In the dynamic world of international ecommerce, reliable and efficient fulfillment service providers are indispensable. In your search for a seasoned 3PL business partner, Floship is a name you have probably come across.
A fast-growing, global powerhouse in the realm of ecommerce fulfillment, Floship promises a comprehensive suite of services tailored to assist all ecommerce sellers, regardless of the size and scale of their operation.
What Is Floship?
Founded in 2015, Floship has risen to a top contender for 3PL services in Asia. Headquartered in Hong Kong, Floship is strategically located to reach prime markets like China. They also have warehouses in:
- East, west, and south U.S.
- The U.K.
- Australia
- Germany
- Lithuania
- China
- Hong Kong
Company
Floship has 12 fulfillment centers in major markets and continues to expand. They have delivered packages to over 190 countries, using 80 different carriers and 100 total shipping solution combinations. For a company less than 10 years old, that’s quite a footprint!
Floship boasts over 1000 clients and has racked up an impressive list of accolades in the past five years. Floship is committed to helping businesses grow through holistic logistics, smart technology, and by embracing diversity.
Pricing and Cost Structure
Floship’s pricing structure is purposefully designed to support the individual needs and budget considerations of ecommerce businesses. Rather than offering a blanket rate, they have different packages targeted at different ecommerce models. These include:
Pricing
- Essential
- Pro
- Modular
- Connect
- Kickstart
- Returns
- Flosurance
Depending on the needs, location, and volume of your business, one of these solutions is likely a good fit for you. For many ecommerce companies, Floship Essential covers all your standard 3PL needs, including international shipping and returns.
Scalability
As your business grows, switching to other solution packages makes scaling simple. You can also expect that the more orders you process with Floship, the more cost-effective the service becomes. This makes Floship a particularly strong option for stores with a solid sales volume or those looking to scale up.
It’s worth noting that while Flopship’s custom pricing structure aims to offer optimized pricing, it lacks transparency. Each service is priced differently, and additional costs could potentially accrue depending on the specific needs of the business, such as insurance or other value-added services.
You can request a quote for an accurate breakdown of expenses to fit your business model.
Global Logistics
Floship Review and Company Ratings
Floship’s global fulfillment, real-time order tracking, inventory management, and shipping updates provide robust capabilities that make it a formidable contender in the ecommerce fulfillment space.
However, like all services, it has not been all sunshine and roses. Some users reported challenges centered around pricing and customer support. Since each business has unique needs and requirements, it is wise to consider if Floship’s features offers align well with your business model.
Taking this into account, the majority of users are content with Floship, but there is always room for improvement in the world of ecommerce.
User Experience and Satisfaction
When it comes to user experience and satisfaction, Floship seems consistent in providing an above-average engagement for its clients. At first, users might find the platform challenging due to its extensive features, but once accustomed, the benefits are quite obvious. Some users praise its ease of integration and have expressed satisfaction with the existing plug-and-play features.
With a stellar rating on review websites like Trustpilot and G2, Floship’s commitment to providing reliable and efficient services is confirmed through the positive experiences of many ecommerce sellers. This positive feedback has established it as a reliable partner for online businesses seeking fulfillment solutions.
In general, user satisfaction is quite high, and those users who leverage the platform to its fullest extent seem to be the most satisfied. Companies have reported a substantial increase in efficiency after incorporating Floship into their supply chain management strategies. The real-time order tracking, inventory management, and shipping updates offer a clear advantage, contributing significantly to the overall positive user experience for both sellers and their customers.
Case Studies and Success Stories
Floship has helped hundreds of ecommerce businesses optimize their shipping and logistics solutions, and they’ve shared some of their success stories as case studies on their website.
A standout case is the online fashion retailer, VogueMe. VogueMe experienced rapid growth, and Floship was able to keep up with their pace, managing high-volume orders efficiently, a testament to their scalability. With Floship, VogueMe could streamline their supply chain and improve their global reach in ways an independent startup simply could not.
Another example is the tech startup, Gadgik. Gadgik turned to Floship for help with its crowdfunding campaign. Floship ensured that Gadgik’s products were shipped on schedule and reached their backers in tip-top shape. The campaign was a major success due in part to Floship’s reliable logistics solutions.
These examples highlight the wide-ranging capabilities of Floship and the benefits they can bring to ecommerce businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Floship Pros
Floship Cons
Floship’s Shipping Services
Whether you are a small start-up or a seasoned giant in the industry, Floship is equipped with the necessary tools to handle your shipping demands. Its comprehensive range of warehousing and fulfillment services cater to a global clientele, enabling businesses to reach customers in many regions, effortlessly. Efficiency is at the heart of these services, ensuring that your merchandise gets to your buyers without delay.
Beyond just shipping, Floship also provides value-added services such as inventory management, returns management, and kitting. This way, not only is your ecommerce business taken care of in terms of end-to-end shipping, but you also get the necessary support to efficiently grow your customer base.
Fulfillment Services
Warehouse and Fulfillment Solutions
Running an efficient ecommerce business requires an effective warehousing and fulfillment system. That’s where Floship steps in.
Leveraging a global network spread across four continents, Floship provides integrated warehousing and fulfillment services to ensure your products reach their destination in a timely and secure manner. One of Floship’s standout features is its end-to-end fulfillment. Based near the manufacturing giants of China and Hong Kong, with warehouses in Germany and the U.S.. as well, Floship can take full control of your supply chain from supplier to customer.
By automating numerous complex processes such as receiving, inventory management, order fulfillment, shipping, and tracking, Floship frees up considerable resources for its partners. Floship’s global order fulfillment is second-to-none, allowing any ecommerce business to ship their orders worldwide without hassle, greatly expanding their potential customer base.
