Why We Visit Merchants Onsite: Real Impact Beyond the Screen

At Fulfil, we believe that deeply understanding your business means more than just video calls and screen sharing. That's why our team regularly visits DTC merchants in person, before, during and after implementing Fulfil as their ERP. This blog shares some success stories from on-site visits and highlights the value that on-site visits can bring to your eCommerce business.

The Discovery Advantage: Front-Loading Success

One implementation visit compressed three hours of discovery into what would have taken multiple sessions over a week of remote meetings. Walking the warehouse floor, meeting with end-users, and observing physical processes in real-time revealed requirements that might never have surfaced on a Zoom call.

The stakes are high: missing a single requirement during discovery can lead to inefficient workflows. When customers assume certain processes are "obvious" and fail to mention them, we risk building workflows that require rework at launch. On-site visits eliminate this risk by providing a deep understanding of your business and ensuring that nothing gets lost in translation online.

Post-Launch Optimization: Turning Good Into Great

Packing Station Efficiency

For one merchant who had been using Fulfil as their ERP for about a month, our team suggested ergonomic improvements at their packing stations that:

Eliminated keyboard and mouse interactions entirely
Reduced clicks from multiple selections to simple scanning
Led to 20% faster packing per shipment

Intelligent Batching for Peak Season

When preparing for peak season with a merchant, we identified that their high-volume single-item orders didn't need traditional packing station workflows. By implementing pre-printed label batching for hero products and sale items, we enabled one person to process orders significantly faster by just grabbing a box, printing labels, and applying them. Multi-item shipments could still go through quality control at packing stations, but the streamlined approach freed up capacity where it mattered most.

Basket Picking for Mixed Singles

For a warehouse handling many single-unit orders of different SKUs, we introduced basket picking: throw 50 different SKUs into one tote, then scan items at the packing station to print the correct label. This was a simple workflow change that dramatically improved throughput and eliminated the need to scan into individual totes during picking.

The Hidden Value: Context That Can't Be Captured Remotely

For Accounting Teams

One merchant's accounting team walked us through their daily tasks in person, showing us workflows they'd never think to share over a call or in a support ticket. We identified opportunities for them to streamline their daily accounting workflows, enabling them to accomplish more each day and have a greater impact on their business.

For Warehouse Operations

At one facility, we observed a merchant seeking to bring some manufacturing in-house. Visiting their operations in person provided an immediate understanding of the proposed business model shift and the existing spatial constraints. Instead of holding inventory in XXS and 4XL sizes that rarely sell, they could print these one at a time on demand from blank stock. This would lead to substantial cash flow and inventory efficiency gains—insights that only came from seeing the operation in person.

For Long-Term Partnerships

One merchant has been using Fulfil as their ERP for five years, adapting their workflows every Black Friday/Cyber Monday to handle 10x volume spikes. Our on-site visit focused on a BFCM health check where we set up their Model Context Protocol (MCP) connector, enabling their warehouse manager to run carrier analysis and track picker/packer performance data from Fulfil data using Claude. The visibility alone transformed their operational decision-making heading into pearl season.

Inventory Accuracy Through Real-World Implementation

During our visit, we implemented handheld scanning for putaway at one merchant. This seemingly simple change meant inventory left bins at precisely tracked moments, enabling cycle counts to run simultaneously with regular operations. More than saving time, it eliminated human error from inventory location tracking—accuracy improvements that compound across thousands of daily transactions.

Implementation Velocity: Moving 10-20% Faster

In addition to visiting customers, we often visit prospective clients as they evaluate Fulfil so our team can see processes firsthand, validate alignment with best practices, and build detailed Statements of Work based on observations. This front-loaded clarity from in-person conversations can accelerate implementation timelines by 10-20%.

Just as importantly, in-person visits enable your floor teams (e.g. fulfillment staff and production workers) to explain how current processes work and where they break down. While they may not be deciding on which system to use, involving them helps them understand why changes are being made and ensures that those changes actually address their daily challenges. This early buy-in can help make your change management process significantly smoother.

The Value of On-Sites

Virtual meetings are powerful, but they can't replace the insights gained from:

Walking the warehouse floor during peak operations
Watching an accountant struggle with an accounting workflow that could be simplified
Understanding the physical constraints that shape process decisions
Building trust with the individuals who use or will be using the platform every day

At Fulfil, onsite visits aren't just about deeply understanding your business or solving problems—they're about discovering opportunities neither we nor our customers knew existed. Because sometimes the best improvements are the ones you didn't know to ask for.

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