Millions of people plan online orders daily and expect them to arrive soon. What they don’t know is that the company must take several extensive steps before the order finally reaches them. All these steps make up a continuous cycle that must move without hindrances to ensure customer satisfaction every time.
Sourcing, order processing, inventory management, and shipping are significant parts of this cycle, and an ecommerce company must be efficient during this entire process since it is comprehensive. In order to increase process efficiency, we will discuss 5 tips to improve your ecommerce fulfillment.
What is E-Commerce Fulfillment?
The smooth execution of the entire steps an order goes through from the beginning when the order comes through to the finish line when the order is shipped to the customer is the e-commerce fulfillment process. It is a continuous cycle from order placement to delivery. There are numerous steps involved in the process that ensure customer satisfaction by improving order accuracy and speedy delivery.
It is essential to analyze every step to eliminate any shortcomings that might stop you from improving your fulfillment process. However, the first step is to understand what the process entails. Hence, the following are the complete steps involved in a successful ecommerce fulfillment:
- An order is received online.
- Initiate order processing through your office systems.
- Inform the customer about order acceptance.
- Notify the warehouse to begin order fulfillment.
- Order is picked from the warehouse.
- The customer is notified with an update and an ETA.
- The order is packed.
- The shipper moves the order ahead.
- The customer is informed about the update.
- The order reaches the customer.
5 Tips to Improve Ecommerce Fulfillment
It is essential to keep working on improving your commerce fulfillment. Following are 5 tips to improve your ecommerce fulfillment.
1. Seamless Integration
Automation of processes is necessary if you wish to progress with your business. The chances of human errors reduce when you adopt technology, and the entire process gets smoother in execution.
Integrate inventory and order management systems into your process, especially if you do not manufacture your products. Outsourcing your product means you need to have a clear line of communication with your supplier. Not only does automation reduces error, but it also increases employee efficiency, reduces operational costs, and fastens the pace of the process.
2. Enable Order Visibility
Integrating your system with automation gives you more eyes on your projects. Now you have gained a better sense of oversighting the entire process.
This allows you to eliminate errors before your order reaches the next stage. Most importantly, it gives you the chance to recognize and polish out any bumps that your process might have.
An inventory and order management system gives you real-time insight into your order, and you can go through each step as it is initiated to reach the finish line without any hindrances.
Visibility is the most significant advantage to improving your ecommerce fulfillment because this is the best way to recognize your shortcomings.
3. Consider Warehouse Locations
Pick-up and shipping are two critical processes that should not be delayed. Since they are out of your control and you are outsourcing them, it is crucial to keep an eye on them.
Hence, it is essential to consider their locations.
The customer today requires an accurate and quick delivery. Wrong deliverables and delayed delivery will cost you, multiple customers, all thanks to social media and how fast the bad reviews spread.
To make this process more efficient, you have two options:
- Find warehouses and shippers who can help you by offering quick picking and shipping.
- Choosing multiple warehouses instead one is a wise move. This way, you can reach customers in different locations faster. For instance, if you ship to other states, having a warehouse in these particular states would be wise to speed up your picking and shipping process.
4. Classify Your Inventory
Another good tip is to classify your inventory. You can do this by categorizing your products into different categories. For instance, a fast-moving products category will allow you to speed up the process and also improve the way you store your stock by incorporating safety stock.
When you know the fast-moving products, you can stock your inventory efficiently while also making sure you have enough back stock or safety stock to carry out logistics effectively without overburdening your inventory.
Classifying your inventory this way (or in a different way that suits your needs) will help you speed up the ecommerce fulfillment process and ensure you do not run out of stock suddenly.
5. Communicate with Your Customer
The ultimate aim of this entire process is customer satisfaction. This is the only thing that will allow you to grow your business and improve its operations.
In order to achieve customer satisfaction, it is essential to keep them engaged throughout the entire process. Following this tip will exhibit your professionalism and hands-on techniques to analyze every order.
This is easy to accomplish through automation. The customer will get real-time info about the movement of their order from the moment they place it until it arrives at their door. Efficient communication goes a long way when it comes to building a relationship.
The Final Takeaway
These 5 tips to improve your ecommerce fulfillment are essential to upgrade your systems and reduce human errors and operational costs. Automation is the most important tip to follow these days since tech will only help you elevate your business.
Since you cannot control outsourced products or shipping, you must choose warehouse and shipper locations to gain some control by improving the speed of the process.
In addition to this organizing, your inventory will also help you improve the process’s pace and accuracy, which is ideal for customer satisfaction.
Lastly, communication with the customer will improve your validity and dependability in the eyes of the customer.
If you wish to make your fulfillment process flawless, get in touch with 3PL Bridge today. We offer end-to-end communication to ensure you do your best in your business!
