Online fulfillment is a cornerstone of e-commerce, encompassing all of the steps involved in purchasing and receiving a product, from order placement and billing to packaging, shipping, and beyond. Fulfillment problems arise when a breakdown or bottleneck occurs at some point in the process. Before the advent and wide use of the Internet, companies could often hide inefficient fulfillment systems, but with e-commerce this is not possible. Online fulfillment differs considerably from fulfillment models used for "brick-and-mortar" stores. Rather than shipping relatively small numbers of large orders to retail chains or distributors, high volumes of smaller orders for individual consumers must be processed. This presents a new set of requirements for retailers, especially in the areas of speed, connectivity, and customer service.
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