AGREEMENT
Once you have found the best 3PL company foryour business, it’s time to sign the agreement.
Make sure the terms work for you. Somecompanies require a contract that locks you into
their warehouse for a set period. At Red Stag
Fulfillment, our agreement doesn’t have a fixed
term. You can leave anytime you like — just give
us 30 days’ notice to wrap up your account. We
want to win your business all over again, every
month.

TROUBLESHOOTING
Here are some of the most common issues
to look out for as you’re choosing your new
logistics company.

Ask your 3PL, “what’s
the typical weight you
Provide as much information as possible upfront
usually ship?”
SERVICES, BENEFITS, AND PRICING
When you’re deciding on a new 3PL, consider
the total value you will get from your logistics
provider. Most eCommerce companies are,understandably, cost-conscious when it comesto fulfillment. However, as with many things inlife, the option with the lowest upfront costs
might not be your most economical choice, once
you consider all the costs and benefits of using aparticular logistics provider.
When you look at costs you should factor in
not only the fees for fulfillment services but
also the money that your 3PL can save you.
For example, Red Stag Fulfillment has a zero
shrinkage policy. If we break or lose an item

The more information you provide about yourbusiness, the better the 3PL can assess how wellit will meet your needs. Share your expectedorder volume, typical order weight and size,
eCommerce platforms, and other relevant
information.
Ask about add-on services
Logistics companies can do more than just pick
and pack orders. Perhaps extra services, suchas kitting or customization, would benefit yourbusiness. Make sure the 3PL you choose canhandle your unique needs.

The Complete Guide to Onboarding with a New Logistics Company
Copyright © 2021 Red Stag Fulfullment. All rights reserved.
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How many fulfillment warehouses are bestfor your business?
Fulfillment center location is one of the benefitsof outsourcing your fulfillment. Make sure yourlogistics provider has warehouses that can reachyour customers quickly. Strategic warehouse
locations will lower shipping costs as well asdelivery times. However, placing your items inseveral warehouses will increase the amount of
inventory you need to keep on hand. Choose thesmallest number of locations with the maximum
national fulfillment reach to optimize youreCommerce fulfillment.
Read the agreement thoroughly

fees, such as a monthly charge for eachwarehouse location. If you know that upfront,
you can factor that into your decision about how
many warehouses to use. (Red Stag Fulfillment
doesn’t charge this fee, by the way.) If you areaware of potential issues ahead of time,
you can work with your suppliers and thelogistics company to reduce or eliminate
extra service charges. And, at the very least,
you won’t be surprised by unexpected line items
on your first invoice.
Up to the point where you review and sign theservice agreement, you’ll be working with thesales team. After that, the onboarding team willtake over to make sure your transition goes well.

We know: agreements are long and boring. It’s
tempting to skip the fine print, but don’t do it.
You don’t want to be surprised by additional

The Complete Guide to Onboarding with a New Logistics Company
Copyright © 2021 Red Stag Fulfullment. All rights reserved.
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BEFORE YOU SHIP YOUR INVENTORY
You’ve chosen a fabulous 3PL that will help
your eCommerce business reach new heights.
Congratulations! Now the real work begins. The

client receives an email with forms to fill out.
These forms cover all the information that weneed to ship your orders, including:transition is a tricky time. It needs to move as quickly
as possible so there’s little or no gap in your orders
going out. At the same time, you need to checkand double-check your systems to makesure your orders flow smoothly from yourshopping cart to your new 3PL warehouses.

•

Billing information•

Primary contact person for your company•

What information you want on your packing
slips

•

What sizes of boxes you use•

How many orders you expect to ship each
month

•

How many SKUs you will send to ourwarehouse

Here’s how to prepare to ship inventory to your new
logistics company.

PROVIDE COMPANY INFORMATION
After you sign the fulfillment services agreement,
you’ll need to provide some additional
information to get started. Some, if not most,of this information may be collected before you
sign the services agreement, in which case this is
an opportunity for it to be double-checked andconfirmed. At Red Stag Fulfillment, each new

The Complete Guide to Onboarding with a New Logistics Company
Copyright © 2021 Red Stag Fulfullment. All rights reserved.
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It’s a good idea to turn around this information
as quickly as possible. The sooner yourfulfillment company has your information, thesooner they can set you up in their system.

