The 2020 pandemic ushered in a new era for the e-commerce industry. Many business owners moved their businesses beyond the borders of the physical into the virtual space. And customers became more comfortable with buying products or services without needing to touch them, to feel them.
This caused the ecommerce industry to thrive and hit trillion of dollars. Presently, this industry is reckoned to hit over $4 trillion through sales in 2022. However, this means that online businesses must possess an established groundwork. To satisfy the demands of their customers through e-commerce fulfillment.
This tactic – e-commerce fulfillment – has the ability to optimize the delivery of products to your customers. This can improve the credibility of your business and generate increased sales. As customers learn to trust you, the better your business growth.
This article shows the best fulfillment strategies or tactics that you should consider. You’ll learn how these strategies can be optimized to grow your e-commerce business. These criteria aid in exceeding the expectations of your customers and increasing profits.
These criteria that need to be fulfilled for your ecommerce business are as follows:
Inventory management:
This is the prior stage of e-commerce fulfillment and the most basic criteria. However, e-commerce businesses lose an estimated amount of $1.8 trillion annually due to the mismanagement of the inventory. and large-scale e-commerce businesses are more susceptible to inventory mistakes. This is where you receive your products from the producer or your supplier. Managing inventory makes it easier to know the correct stock of products. You know which is exhausted, and the ones that are not. especially when running a multifaceted business. This enables you to get ahead of things and makes it easier to find products at a moment’s notice. This will involve the establishment of a multichannel inventory solution. Its efficiency is appreciated in businesses with multiple warehouses. And also for businesses with several channels of delivery. Hence, you avoid overstocking or selling items that are not in stock. You will get to avoid longer delivery periods that destroy customer trust. Software and cloud technologies help automate this criterion in the multichannel inventory. A database for your products will ensure that the inventory is accurate. For example; you have 12 bucket hats and sell all of them through etsy, your stocks level across other shops such as amazon are updated automatically. Other benefits of when the inventory is properly done include:
- Easy visibility,
- Credible insights,
- Better customer experience,
- Quick delivery time, and ultimately,
- Permit the growth of your business with ease.
Order Management:
This canvases everything about a customer’s order. You understand how the customer.
- Places orders online.
- Receives orders placed,
- progress tracking of orders placed,
- Proper packaging and shipment of the customer’s order and
- The delivery of the orders to the customers.
Order management also houses worst-case-scenario strategies in the events where orders are damaged. However, this should be rare if this and the next stage is done properly. Order management also includes payment processing – receiving and confirming payments. A third-party automated software is best suited for these tasks as it reduces the risk of fraud and theft. Order management can be optimized using specialized software. And there is an approach to this which is; using a complete platform that has order management such as Shopify, aliexpress etc. These platforms often have third-party partners or mediums through which payments are processed and confirmed.
Order Fulfillment:
The receiving, processing, packaging and delivering of an order to your customers, is known as order fulfillment. This process is synonymous to a butler but on a much grander scale. It involves a wealth of steps and these steps include the preceding criteria and more. This includes order processing. Payment is verified after an order is placed and then the order is prepared for shipping. Shipping patience is not a virtue of customers of this age.
Ideally, your orders should be shipped and delivered within a week. If orders are late, that would be the last time they order from you. Processing returns – faulty products or damaged products should be easy to replace. If your credibility is to remain high. Each step of this process has to be swift and efficient because customers have a thinner amount of patience than they do during shipping. This stage can make or totally destroy your business, be smart, and be efficient.
Return Management:
Involves the interface where a customer wants to return a product. It includes retrieving, and reorganizing the inventory. However, the customer, the logistics and the inventory systems are key players here. A customer returning a product can be regarded as a loss. But you avoid such losses by reusing undamaged returned products. Always make sure to vet if the customer meets the return policy of your business. Also make sure that you have a clear return policy that customers can understand in a whim.
Although the aforementioned are the pillars that can support your e-commerce business and aid in its growth, there are some other factors that can also grow your business exponentially;
- Vamped customer service.
- Leveraged newsletters.
- Optimization of social media platforms.
- Omnichannel (all channel) marketing.
- A functional email list.
- A personalised customer experience.
- International sales.
These criteria are the keys to a satisfied customer and ultimately, the growth of your business. If you need help to figure out any of these strategies. You can always reach out to us. We make the process seamless.
