In the e-commerce business, the supply chain plays a huge role in determining its success. A successful order fulfillment means having a delivery performance that meets up with the orders with no delivery damage. When order delivery is made at the right time and without any lapses, the customer is bound to be happy. What with the mounting orders, delivery can become more arduous and challenging to manage. This eventually leads to poor delivery performance and bad customer experience. In this post, we will share with you 10 ways to guarantee successful order fulfillment and ensure the flourishing of your e-commerce business.

Know What the Process Entails

Before you commence the order fulfillment process, it will do you a whole lot of good to understand what it is all about. The process involves more than just shipping ordered products to their destinations. It is also a complex e-commerce system that has more to do with offering an excellent order fulfillment process and satisfying your customers. Understanding what the process allows you to leave your customers happy and build your business.

Establish Communication

In the flourishing of any business, communication with the customers is essential. During the delivery of a product, the customer would want to be kept abreast of its progress. When there is no communication, they are likely to get worried. Make efforts to build a connection with your customers. Communication influences and enhances their confidence in your order fulfillment process. Communication assures them that your supply chain is topnotch and can be highly leaned on.

Create Customer Support System

In an e-commerce business, there may be cases where there are missing products during delivery or purchased products. When such a case arises, the typical response the customer makes is to lay a complaint to the brand. When there is a lack of customer service, there will not be any room to receive customers’ complaints and this can be very bad for business. Having customer service representatives on-hand to receive and address order fulfillment issues is pivotal to having a happy and satisfied customer base.

Delivery Costs

As an e-commerce retailer, you should make efforts to enlighten the customers on the delivery costs and criteria employed to determine them. Different e-commerce businesses take on different criteria, such as the weight of the product, to arrive at a delivery cost. When your customers know how the delivery price is determined, they will develop stronger confidence in your order fulfillment process. Also, ensure that you keep the shipping price at a decent rate as to avoid not ending up in driving your customers away.

Build an Order Management System

As time goes on in an e-commerce business, the influx of orders starts getting overwhelming and when managed inappropriately could initiate the downfall of the business. Establishing a distributed order management business is important to have an edge over your competitors. This management system allows you to monitor and manage orders in real-time. It makes the location of the product ordered is easy and organizes the order fulfillment process.

Products Return Policy

The loss or damage of a product in an inventory of an e-commerce business is bound to happen at some time. When such happens, replacement should commence regardless of the cost. In the delivery of a product to a customer, there should be a return policy as insurance to any good damage or loss. This should be done to ensure your customers of a quality order fulfillment process.

Collaborate With the Right Shipper

If your delivery time suffers some lapses because of poor supply from your supplier, your e-commerce business is likely to suffer certain drastic consequences. If your supplier frequently underperforms, your customers are going to hold you responsible, not your shipper.

To avoid such, you should partner up with an established and reputable shipper. Ensure that they have an impressive track of records to avoid any order fulfillment issues.

Enhance Inventory Transparency

Transparency of the product inventory is highly important to keep an e-commerce business in the growth trajectory. It keeps you in the know of the happenings in the sales channels, the shortfalls so that you can take proactive actions towards shoring them up.

When you are updated on the stock of products, you will gain an edge of replenishing them to meet the demand. In the long run, you will have an enviable order fulfillment process and keep your customers satisfied.

Integrate an Order Notification System

Having a real-time order notification will help you make early product delivery, and satisfy your customers. In an e-commerce business, getting notified about a customer’s order placement gives you a head start to spot bottlenecks, establish a smooth network delivery process. It ensures that no delays are encountered, which may leave you with irate and unsatisfied customers that cannot wait to leave you.

Be Genuine

Ensure that the product delivered has the features described in the product’s description on the listing page. No customer wants to know that the product’s features specified on your e-commerce site are only a smokescreen to get it out of your inventory. It leads to a decline in relationship and trust.

There you have it! These are the top tips to establish a successful order fulfillment process vital for the growth of your e-commerce business. Establishing communication with customers, using a distributed order management system, creating customer service and more will help you create an excellent and successful order fulfillment process.

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