CONFIGURING YOUR FULFILLMENTDASHBOARD AND INTEGRATIONS
Once your 3PL has added you to their system,
it’s your turn to get set up. Make sure youreCommerce platforms are talking to yourfulfillment dashboard. Take the dashboard fora test drive to be sure you understand how to
use it.

Ask your 3PL to help
you figure out thebest warehouse
locations for yourfulfillment.
At this point in the onboarding process at
Red Stag Fulfillment, we provide a system demo.
We show new clients how to add SKUs andASNs, and we answer any questions you might
have. As you begin to load your information
into the system, you will have a couple moredecisions to make. What locations do you want
to use to fulfill your orders? Do you want to shipfrom one warehouse or more than one?
The answers to these questions will dependon several factors. One is the geographic
distribution of your customers. Are they
concentrated in one region or spread across the
U.S.? Another factor is the size and weight ofyour products. For example, Red Stag Fulfillment
has configured some of its warehouse spaces
to accommodate the largest items. If yourinventory includes oversized items, we would
suggest sending your stock there.

ADD YOUR SKUS
The next step is to add your SKUs to the system.
Be sure and include every SKU you plan
to fulfill with your new logistics provider.
Include as much information as possible about
each SKU. Weight and dimension information
will help the warehouse understand what kindsof storage spaces your products need.

SHARE SALES DATA WITH YOURLOGISTICS PARTNER
Sharing sales data is something you might
not think to do. Of course, if your eCommercecompany is a startup, you might not havemuch sales data yet. However, if you’ve been inbusiness for a year or more, information about
your sales patterns can help your new logistics
provider give you better service.
If you usually have a seasonal rush in thesummer or during the holidays, your 3PL can
prepare and provide the extra storage space you
need. By understanding your business growth,
your logistics partner can project staffing andspace needs into the future.

Data about your business lets yourfulfillment center plan ahead.

The Complete Guide to Onboarding with a New Logistics Company
Copyright © 2021 Red Stag Fulfullment. All rights reserved.
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If you feel reluctant to share proprietary datawith a vendor, here are a few things to consider.

1. Your service agreement should include
a confidentiality clause an/or a mutual
non-disclosure agreement (NDA). (If it
doesn’t, add one.) Whatever data you
share with your 3PL will not go beyond
the warehouse walls.
2. It’s a best practice to provide visibility
among the elements of your supply
chain. Connect your order fulfillment
company with your suppliers, and they’llfind ways to work together better, which
will save you money. Provide sales data,
and your fulfillment warehouse will be
prepared to handle a crush of orders or
scale back for slow periods.
3. Make your logistics company yourbusiness partner: that’s the way weapproach our clients at Red Stag
Fulfillment. We do everything in our
power to help your business succeed.
We know that your success will help ourbusiness grow. When you share sales
data with us, you give us the opportunity
to become an even better partner.

PROCESS A TEST ORDER
The final step before you start pushing orders
to your fulfillment warehouse is a test order.
You create a dummy order in your shopping
cart system. The logistics provider monitors
it to make sure your cart connects properly
to its system. Then, you check to confirm that
information from the warehouse got pushed
back to you.

To create the fake order, the warehouse will
manually add a (nonexistent) item to inventory.
It’s a good idea to do this before your physicalinventory arrives at the warehouse. That way,
there’s less risk of a stockout because the 3PL
doesn’t have to make an adjustment to actual
inventory after it “pretends” to fill this test order.

TROUBLESHOOTING
Here are some issues to look out for when
you’re starting the onboarding process.
Run systems tests
Testing is worth your time investment. You wanteverything to be running smoothly once you
start sending orders to a new warehouse.
Work out any glitches, so your systems integrate
fully with your new 3PL before your first ordercomes through.
Clarify expectations for box sizes
Let your logistics company know what sizes ofboxes you use. That way, the warehouse will be
prepared with enough of the right-sized boxes
for your orders. Shipping boxes may seem likea small detail, but having the right box sizes inplace can save a lot of headaches when you startworking with a new 3PL. Plus, you might end
up with extra shipping charges if your products
initially ship in boxes that are bigger than theyneed to be.

