Do you run an eCommerce store? If yes, you must have an effective eCommerce shipping strategy to grow your online business. The rise of the eCommerce industry in the country has put an extra emphasis on delivering orders with great convenience. Only a competent logistics service provider can ensure your deliveries are done timely without increasing your RTO percentage.
What Is Included In Ecommerce Fulfilment?
Unlike earlier, Ecommerce delivery has transformed to the next level. While eCommerce brands would try shipping on their own in the past, advanced logistics partners have taken over to give Ecommerce logistics a whole new meaning. Advanced logistics platforms not only improve end users’ experience, but they’re quite useful for eCommerce sellers in optimizing their logistics operations.
The eCommerce fulfillment process covers receiving the inventory, sorting the products according to their categories, and storing them in dedicated SKUs/shelves. Thereafter, products are packed and shipped after a customer places an order from the Ecommerce website. With a reliable logistics service provider by your side, your eCommerce fulfillment process can improve.
How Are Orders Fulfilled By Logistics Partners
There are a lot of factors that can influence your sales such as brand offers, unique benefits, peak season, etc. Delivering packages on regular sale days might be possible for some businesses, but successfully fulfilling the inflated online orders isn’t as easy as it seems.
The work process at fulfillment centers may seem like a mystery, but it isn’t that complicated. Let’s see what exactly happens at a fulfillment center once you’ve sent your products to be stored.
Receiving
First of all, your inventory is received at the fulfillment center. Each 3PL company may have different processes of receiving and storing the inventory. Once the 3PL receives your inventory, the products are then stored in dedicated spaces/SKUs such as bins, shelves, pallets, etc.
Picking
Once an order is pushed to the fulfillment system, it’s assigned to their picking team. The picking person receives a slip mentioning the items, quantities, storage locations, etc. from their respective locations.
Packing
Once all the items from an order have been picked, they’re securely packed. Some 3PLs may charge for the packaging material while others may not. The material mainly includes boxes, bubble mailers, bubble wrap, packing tapes, air-fill, etc.
Shipping
Once the order is packed, it’s time to ship them to the end customer’s doorstep.
Facts Ecommerce Sellers Should Know
Using an order fulfillment service could cut down the work time by over 50%
Outsourcing your order fulfillment process means you get to focus on improving things that you’re good at instead of wasting time and energy on activities that you can get done by subject matter experts. Hiring a competent logistics provider can improve your order fulfillment success rate without compromising on quality at any stage.
80% of consumers prefer online shopping if they get free shipping
Industry data over the years has shown an overwhelming number of eCommerce buyers being unhappy with knowing about a shipping fee at the last stage in the shopping process. Therefore, if your profit margin allows, you could eliminate the delivery charges instead of giving nasty surprises to the customers. Or, instead of charging an additional shipping fee, it’s better to include the same in the selling cost of the product.
Offering customers a real-time shipment tracking feature leads to fewer service requests
In the 21st century, customers don’t expect to order something online and not receive the shipment status until it’s delivered. Whether the shipment is to be delivered timely or some delay is expected, providing a real-time shipment status is the best bet to avoid pressuring your customer services. Besides, this feature greatly enhances your customers’ overall shopping experience as well.
Offering a range of delivery options is important
An online seller should have a range of delivery options including next-day delivery and also same-day delivery if possible. Recent studies show that nowadays customers don’t mind paying a little extra if you could provide faster delivery.
Pay extra attention to avoid compensation claims
Make sure you pay extra attention to the delivery of your products to avoid compensation claims. Instead of focusing only on keeping the delivery cheap, try to carry out the process without compromising on the quality. If customers have to suffer distress or financial loss due to delayed delivery, they will most probably make compensation claims.
Right shipping and fulfillment is quite an important aspect that can make or break a company’s brand value among its customers. Therefore, partnering with a logistics service provider that offers comprehensive logistics services is crucial to attaining maximum customer satisfaction.