Tweet

Shipping and Fulfilling Food Products

Guest post by: Kenneth Kowal

Article Overview: What are the special considerations for an online retailer selling food products online?

Shipping and Fulfilling Food Products

What are the special considerations for an online retailer selling food products online?

The whole order fulfillment process is made up of many steps, but there are two factors that apply to dealing with food products. First, the location you choose to store and pack your shipments needs to be food grade, which means it meets certain standards for cleanliness and pest control. The facility is periodically inspected to make sure those standards are upheld. Second, you need to consider if there are there any requirements related to the temperature in the facility that need to be considered while the products are stored and also when they are shipped.

From a storage and handling perspective, non-frozen or "dry" food products can be handled similar to any non-food product. The main exception is of course that the requirements for maintaining a food grade facility need to be adhered to. Food products, whether dry or not will likely have expiration or best used by dates so it is important to manage the inventory to make sure product is still fresh and usable. The FIFO (first in first out) method of managing inventory generally makes the most sense for food products. Frozen products obviously need more care and temperature control during storage. Keeping frozen food frozen is clearly important, but more subtle requirements such as controlling humidity and ambient temperature are also important.

From a shipping perspective, the needs are very similar. Dry food products can ship similar to most any item, although some non-frozen products may need to avoid being frozen at the risk of damaging the product or its packaging. Shipping frozen products is an additional, but manageable challenge. There are many options for stock, or custom packaging to be used when shipping frozen food (or any cold item for that matter). Kits that contain a styro-foam "cooler" and tight fitting carton are likely the best option and can be designed for most applications. Items packed in the box, along with dry ice can be kept safely frozen for 24 to 48 hours during shipping under normal conditions (think hot summer and cold winter). Needless to say, some level of expedited delivery, preferably overnight needs to be used to make sure product gets delivered on time. However, keep in mind, UPS and FedEx offer Ground service that provides next day delivery to locations within a pretty good size radius. There's no need to pay for expedited delivery when ground will suffice - the cost savings could be >50%.

Related Articles
  Frozen Food Fulfillment for Online Retailers
  Shipping Something Next Day Air With FedEx Or UPS? READ THIS FIRST!
  Ecommerce Order Fulfillment
  Shipping and handling
  Free As In Shipping
  Handling Order Fulfillment for an Online Retail Startup
  Shipping Options for Online Retailers
  4 Ways to Find Products to Sell on eBay
  Stop Shopping Cart Abandonment
  Home Business Ideas That Are Easy To Start Online
  Watch out for the Talent Shortage Iceberg!
  Drop Shipping Comes In Many Forms
  The e-Tail Shipping Trap
  3 Tips to Save Money at Your Small Business
  Online Order Fulfillment - To Outsource or Not?
  Weekly Inventory Management System to Cut Food Cost & Reduce Theft
  The Power of Benefits in Today’s Market
  Controlling Your Trade Show Costs
  4 Tips to Get a High Price and Earn Money On eBay
  Alpha – Beta – Theta of Food Costing

Article Tags: Ecommerce ORder Fulfillment, Frozen Food Fulfillment, Shipping



Related Forum Posts
Advertising is the essential - Yes, for sure without advertising there is no world of Market. In this busy world no one is having time to know about the products on there own. The only way they get to know the products are Ads. Many of them get attracted to the Products by the way there are promoted in the Ads. Products ranging from 1 Rupee to 1 Lac is getting Promoted. It’s enssential
Good Potential for Packaging Industry - There are a lot of competitors, but I think there is huge potential for more cost effective recyclable packaging. Food packets, packing for products, all is growing industries, with competitive pricing its possible to earn little from these.
Starting New Business Venture would like some tips - Hello I am new to this website and just want to say its awesome!! currently I am involved in a new business venture, I am new to the business world and I would like some extra help on this subject. Our company specializes in Custom Gold Foil Printed Ribbon, and Personalized Products (Napkins, Buttons Etc). so if anyone has any ideas of where to go, who to contact, or even if your looking for these types of products yourself, let me know and any tips to help me out it would be greatly appreciated.
How Many Hours A Week Do You Watch TV? - About a year ago or so, I completely cut off my cable TV. Food Network was the only channel I miss but I really don't miss it more than I expected. News, Sports, you know, the stuff you thought be hard to miss out on, I never realized how unimportant they could be and my "selective ignorance" really hasn't hurt my life. If I want news, I could always turn on to the Internet. How about you? Warmest Regards, Takuya
Re: America's 9 Most Stolen Products - Hey Evan, I'm pretty surprised by some of the items on the list. Cell phones and small electronic gadgets are the normal items to get stolen in my area that I hear about. Food, especially meat and stuff, seems odd, but the reasons are understandable as Michelle pointed out. Meat is rather expensive these days, and I'm sure many have a hard time affording the meat they would really like to have. Those excuses are hilarious.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

The Death of the Sales Magazine

Your Local Small Business Online Marketing Funnel

4 Steps To Hypnotize Your Business Prospects

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.