If you’re running an online company that ships products, one of the MOST® important facets of your business is order fulfillment. No matter how great the rest of your business is, if you aren’t optimizing that component, you could be losing customers for all kinds of reasons. So consider the following ways your order fulfillment process could possibly be improved.
You Need to Integrate the Systems You’re Using
Depending on the size of your company or its business model, you may be using a number of systems in order to get the MOST® from what you do, especially when it comes to order fulfillment. This makes a lot of sense, of course. Given how many digital options exist for improving your company, you’d be a fool not to leverage as many as you can.
However, you’d be even more foolish if you weren’t using one central application to ensure they all work together smoothly. One survey found that over 90% of orders that were placed online actually end up re-keyed, manually, into another system. That’s a waste of both time and manpower. Instead, use an order fulfillment software that smoothes that wrinkle out.
Get Rid of Paperwork
Despite the fact that you’re operating an online site, you, like many companies, may still be clinging to paper options. As with the last example and re-keying, though, this is definitely costing you in some important ways. While your company may have run just fine for years by using some paper options, it’s time to leave those behind. Not only are you wasting money on purchasing paper, but you’re also opening your fulfillment process up to all kinds of human error. It’s an unnecessary risk with basically no advantage over the alternative, so why not make the shift?
Optimize Multiple Sites
If your company uses multiple sites to store their products, this strategy could actually be costing you. Here’s another example of where the right order fulfillment software could help you not only analyze where you’re strong and weak, but actually make the necessary changes to get your business back on track.
With multiple sites, the problem is often that one warehouse is hitting its capacity limit or soon will. If you can see this coming, you can adapt by recruiting another warehouse to help. You may even find that one of your products is simply not worth the trouble when other options exist that come with less overhead.
Integrate Marketing and Sales into the Process
Here’s another area where a lot of companies like yours don’t think to use a multichannel retailer software to gain better results. If your order fulfillment process isn’t taking into account your marketing and sales efforts, you’re probably missing out.
For example, right now you probably allow customers to order products in any quantity they want. Obviously, your customers probably appreciate this convenience, but it may be hurting your fulfillment process. You may be losing time and even money on the process if it means workers constantly need to break open new cases of inventory or send out packages that aren’t completely full.
Instead, take a look at your process to see if it would make more sense to simply offer items in a few counts. Then, use your marketing to push these combinations and adjust your prices accordingly. Something this simple could end up being one of the best things that ever happened to your profits.
Order fulfillment is an essential part of any business that ships, but that doesn’t mean it always gets the attention it deserves. Don’t let your bottom line suffer because you haven’t analyzed your fulfillment process for best practices. Consider the above for some easy ways things could be improved.
