A customer can come to your product because of an ad, social post, or a search engine. However, the true battle starts after the sale.
Was the order processed quickly? Did the correct product arrive? Was it packed properly? Can the customer track shipment?
That leads to the questions that lay bare why the ecommerce order fulfillment process is so important outside of what happens within walls of a warehouse. It could affect customer satisfaction, costs, reviews, and repeat sales.
Fulfillment is a Component of The Customer Experience
Without visiting the warehouse, customers experience the performance.
This is where a smooth fulfilment system does come into play:
- Faster order processing
- Fewer shipping mistakes
- Better delivery updates
- Fewer damaged products
- Easier returns
These relate to areas with which customers have lower cause for complaint when they are executed well.
When it fails, even an amazing product can be poorly received.
A Hidden Cost for Mis-fulfillment
Let’s say, customer places an order for a product which your website shows as available. Order accepted − item cannot be found in the warehouse.
The business now has a conundrum.
The customer must be contacted. The order needs cancellation or postponement. The staff takes additional time in trying to fix the issue, meanwhile, the customer may think twice before shopping from that brand again.
There are hidden costs to bad fulfillment.
These may include:
Additional labor + shipping errors + returns + refunds + customers lost
That is why companies should look at fulfillment not as a siloed operation but instead as part of their larger engine for operating.
What Happens When Orders Increase?
What works for 50 orders per day, may not work as well when you get to 500.
Thus, more orders mean more picking, packing, stock checks, shipping labels, customer updates, and returns. When there is no scalable system, even small delays snowball into major bottlenecks.
Scalable − Ideal Fulfillment Process Should Grow with Demand
That does not mean you always need to buy high end gear. Enhancements in your warehouse layout, barcode systems for inventory software, and clearer procedures can all contribute to increased capacity as well.
Data Can Highlight Where You are Most Vulnerable
That is rarely going to be useful, guessing where in a fulfillment system it has gone wrong.
Some of the key tracking measurements for businesses are:
- Order processing time
- Picking accuracy
- Packing errors
- Delivery performance
- Return rates
- Fulfillment costs
Numbers tell us where the improvements are required.
A high return rate, for instance, might indicate a product problem with respect to either accuracy of the order or how it was packaged and picked.
When Should You Consider Outsourcing?
Other ecommerce businesses, you maybe handle fulfillment on their own. Some prefer a third-party fulfilment provider.
If warehouse work takes up too much of your time or you need multiple storage and shipping hubs for your business, then outsourcing one or more aspects of your warehouse operation might be the way to go.
Your decision should entirely rely on order volume, product type, budget, delivery needs, and future growth plans.
Build Fulfillment Around the Customer
Good fulfillment is not only fast box moving. From a purchase to delivery, it is making sure that the journey is dependable.
An optimized ecommerce order fulfillment process enables businesses to keep costs in check by being able to deliver the accurate orders with clear updates and reliable delivery.
For an ecommerce company looking to scale, fulfillment should never be an afterthought. This needs to be incorporated into the business plan from the beginning.
