What Is Warehouse Fulfillment and How Does It Work in Pakistan?

Think of a fulfillment center as your business’s backstage crew. They handle all the physical work of getting orders to your customers so you can focus on the spotlight. The process is simple but powerful.

Here’s the flow in 6 easy steps:

1. Receiving: You send your products to your fulfillment partner’s warehouse. They check everything in and make sure it’s all accounted for.
2. Putaway: They neatly store your inventory on shelves, giving each product its own special spot.
3. WMS Sync: Their Warehouse Management System (WMS) talks directly to your online store (like Shopify or WooCommerce). When a customer clicks “buy,” the order pops up in their system instantly.
4. Pick and Pack: A team member “picks” the right items for the order, “packs” them safely in a box, and slaps on a shipping label. This is often called a pick and pack service.
5. Dispatch: The package is handed off to a delivery company to begin its journey to your customer.
6. Returns: If a customer needs to send something back, the fulfillment center handles that too, a process known as reverse logistics.

In Pakistan, this process has its own unique flavor. The biggest difference is the popularity of Cash on Delivery (COD). This means your fulfillment partner doesn’t just ship things; they also need to be experts at handling cash payments and managing the money side of your business. Delivery to smaller towns, or Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, also requires a strong local delivery network.

Who Should Use a 3PL in Pakistan?

A Third-Party Logistics (3PL) provider, another name for a fulfillment partner, isn’t just for huge corporations. You might be ready if:

• You’re an ecommerce brand tired of packing boxes and want to focus on marketing and product development.
• You sell on marketplaces like Daraz and need to ship orders quickly to keep your seller score high.
• You’re a B2B seller sending bulk orders to other businesses and need reliable, professional shipping.
• You’re a global brand entering the Pakistani market and need local experts to handle your logistics.

The tipping point is usually when you hit 5-10 orders a day or when you realize you’re spending more time on logistics than on activities that actually grow your sales.

Core Capabilities to Expect (And Minimum SLAs)

Not all fulfillment centers are created equal. When you’re choosing a partner, you need to look for specific capabilities and Service Level Agreements (SLAs), these are promises they make about their performance.

Storage Types

Your products need a safe home. A good provider will offer different storage options, like ambient (room temperature) storage for clothes or books, climate-controlled storage for cosmetics or snacks, and even bonded warehouses for storing imported goods before customs duties are paid.

Pick/Pack Accuracy and Cutoffs

How fast can they get an order out the door? Look for a provider that offers same-day or next-day dispatch. A common SLA is that all orders placed before 2 PM are shipped the same day. Their pick and pack accuracy should be over 99.5% nobody wants the wrong items sent to their customers!

Inventory Accuracy and Cycle Counts

Your inventory is your money. Your partner should guarantee near-perfect inventory accuracy. They do this by performing regular “cycle counts,” which is like a mini stock-take for a small section of the warehouse, ensuring the numbers in their system match the physical items on the shelf.

Returns, QC, and RTS Handling

Returns are a part of ecommerce. A great partner makes returns management easy. They will receive the returned item, perform a quality check (QC) to see if it can be resold, and handle the Return-to-Sender (RTS) process efficiently.