Falcon Fulfillment Review: Is it Right for Your Business?
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September 25th, 2024
When starting an ecommerce store, your shipping process is critical. It may be easy enough for you to pack and ship everything yourself at first, but as you grow, handling all this on your own could easily cause daily operations to fall by the wayside.
If you’re looking for a fulfillment company to take care of order processing, Falcon Fulfillment may be the solution.
In our Falcon Fulfillment review, we’ll examine features, pricing, ease of use, and more, so you can decide if this platform is right for your company.
Considerations for Choosing a 3PL
There are many third-party logistics (3PL) companies out there. Some are designed for small businesses, while others are designed for enterprise-level order volume. Ideally, you want to work with a 3PL that can grow with you. Remember, you’re not just looking for a service; you’re looking for a partner in your business.
Things to consider when evaluating a potential 3PL include:
- Size of their warehouse network
- Secured inventory
- Tools and integrations
- Shipping and delivery speeds
Here’s how Falcon Fulfillment stacks up to other 3PL providers:
What is Falcon Fulfillment?
Falcon Fulfillment, founded in 2015, is a 3PL based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. They have multiple fulfillment centers to ensure your customers receive orders fast. With 1 million cubic feet of warehouse space, your products will be safe until they make it to your customers.
It’s best suited for larger businesses that have a steady high order volume, as there is a 4,000 minimum monthly order requirement. It works well for direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, wholesale, Amazon, and more. Many clients are health and wellness and beauty brands.
The company specializes in beauty and cosmetics fulfillment, so if you sell supplements or makeup, Falcon is a great choice.
Pricing and Shipping Rates
The ideal 3PL partner works to ensure you’re never paying more than you should for order fulfillment and inventory management. Falcon Fulfillment offers transparent pricing, with a model that’s easy to scale as your business grows.
When you request more information, you’ll get a call from a fulfillment expert who will take the time to learn about your business. Pricing is customized to your business needs, to ensure you get the best possible deal.
There is a $1,500 account setup/implementation fee plus a variable deposit, but this also serves as a deposit into an escrow account.
You’ll also pay a receiving fee charged per line item, but it is variable per unit.
Picking and packing fees are variable.
Storage fees start at $18/month/pallet.
Shipping rates vary depending on size, weight, shipping zones, and carrier. Falcon negotiates discounts with the carriers and opts for the best option based on what your customer pays for and what gets you the best deal.
You’ll receive an itemized bill for every order so you can easily see where the money goes.
Features
Falcon Fulfillment offers a variety of features to make managing inventory and orders easier.
Supply Chain Management
Worrying about supply chain management takes away from your business management. This 3PL offers full management of your supply chain, getting your products from the manufacturer to the customer. They use multiple transit methods, including sea, air, rail, and trucks, to get products from point A to point B.
You choose how you want them to handle the products. You have the option to have them pack it for you. You’ll send packages of loose items, which are then put into their own packages. If they pack it, you get one tracking number per box.
Inventory Management and Tracking
The customer dashboard makes it easy for you to see exactly how many of each SKU you have in each warehouse location. Should you run low, your account manager will let you know with plenty of time to replenish stock before it affects your customers.
It’s possible to track inventory by lot number or expiration date, and to use Bill of Materials without relying on IT for help.
Live Order Editing
In the 3PL industry, most orders cannot be edited after they’re placed. Falcon makes it possible to order live orders after they’ve been submitted, courtesy of a brief delay before processing begins. This allows customers to change their order on the shopping cart end.
Custom Packaging
Falcon Fulfillment offers custom packaging for its clients. They make it easy to personalize your packaging, addressing everything from the material, size, style, inserts, packing tape, and more. Clients also have the option of adding stickers and other promotional materials.
Eco-friendly packaging options are available. Not only do they offer boxes made from recyclable materials, but they can design custom boxes meant specifically for your products to minimize (and even eliminate) the need for fillers and plastics. Custom packaging helps to remove 80% of waste. Falcon also combines orders into a single package to reduce waste and carbon footprint.
State-of-the-art Technology
Falcon Fulfillment uses an in-house tech team that owns and operates all the equipment. This allows them to solve tech issues faster, build custom integrations, and a robust backend that makes it easy for customers to login and see stats any time, day or night.
Kitting Services
Have a subscription box? Want to offer product bundles? Kitting services are available to help. Kitted products can become their own SKU, and unkitted to return to their original SKUs.
Returns Management
Falcon will handle returns according to your company’s return policy. They receive returns in whatever packaging the customer returns it in and process accordingly.
Integrations
To make operations run smoothly, Falcon offers a variety of integrations with the most popular ecommerce platforms, marketplaces, shipping companies.
Ecommerce Platform Integrations
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- Adobe Commerce – requires custom integration
Marketplace Integrations
- Amazon
- Walmart
- eBay
Walmart and eBay integrations are available via ShipStation.
Shipping Carrier Integrations
- FedEx
- USPS
- UPS
These integrations allow for 96.4% of the lower 48 states to have access to two-day shipping via ground shipping.
Ease of Use
The platform is incredibly easy to use. If you can’t find specifically what you’re looking for within the dashboard, you can use the global search function to find what you’re looking for.
Dedicated Account Manager
Every customer gets a dedicated account manager, who walks them through how to make the most of the service. They’ll show you exactly how to use the dashboard, and how to find everything you need.
Fast Onboarding
While other 3PL providers can take months to onboard new clients, it only takes a dew days or weeks to work with Falcon. They take care of connecting your supply chain to the warehouses and integrating your software with theirs, so you don’t have to do any heavy lifting.
Customer Support
Falcon Fulfillment offers a blog with industry news, updates, and more. They offer live chat and case studies to help. Plus, you can also reach out to your account manager with questions.
Alternatives
Thinking that Falcon may not be the right solution for you? Consider these other options:
ShipBob
ShipBob is the ideal partner for businesses both large and small. If you’re just getting started and haven’t reached the Falcon threshold, this may be the better option.
Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA)
FBA lets sellers use Amazon warehouse space and staff to manage their shipping and logistics. Even if you don’t sell products on that marketplace, they’ll ship out orders for you. If, however, you’re looking to have control over your customer interactions and branding, then you may not want to use this option. If you sell with the online retailer, you can leave a portion of your inventory there and allow another 3PL to take care of orders from other channels.
Red Stag Fulfillment
If the bulk of your inventory is large or heavy, then Red Stag may be the optimal choice for your business. It is the best option for routinely shipping packages weighing 50 pounds or more, or 48’’+ long.
ShipMonk
If you’re looking for a provider that doesn’t have a minimum monthly order threshold, ShipMonk is a good option. It integrates with many popular platforms, too.
Is Falcon Fulfillment Right for Your Business?
If your business has a consistent order volume of at least 4,000 orders a month, then it could be the right answer for you. If you’re a health and beauty or cosmetics brand, then Falcon is definitely a good choice, because they specialize in the industry.
If however, you haven’t reached the 4,000 monthly order threshold, you will need another provider.
Leave Your Reviews
Have you used, or do you currently use, Falcon Fulfillment for your ecommerce business? We’d love to hear from you, if so. One way we ensure objective reviews is with input from our readers who have firsthand experience with the companies we review. Share your thoughts below to help our community.