The tech that powers
logistics is just as essential
as the pickers and packers
who fill your orders.

The Complete Guide to Onboarding with a New Logistics Company
Copyright © 2021 Red Stag Fulfullment. All rights reserved.
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BEFORE YOU SHIP YOUR FIRST ORDER
Congratulations! You are in the system, set up, andready to go. Now it’s time to ship physical inventory to

SHIP INVENTORY TO THE FULFILLMENT
WAREHOUSE

your new 3PL and start filling orders.

CREATE AN ASN FOR EACH
OF YOUR SHIPMENTS
An ASN is an advanced shipping notice. The
ASN lets the warehouse know what products to
expect and the timing of inbound shipments.
The fulfillment center can reserve a time sloton the dock, so staff can quickly process yourinbound inventory.
If an order arrives at the warehouse without an
ASN, the receiving team won’t know what to dowith it. That could mean a delay in processing. In
a worst-case scenario, your order might even getturned away. Always submit an ASN when you
have stock coming into the warehouse.

Ship your inventory from your current
warehouse to your new 3PL. The hard work on
your end is almost over. You can give your orderfulfillment to the capable hands of your new
fulfillment partners.

PUSH ORDERS TO YOUR NEW 3PL
Once your inventory is on the warehouse
shelves, it’s time to push orders from yourshopping cart to your 3PL. In time, this process
will be seamless and automatic. In the
beginning, you might want to keep an eye
on your orders in case there are any hitches.
The onboarding team at your logistics company
should do the same.

The Complete Guide to Onboarding with a New Logistics Company
Copyright © 2021 Red Stag Fulfullment. All rights reserved.
page 8TROUBLESHOOTING

billed for an extra receiving charge.

As you start to process orders with a new 3PL,
here are some pain points to watch for andavoid.

Work with your suppliers and your 3PL to avoid
this charge. It may be more economical toarrange for your containers to ship palletized
products than to pay for unloading floor-stacked
inventory.

Double-check product specs
Incorrect product weights or dimensions
can cause problems very quickly. Yourfulfillment warehouse probably uses anapplication programming interface (API) like
RSF’s technology to transmit the weight anddimensions of the packages shipping each day.
Part of our onboarding process at Red Stag
Fulfillment is to confirm product dimensions.
When we receive the first shipment of each item,
we double-check its weight and dimensions.
Be aware of shipments that may require special
services
You might get an unpleasant surprise on yourinitial bill if there are aspects of your fulfillmentthat incur special charges. One of the mostcommon issues is floor-stacked or floor-loaded
containers.
When suppliers send shipping containers of
products, they want to use every available inchof space. Instead of loading on pallets, they fill
the entire shipping container with products.
That makes sense from a shipping economy
point of view, but it can lead to extra fees at thewarehouse.
On the receiving end, floor-stacked containers
are much more labor-intensive to unload
than trailers, which are usually loaded withstock on pallets. A forklift operator can unload afull or partial truckload of palletized stock quickly
and easily. However, floor-stacked containers
have to be unloaded by hand. If your inventory
arrives in floor-loaded containers, you might get

Initial backorders
The first orders your new fulfillment
company fills are likely to be backorders. It’s
hard to avoid a gap when your products are intransit from one warehouse to another while theorders keep coming in.
If you and your new logistics partner have done
an excellent job with onboarding, these initial
backorders aren’t a big issue. For example,
at Red Stag Fulfillment, we can take a fulltruckload of stock and turn it around in a day.
We use cross-docking to fill backorders directlyfrom the receiving dock and send them toshipping without putting them on the shelves.
However, we can’t do that if we don’t have all
the information we need in our system. Putting
stock on the shelves just to take it off again cancost a couple of days delay. Quickly clearing
backorders is one more reason to ensure theinformation and documentation you provide
to your new logistics company are complete.
Refine packaging to minimize shipping costs
Lean on the expertise of the staff at your 3PL.
They may have suggestions to improve youroutbound packaging. And that can save you
money on shipping, particularly if you selloversized products that incur DIM weightcharges.

