E-commerce was once misunderstood by the masses.
When consumers first started being able to order items from the comfort of their own homes, life changed infinitesimally – we just didn’t fully understand it at the time.
Consumers were so enthralled by the whole experience that they overlooked weeks of waiting for their orders to arrive, simply because they never had to leave the house.
These days, the story has changed completely. With so many online stores competing for attention and sales in a now cut-throat digital landscape, those businesses are having to be better than their competitors.
To be the best in your industry, you need to have a streamlined order fulfillment process. You can improve yours by implementing these five steps below:
- Implement Order Visibility
Being connected to your supply chain and storage facilities should be two of your retail business’s top priorities.
By implementing order visibility and real-time inventory management, your company’s order fulfillment process can be transformative and transparent.
Your customers need to be able to see if you have their desired items in stock, that will improve customer sentiment and increase their satisfaction levels. It may seem counter-productive at first, but being honest with your customers is always better than falsely leading them on.
- Streamline Ordering
Streamline the order process by using inventory classification and diving your inventory into categories. That can help to keep the most popular items in stock, and closer to a shipping station in the warehouse – ready and waiting to be shipped out.
Less distance between picking and packing is a great way to get customers their orders on time, every time.
- Order Safety
One of the most overlooked aspects of order fulfillment is product handling.
There is always a mad rush to get orders to their respective customers and sometimes safety and handling isn’t a priority. To maintain the safety of your products, you need to implement in-house or outsourced storage facilities.
Outsourcing to 3PL distribution centers can work out cheaper than owning and maintaining an in-house storage facility, and the responsibility of providing proper product handling falls to them as well.
- Inventory Management
The basis of any e-commerce company’s order fulfillment process is effective inventory management. That ensures that there are always sufficient stock levels on hand, standardizes order management, and creates an accurate database of products and their availability.
- Plan Ahead
Demand forecasting is a seriously hot topic these days.
By using the most recommended methods, you can keep your inventory levels within the desired levels of your customer database. Being prepared and anticipating your customer’s needs is a thoughtful value-add to any online company – regardless of what it is.
This step is especially crucial during peak periods like Halloween, Christmas, back-to-school, and other holidays like Labor Day.
To End
Your online overall profitability is directly related to how quickly it can fulfill customer orders; if it is too slow, it will adversely affect all future customers and sales.
Improve your processes now – before it is too late.
