For a successful order fulfillment process, you have to make sure that the right customers get the right products promptly. Although your e-commerce fulfillment version may vary from others, they all use the same principles. You need to take specific vital steps to ensure you have an effective and efficient business system.
Moreover, you may also need to have an excellent e-commerce fulfillment partner for your business. In that regard, you will need to learn how to choose an eCommerce fulfillment partner for a successful order fulfillment process.
The Major Factors Of A Successful Ecommerce Order Fulfillment
● Warehouse Management
For a small business, you will need a small space to store your stock. You may not necessarily need to rent warehouse space. However, as your business grows, you must have a larger warehousing space to hold more stock items. For an easy order fulfillment process, you may consider having multiple warehouses; however, managing a warehouse is challenging.
● Order Management
Order management consists of two parts: order notification and order status. Order status demands that you stay updated and keep track of every aspect of your order. Your delivery team should be capable of observing the status of each order to prevent delays and move products from level to level.
Order notification works hand in hand with order status, and it allows you and your customer to see the order status in real-time through the use of order fulfillment software.
● Order Processing
This involves receiving and accessing the orders of your customers online through your online business store. After receiving the orders, you will need to request the order or the materials to assemble the parts on your own. You may have to request the products from your supplier.
Once you receive the products at your warehouse, it’s time for the warehouse staff to transport them to a packing station to perform quality control to find the best and safest packaging methods. The order will then be packaged and shipped to the customer.
● Return Management
Return management is one of the crucial parts of an excellent e-commerce order fulfillment process. Customers often purchase products online that end up not meeting their expectations, and when this happens, they’ll probably want to return the items for a refund.
You should be able to have an effective method to handle these returns as it influences the success of your order fulfillment operations. As an online seller, you should have both an external and internal return policy in place.
The external policies should be available on your business website and should be clear for the customers to understand when and how they can make returns. The internal policy should guide your warehouse staff on how to handle the returns when they are back at the warehouse.
● Seasonal Sales Management
Some orders are most made and preferred by your customers at a specific time of the year. Having effective order management software will help you track your customer’s purchase patterns. This will help you understand the lows and highs of your sales based on the seasons. A seasonal sales management system can also give you insights that will help you prepare for demands. You can use it to compare your business’s performance depending on the time of the year to find out what items your top-sellers are.
● Communication
Every part of the order fulfillment process happens through communication between your side and your customer. While you carry out every step, your customer is waiting. Therefore, by communicating every step of the way, you can manage the expectations of your customers. Through communication, you can update your customers on the status of their orders. You can use push-notification or email to notify them of their order and also implement a GPS fleet tracking to automatically show them the location of their packages as it moves from your warehouse to their doorstep.
● Visibility And Tracking
With the help of a measurable and transparent system, you can see how everything is being done. A visibility and tracking system will help you see when your supplier is short on stock or if an order is delayed while in transit. This way, you can inform your customers to prepare for delays.
To improve your business order fulfillment, you will need to implement an effective strategy and implement technologies that ease the process. You can also hire a third-party e-commerce fulfillment company to help you improve your customer experience. Implement the mentioned strategies to ensure your customers enjoy a convenient online shopping experience.