As the e-commerce industry continues to grow, it is more important than ever for retailers to continue looking for ways how they can improve their e-commerce fulfillment process.
For some retailers, it is not just part of their sales. It also makes up a significant portion of their total revenue.
So, if you own an e-commerce store that does not have the expertise to fulfill or process orders efficiently, outsourcing your e-commerce order fulfillment is vital. Using ecommerce fulfilment services is easier than training and trying to do it yourself, with lots of errors bound to happen along the way.
That said, let us walk you through the right techniques to improve your e-commerce fulfillment process:
Tackle your order fulfillment cycle time
One of the things that you need to take note of when enhancing your e-commerce fulfillment process is to tackle your order fulfillment cycle time.
This will give you valuable insight into whether your current order fulfillment is effective or not.
Ideally, you should track this metric because a fast order fulfillment process affects your customer satisfaction rates. And this will eventually determine whether or not your online business will succeed.
Here is a formula that you can follow when working out your order fulfillment cycle time:
Total Order Fulfillment Cycle Time = Source time + Production time + Delivery time
Once you know your order fulfillment cycle time, you can then use it to identify areas for improvement, such as improving efficiency via automation.
Create an effective warehouse slotting process
This is the process of determining which products will be placed in a picking area. That way, more popular items will be stored close together at the starting point of picking. Not to mention that it helps overall walking time.
However, a problem with this approach is that the popular zone in the picking area is often congested.
A much better approach is to “stripe” more popular items on shelves that are found on ergonomically beneficial heights. This helps reduce congestion, enhance picking speed, and decrease worker fatigue.
Optimize your batch picking process
One of the biggest killers of worker efficiency is that employees spend a lot of time picking up items for a single order.
To help streamline the process, you can utilize batch picking.
This process is a more popular choice because it helps reduce your employees’ foot travel in the warehouse, which results in faster picking rates.
Classify your inventory
Another thing that you need to work on is classifying your inventory or organizing your warehouse.
One smart way to do this is to organize your products based on how fast it moves. Doing so helps you:
- Maintain healthy stock levels of fast-moving items
- Group items based which are identified as fast movers
- Place slow-moving Items in a different area
By classifying your inventory this way, you can ensure that proper stock levels are maintained for every product category. This is also to make sure that you do not run out of stock.
Consider automating your order processes
You should also look for ways how to speed up your order processes.
Meanwhile, if you are a small business, automation does not mean that you need to invest in robotics or conveyors. It could be as easy as buying scanners so that it is easy to input products into your system and then scan it out when it leaves the warehouse.
Partner with a great shipping provider
Now that you have a great product and your back-end processes are working smoothly, you should also ensure that you pick the right shipper.
If your shipping provider underperforms, your customers might take out their frustrations on you.
So, before partnering with a shipping provider, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do they offer real-time order tracking?
- Does your shipper always have delayed or late shipments, lost or forgotten shipments, or damaged deliveries?
- Do they offer a business solution that you can afford?
- Do they enable you to ship internationally with ease?
If your answer is yes, then it is time to switch to another shipping provider.
If you would like to have a fulfillment center in the US, Las Vegas then you can consider James & James as they have successfully implemented measures to streamline fulfillment center in Las Vegas, allowing businesses to delight customers across the West Coast with efficient 1-2 day shipping. This state-of-the-art facility offers numerous advantages, with accuracy being a key highlight. By strategically holding stock within the United States, you will be able to reduce international shipping costs and provide faster delivery times. Additionally, being just 50 miles away from the California border enables you to serve customers in the region swiftly and effectively.
Communicate with your customers
When it comes to your orders, communication with your customers is always key.
When you do not communicate with them on their order’s current status, they will likely worry. Therefore, you need to communicate with them to give reassurance.
Doing so gives them confidence and reinforces them that they have made the right decision to do business with you.
Provide up-to-date and real-time communication regarding their order status, like acknowledging your customers’ orders, confirming their payment, and whether their items are now ready for delivery. You can achieve that with the help of tools and features such as global parcel tracking that you and your customers can look at if they need it.
Create an attractive returns policy
Order fulfillment does not end once a customer receives their order. It ends when they are content with their orders.
Therefore, you need to craft an attractive returns policy so that you can effectively process returned orders and issue refunds whenever needed. Also, work only with suppliers that accept returns and could process refunds or replacements.
Have a clear refund policy and develop a streamlined process when handling returns, reverse logistics, and issuing refunds.
Finally, make your returns policy as smooth and as uncomplicated as possible. If it is too complex for your customers, they might not return the product. And chances are, they will not buy from you anymore.
Make it as simple and easy as possible.
Over to You
As much as you can, try to think of your order fulfillment process with your customer’s satisfaction in mind.
As a retailer, it is your job to keep your online customers feeling good about their purchases every step of the way.
By following the eight simple tips we have listed above, you can enhance your current e-commerce fulfillment process.