The Complete Guide to Onboarding with a New Logistics Company
Copyright © 2021 Red Stag Fulfullment. All rights reserved.
page 9WORKING WITH YOUR LOGISTICS PROVIDER
During your first couple of months with a new logistics

chain can work together to improve operations. Let

provider is the perfect time to solve your fulfillment

your fulfillment partner know your projected sales

challenges. Both you and your 3PL should givevolumes, so they can be ready to meet your needs.

your fulfillment extra attention to ensurethat all processes are running smoothly andeveryone has the right information.

REQUEST EXTRA SERVICES, AS NEEDEDAt Red Stag Fulfillment, our onboarding team usually

Don’t assume that the extra fulfillment services
you need aren’t possible or that they are too
expensive.

works with new clients for 30 to 60 days to fine-tune
our operations to our clients’ needs. Once we’re surethat order processing is humming along, we assign apermanent account manager for each client.

Many fulfillment
From this point on, your outsourced fulfillment should
warehouses canrun smoothly. But there still are a few things to watch
out for as your business matures and grows.
add custom touches
to enhance your
KEEP COMMUNICATIONS CHANNELS
OPEN
customers’ unboxing
experiences or improve
Continue to share as much information as you canwith your logistics company. Open communications
your operations.
channels between the warehouse and yourmanufacturers, so these elements of your supply

The Complete Guide to Onboarding with a New Logistics Company
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If you want to offer custom embroidery on
your towel sets, ask if your 3PL can providethat service. The ability to offer just-in-time
customization could boost your sales.
At Red Stag Fulfillment, we offer kitting andassembly, among other special services. If you
let us know what you need, we’ll do everything in
our power to help you fill that need.
As your shipping volume grows, you may
become eligible for deeper discounts on yourshipping costs. Ask your 3PL about lower
shipping costs with higher package volume.

Inventory management means setting
safety stock levels, so you don’t end up withbackorders. You’ll also want to set reorder levels
based on your demand forecasts and yourknowledge of your supply chain.
Even though you don’t see your products comeand go on the fulfillment warehouse shelves,
you still need to take an active role in managing
your inventory. Fortunately, your 3PL deals
with more inbound and outbound inventory
than most companies, so it probably has some
wisdom to share.
Monitor fulfillment costs

Look for additional
shipping discounts as
your volume grows.
TROUBLESHOOTING
No matter how good your logistics operations
are, problems can crop up. Here are somepotential issues to keep in mind.
Refine inventory management to avoid stock-outs
Managing your supply chain is one of the biggest
challenges for most eCommerce businesses.
You don’t want to tie up all your capital in yourinventory. But you also don’t want to run outof stock before the next shipment arrives fromyour supplier.

Conduct regular audits to make sure that yourproduct pricing covers your fulfillment costs.
Analyze the total cost of fulfillment, which
includes what you save on warehouse rental,
shipping, and staffing. Don’t forget to include
the amount of inventory lost to shrinkage into
your total fulfillment cost (or savings).

Plan for regular maintenance of online systems
It would be nice if you could set up yourelectronic systems once and be done. Sadly,that’s not the world that we live in. Operating
system and server updates can affect the IT
that powers your eCommerce fulfillment. Plan
to do regular maintenance to keep all yourintegrations and apps current. That will help
you avoid business disruptions due to technicalissues.

Your logistics company can help you withinventory management best practices.

The Complete Guide to Onboarding with a New Logistics Company
Copyright © 2021 Red Stag Fulfullment. All rights reserved.
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LET RED STAG FULFILLMENT HELP YOU FIND YOURFULFILLMENT HAPPY PLACE
To grow your eCommerce company, you need two things in a logistics provider:a) A good match with your business model, andb) An excellent fulfillment company.
Red Stag Fulfillment isn’t the right match for every eCommerce business. However, if you are a good fit for our
3PL services, Red Stag provides industry-leading fulfillment that can help your business thrive.
If you’re looking for a new fulfillment provider or if you just have questions about onboarding, we’d love to talkwith you. We’re here to help.

GET STARTED TODAY866-706-2533

7450 Chapman Hwy, Suite 301
Knoxville, TN 37920

www.redstagfulfillment.com

The Complete Guide to Onboarding with a New Logistics Company
Copyright © 2021 Red Stag Fulfullment. All rights reserved.
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