Order Tracking and Management
Imagine being able to track your orders in real time, having immediate access to inventory management insights, and receiving instant shipping updates. Floship offers this and more. Their advanced system doesn’t simply help you monitor where an order is in the shipping process; it provides detailed reports and analytics to help you make informed decisions about your shipping and inventory strategies.
One of the main advantages of Floship’s system is certainly its global sophistication. Beyond just revealing the delivery status, it offers comprehensive visibility over the entire transport process, with a focus on first-mile and last-mile solutions. This helps to remove a lot of the guesswork commonly associated with order fulfillment and brings significant peace of mind when dealing with large volumes of orders.
Moreover, Floship understands that returns are a significant aspect of order management. Accordingly, they have a robust returns management system in place. This means that not only can customers make easy returns, but you, as a vendor, can also quickly restock returned items, keeping your inventory balances accurate and up to date.
These features enable you, with Floship’s support, to improve customer service and satisfaction with ease.
Ecommerce Integration
Floship is more than just a fulfillment center; by integrating with over 100 ecommerce platforms, shopping carts, ERPs, and global carriers, you can unlock automation potential like never before. These integrations range from industry giants like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Amazon, to lesser-known platforms like Suning and Shopee.
These integrations make it easy to not only plug in your existing marketplaces to streamline the fulfillment process and reduce errors, but offers easy access to new platforms and markets like Tmall and Aliexpress in China.
As far as 3PL and fulfillment companies, Floship stands out for its unique angle on global markets. Virtually all fulfillment companies let you integrate with big names like eBay and Walmart, but Floship’s unique connections and integrations give you exclusive access to new avenues that could lead to an explosion in sales growth.
Integrations
On top of plug-and-play integrations, Floship’s API is versatile enough to help automate just about any aspect of your fulfillment process for custom integrations and management.
Customer Support and Communication
One area where Floship does not stand out is customer support. While you can expect the basics of phone support, live chat, and a help center, there is nothing overly noteworthy about Floship’s communication.
Response times tend to be quick, so you aren’t ever left in the dark, but 24/7 support in your region is not guaranteed (or likely in most cases). That said, Floship does a good job of getting new clients onboarded, and their processes are pretty straightforward and comprehensive from that point.
In other words, Floship handles so much of the work for you that customer service doesn’t need to be that robust. Once things are running, they should continue to run without much input or fuss on your end.
Customer Support
Floship’s support infrastructure comprises phone support and live chat – and a comprehensive Help Center. The customer service team is responsive, and even proactive, mitigating possible disruptions before you would need to contact them.
The online portal where you manage your orders and inventory includes tutorials, articles, and guides to help clarify all aspects of the service, from initial setup to advanced fulfillment strategies.
Other 3PLs to Consider
There is no doubt that Floship has a lot to offer. But before you make the investment, take a look at some leading alternatives to ensure Floship has the right balance of features, pricing, and experience to suit your needs.
Company
ShipBob
ShipBob serves as a robust alternative to Floship, offering comprehensive fulfillment services that cater to various e-commerce needs. With a strong network of warehouses, seamless integrations with popular e-commerce platforms, and competitive pricing, it remains a viable option for businesses seeking efficiency and reliability in their fulfillment processes.
Fulfillment.com
As an alternative to Floship, Fulfillment.com stands out with its global reach and emphasis on simplicity. This service makes your worldwide logistics operations as easy as possible, allowing businesses to focus on their growth and product development. They achieve this with an automated system and a smart dashboard that allows users to easily monitor their orders and shipments.
Though Fulfillment.com has been around for a few years longer, it has a smaller global footprint and fewer warehouses. It has no presence in Asia, which should be a dealbreaker if that is a market you want to break into.
It also uses custom pricing and offers a similar level of service. FDC aims to provide fast, efficient, and cost-effective delivery options for its customers, with simplicity at the forefront. If you aren’t interested in markets in China and Hong Kong and are intimidated by some of the technical aspects of assimilating with a 3PL, Fulfillment.com may be an easier option than Floship.
ShipHype
If you’re looking for an alternative to Floship, another worthy consideration would be SHIPHYPE. Yes, this is also a full-service fulfillment company designed for ecommerce sellers, but their approach and features come with a few distinctions.
Compared to Floship, SHIPHYPE sets itself apart by offering a pay-as-you-go pricing model, which may be better suited for businesses with fluctuating order volumes. They charge only based on actual storage used and orders fulfilled, offering predictable costs for businesses.
ShipHype has an easy-to-use app that gives ecommerce sellers more control over their orders and inventory, from anywhere. This, and their pricing model, gives them an edge on usability over Floship.
However, with warehouse locations in only the U.S. and Canada, SHIPHYPE’s global reach is considerably limited compared to Floship’s. Their monthly service fee and pricing model may also be an obstacle for some companies, especially startups.
But if you primarily do business in North America and don’t mind less optimized costs, SHIPHYPE is a simple and straightforward fulfillment option.
Share Your Opinions of Floship!
Having explored Floship in detail, it’s clear why it has become a popular choice among ecommerce sellers. Its robust integrations, tailored pricing model, and global expansion services make it a powerful solution for many sellers on global markets.
That said, every business has unique requirements. What might work perfectly for one seller might not be the most suitable solution for another. It is always a good idea to take the time to weigh the pros and cons of your 3PL partner with other options on the market. After all, your selection will significantly impact the future of your ecommerce business!
If you have previously used Floship for your own ecommerce endeavors, share your opinion with us below. Your experience will help other ecommerce entrepreneurs decide if Floship is the right choice for their company.
