Smart fulfilment strategies to get you on the right track.
You’ve made a sale—great! Unfortunately, though, your work is just beginning. You need to make sure that the order reaches the customer quickly and smoothly. This means boxing an item, shipping it, and sending order tracking information to the buyer. Order fulfilment is often easier said than done.
Bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and other factors can delay customers from receiving their purchases. To succeed, businesses must craft strategies for smart order fulfilment.
Smart order fulfilment has a huge impact on customer satisfaction. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes for a moment. You’ve found a product that you love and placed an order. Would you rather receive your product on time, or several days after the due date? We’re guessing that you answered ‘A’. You won’t be surprised that other customers agree.
By building a reputation for quick and reliable delivery, you can win delivery trust. Customers are likely to purchase from you again in the future. Of course, order fulfilment is more than getting a package from point A to point B. It involves many steps and each must be handled carefully.
To put this into perspective, let’s look at the different stages of order fulfilment:
Receiving and storage - You receive an item from a third party, company warehouse, or other source. The product is then stored for a short period and organised, ready for delivery.
Processing - Once an order has been placed, it is processed. This involves verifying customer information and payment authorisation.
Picking and packing - Once processed, you can begin the process of picking and packing. An employee will retrieve the item from the warehouse, find relevant materials, and package the item.
Delivery - An item is sent to a third party to be transported or shipped to a customer. Before shipping, a delivery company will check the packaging to make sure it meets the requirements.
Returns - A customer may be unhappy with an item and return it to the seller. Once received, a returned item will be processed to verify whether it meets a company's returns policy.
As we’ve explored, order fulfilment is a lengthy process. How can you make sure orders are delivered without a hitch? Stick to these smart fulfilment strategies to stay on the right track.
Order processing is an essential stage. Any delays here could force a customer to abandon their purchase.
Streamlining doesn’t mean cutting corners, though. Rushing orders increases the likelihood of mistakes being made. To increase efficiency, make sure that your checks are always correct the first time around. For maximum efficiency, consider which processes can be automated using retail software.
Where human involvement is required, make sure your team always double-checks for errors. Verify that addresses and other important customer information are recorded correctly.
Think about order processing from the customer's perspective. The buyer should feel confident that you’re on track to meet your estimated delivery date. Including real-time tracking capabilities makes sure that a customer is kept up-to-date.
A poorly optimised inventory brings many additional costs and frustrated customers. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to keep on top of inventory management.
Demand forecasting should be central to your efforts. This uses historical data to predict customer demand for different products. This way, you can make sure your inventory is always adequately stocked. This reduces the risk of disappointing customers by selling out and prevents you having to pay costly storage fees for products that don’t sell.
Consider ways you can optimise order replenishment to make sure that new stock is delivered quickly. This could involve automating the ordering process to deliver quick turnaround times.
Having an effective warehouse isn’t just about storing products in the right place. There are lots of small changes you can make to improve warehouse management. Some ideas include:
Rethinking the layout - Create a warehouse layout that focuses on efficiency. For instance, consider placing more popular products towards the front of your warehouse so that staff have less far to travel.
Utilise technology - This might include introducing robots to help with the picking and packing of products or integrating warehouse management software for smarter insights.
Introduce a one-way flow - This helps to guarantee a steady flow of traffic. Employees aren’t getting in each other's way and the warehouse can function as efficiently as possible.
To keep customers happy, it's important to provide as much flexibility as possible. This means offering a variety of delivery options to suit their needs, ranging from next-day delivery to a slower, free delivery option.
Remember, once a product leaves the warehouse, you have no control over shipping. That’s why it's crucial to choose a partner with a chosen history of reliability. When assessing available options, it's important to ask yourself some questions. Has a company made a thorough risk assessment? Do they offer competitive pricing? Can they scale their services to your needs?
Lastly, make sure you have enough information to measure the progress of your delivery processes. Wholesale distribution ERP software can centralise inventory, accounting, and logistics data to provide a birds-eye view over order fulfilment. This helps you to make more informed decisions about product delivery.
Sometimes, customers will discover an issue with their items. When this happens, it's important to make the returns process as simple as possible. A drawn-out process will harm user experiences and make customers more likely to go elsewhere.
Minimise the number of steps involved in returning items. Clearly explain how the returns process works, and set clear expectations. Will customers receive a refund or in-store credit? How long should the return process take? You might also offer exchanges so that customers can choose a different product of the same price, or the same product in a new size or colour.
Communication is central to smart order fulfilment. Firstly, think about communication with customers. Shoppers need to know that their orders are being completed successfully. Use email automation software to send automatic emails when a new delivery update arrives. It’s also useful for customers to track outstanding orders from your website.
It’s equally important that you focus on internal communication. If any issues occur, teams need to be able to respond quickly and decisively to minimise disruption. Consider how you can use tools to spread information to different employees involved in fulfilment. For example, you might introduce group chats so that different employees can be kept informed.
Improving order fulfilment shouldn’t be a one-time process. As new technologies emerge, buyers’ needs and habits will change. To keep customers happy, it's important to adapt to these developments.
That’s why it’s vital to regularly review your order fulfilment process. Which areas could be more efficient? How can new technologies be implemented to boost customer satisfaction?
You’ll also want to consider what customers are saying about order fulfilment. Use an online survey tool to collect feedback and gauge buyer opinion. Try to adapt your strategy in line with this feedback.
Online purchases have become the norm, which has meant that customers have big expectations for order fulfilment. Shoppers are looking for orders to arrive quickly and efficiently. Anything less simply won’t do.
Here, we’ve explored some steps to boost your order fulfilment. Consider each step carefully, and adapt your approach as you go. Don’t overlook the importance of automation and other technologies in helping you deliver the best experiences.