The ecommerce space has grown from what it used to be a few decades ago. Nowadays, it is more competitive, and brands have to do more than offer a wide product catalog. A key player in today’s ecommerce space is fulfillment.
How quickly can you get the product from your shelf or warehouse to a customer’s doorstep? Delivery speed, accuracy, and a seamless return experience are the things that keep shoppers coming back.
In this article, we’ll explore the key strategies that enable faster and more accurate ecommerce fulfillment.
Key Challenges in Ecommerce Fulfillment
On paper, ecommerce fulfillment can look easy. It might seem as simple as picking products from the warehouse, packaging them, and dispatching them to the customers’ addresses. However, ecommerce fulfillment presents several key challenges.
- Delayed Shipments
Late deliveries are one of the most common issues ecommerce business owners face. Delays can be caused by low stock, insufficient courier service, or bad traffic. These delays can lead to negative reviews, order cancellations, and lost customers.
- Order Inaccuracies
This often occurs due to human errors, especially when working on long orders. Sending the wrong order increases return rates and customer frustration, especially if they had to wait a long time to get the items delivered.
- High Shipping Costs
Shipping can represent a significant portion of operational costs. Startups and small brands often feel this pinch the most early on when starting their business. This often occurs due to a lack of efficient route planning and reliance on a single carrier.
Strategies for Faster Fulfillment
Faster ecommerce fulfillment means more than just delivering orders within 24 hours. You must ensure the order arrives in good condition and contains the right products as per the customer’s order. Here are practical strategies businesses can use to accelerate fulfillment without sacrificing accuracy.
- Partner with a 3PL Company
Instead of handling everything in-house, why not partner with a 3PL company such as Packageman? 3PL firms offer all the services you need, from warehousing to handling returns and customer complaints. This will relieve you of some tasks, allowing you to put your efforts into marketing and product development.
- Implement Pre-Packing and Staging
If you run your fulfillment process in-house, you can make it faster and more efficient by pre-packing popular products in advance. Pre-packing means you will have the orders ready for shipping, which will improve delivery times.
- Maintain Real-Time Inventory Tracking
Ensure you have real-time inventory data available at all times, especially if you have multiple fulfillment centers located in different areas. This will reduce the instances where customers place an order only to get a message several hours later that the product is out of stock.
- Continuous Process Review
Find ways of improving your delivery and fulfillment through regular auditing. These audits will reveal bottlenecks. Small incremental improvements in workflows will compound into significant gains over time.
Wrapping up
Ecommerce fulfillment is a significant player in the success of your online business. The goal is to find ways to ensure speedy delivery without affecting accuracy and to handle customer complaints in a professional manner.
