A fulfillment center is a physical space where operations are set up to consistently receive inventory and packages and deliver customer orders, on-time and intact. It is a part of the supply chain and serves as the hub for all logistics processes needed to get a product from the seller to the customer. A fulfillment center handles the entire order fulfillment process, ranging from order picking and processing to packaging and shipping. It is usually larger in size and scale than a typical warehouse that an individual company might own or rent. Fulfillment centers enable ecommerce merchants to outsource warehousing and shipping, which relieves online businesses of the necessary physical space to store all products. Sellers send merchandise to the fulfillment center, and the outsourced provider ships it to customers for them. Inventory management is a prevalent operational problem for many online stores, but is an essential component of cultivating the best possible customer experience. Fulfillment centers make inventory management much easier and allow store owners more time to focus on other areas of their business.