What does your fulfilment partner need to have in place to support your growth and success? 

The ‘Health and well-being’ sector, covers a wide range of retail products, generally aimed at promoting overall health, preventing illness and improving how we feel. These include:

• Dietary Supplements
• Health foods 
• Skincare and self-care products. 

The sector is facing a significant shift with the move to e-commerce retailing, creating challenges and opportunities. It is a competitive and dynamic market. 

Retailers that understand consumer needs, embrace technology and commit to quality and sustainability will not only survive but succeed in this fast-moving sector. As the health and well-being sector continues to develop and change, demand for high-quality e-commerce fulfilment increases too.

The customer experience is key; consumers have expectations. A seamless and swift delivery of the right goods will cement an impression of quality but errors or delays damage reputations and lose business.  Implementing robust and effective fulfilment processes is critical to ensure accurate order completion and speedy distribution. 

Brands need to have the right support in place internally or from their chosen e-commerce fulfilment partners, to ensure fulfilment processes are equally agile, continuously improving, technology-driven and have sustainability at their core. 

So – what factors make Health and Well-being fulfilment successful and allow brands to stay ahead of the competition?

Flexibility & Agility

Competition in the market is strong and trends are showing that consumers are attracted by new and novel products, and this is a strategy to attract a wider customer base. Retailers therefore have to keep looking for innovative ways to introduce and promote new products. 

In order to achieve this successfully, and provide the seamless service expected by new customers, the supporting fulfilment process must be robust, agile and flexible, to deal with change – meaning handling new products & packaging, managing promotional volumes, and providing seamless delivery returns processing options.  

Sustainable Fulfilment Solutions

The demand for eco-friendly and ethically sourced products is ever-increasing. The UK health and well-being market is expected to see substantial further growth, driven by sustainability concerns​.

This means prioritising sustainability in product development but also in supply chain management – and so – fulfilment. Transparency in sourcing and environmental practices of retailers and their supply chains can serve as a significant differentiator in the marketplace.

The fulfilment operation itself must be able to align with the ethos of the brand in terms of sustainability. Recycling strategies, utilising green energy, sustainable packaging and investment in efficient technology – are the sorts of measures that forward-looking fulfilment operations will utilise to minimise their impact. 

Sustainable packaging solutions are the most common requirements of clients in the health and well-being sector. It is a visible commitment to sustainability and can strengthen brand loyalty with a growing base of eco-aware consumers. There is ever-increasing demand for (and availability of) smart packaging using recycled/recyclable, biodegradable, or compostable materials. Further, there is a focus on reducing packaging waste through innovative design and the ability to repurpose it. 

Proportionate packaging is important too! Consumers are increasingly frustrated by receiving overly large packages compared to their content, which simply wastes resources and impacts shipping. 

Finally, it is important that brands have shipping options to reflect their sustainability. They should be able to choose from high-quality global carriers with sustainable shipping options to complete their customer experience. 

Batch/LOT Tracking Ability

Batch and LOT number tracking are essential components in the fulfilment package for supporting health and well-being products. The use of advanced technology – such as handheld scanners linked to a warehouse management system (WMS) – will guarantee accurate tracking of inventory and provide full LOT traceability throughout the entire product journey – from inbound to dispatch and delivery.

Each item received into stock needs to be tracked by its LOT number for:

• quality control
• compliance/ health and safety
• identifying and removing faulty products from storage

This significantly reduces risks of potential distribution of unsafe or below-standard goods which is critical for a brand’s reputation. It also ensures efficiency and limits disruption when product recalls are necessary. 

Knowing precisely which LOT has been used to fulfil a specific order protects the consumer’s safety and mitigates’ unnecessary risk to the brand, as well as protecting its reputation by ensuring that when things go wrong, recovery can be targeted and immediate. 

Expiry Dates Tracking (FEFO) services.

Most health and wellbeing products have ‘use by’ or expiry dates. 

It is vital therefore that a First Expired First Out (FEFO) system is in place in the fulfilment of perishable or stock with expiration dates. FEFO ensures that products with the earliest expiry dates are prioritised for order picking and onward shipping. This reduces the risk of waste/cost to the retailer, ensures customers receive the current product, and allows the product life cycle to be closely monitored and managed in line with best practices. 

Using this method of order picking helps to optimise inventory management and minimises the chance of products becoming unsellable. FEFO is playing a key role in delivering fresh, high-quality products to consumers, which in turn enhances customer satisfaction and reduces the potential for financial loss through out-of-date products.

Food Hygiene Rating

Third-party fulfilment providers that offer services to the health and well-being industry containing food products or supplements, must be registered with and subject to regular inspections by the UK Foods Standards agency. 

When considering a fulfilment partner, ask for their Food Hygiene Rating to validate the standards they operate to (a ‘five-star’ rating being the optimal requirement). 

The Food Hygiene Rating ensures that all products are handled, stored, and distributed in an environment that meets the highest levels of cleanliness. Achieving this rating involves rigorous adherence to food safety requirements, regular inspections, and comprehensive staff training. 

By requiring these standards of their fulfilment service, brands not only protect consumer health and manage their own business risk, but also build trust and credibility with their customers, ensuring consumers can rely on the quality and safety of the products they receive.

Ethical and Safe Operations

In line with the ethos of health and wellbeing brands, it is important that the fulfilment operation is ethically run with the safety and wellbeing of its team at its centre. It is key that the business invests sufficiently in staff welfare facilities and support, which improves the work environment and the team’s wellbeing. This, in turn, will improve loyalty and efficiency.   

Regular operational risk assessments and health & safety audits are key to maintaining a safe operational environment for the team. They ensure adherence to strict operational safety standards, protecting the team and ultimately the condition of goods handled. Areas of concern are flagged, ensuring that corrective actions can be put in place promptly. 

Implementing these types of well-being and safety measures not only reduces the potential risk of workplace accidents and product damage but also enhances operational efficiency and staff longevity in the business. 

Influencer Marketing

Social media influencers play a significant role in forming consumers’ choices in the health and wellbeing sector. Many influencer merchandising companies therefore have clients on their books who specialise in health and wellness products – especially in the skincare cosmetics arena.  

Fulfilment for these influencer brands needs all of the basics discussed in this article – as well as the ability to be able to operate and produce fulfilment information at merchandising company level, and at influencer level, to enable the merchandising company to manage its influencers and provide accurate invoicing and brand management. 

Conclusion:

The health and well-being sector is a growing and dynamic retail sector online, which requires fulfilment support that is agile and flexible – but with high attention to detail – in order to meet the end customers’ expectations, the retailers’ requirements, and the strict safety standards necessary. 

Utilising a fulfilment partner that employs the best practice set out above, ensures:

• Brand reputation and customer loyalty are protected
• Values are aligned
• Retailer’s business risks are managed and mitigated
• Product storage, handling & delivery comply with the highest standards of quality, efficiency, and safety. 
• Future growth and success are enabled even with changing industry trends.