Virtual Warehousing & Fulfillment Shipping
Distributors are often asked to provide virtual warehouses for their customers (resellers). This allows the reseller to carry less inventory, or have the inventory located closer to the end-user if the distributor has multiple locations, and provides the distributor with the ability to provide additional value to the reseller.
When the reseller sells something that is to be delivered by the distributor to the end-user they place a “fulfillment or drop-ship” order with the distributor, providing the end-user address as the shipping destination.
Terminology
• Customer Warehouse Shipment – this is a shipment that is shipped to an address that does not require hiding of the thru shippers name.
• Fulfillment Shipment – this is a shipment where the customer wishes to hide who the shipment is coming from.
As the system processes the order and prepares the shipping documentation, normally consisting of a packing slip and one or more address labels, it checks the return address code flag in the reseller customer record to determine how to print the return address. The return address can either be; the distributors return address, the reseller’s address or a special address specific to the reseller such as a central returns location.
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Company.Return_Add_Code value table | |
|
Value |
Description of return address to use |
|
Blank |
Shippers return address, either from the department or division record based upon F248:invpdept (y = dept, blank = div) |
|
H |
Hidden Name. The system uses the distributor return address using the above flag but replaces the shippers name with the generic name “Shipping Facility”. |
|
R |
Return to Shipping location address. The system uses the distributor return address, as the above flag does, but replaces the shippers name with the customers name + “ - Shipping Facility”. |
|
F |
Fulfillment address. The system uses a specific return address provided by the customer. The system first searches for a fulfillment address in the Shipto address file*. If no fulfillment address is found the system will use the resellers company address as the return address. |
* The “fulfillment address” is an address associated with a customer and stored in the Shipto File. The address is identified as a fulfillment address by setting the Shipto.Default field to “F”. This address is used as the customers return address on shippers and shipping labels.
In addition to customizing the return address based upon the reseller placing the order, the system can also print packing lists and labels with the reseller’s logo. The Longcode file contains the link to the graphic GIF files for the labels and packing list.
More:
Customer Warehouse versus Fulfillment
Shipping