If you feel like your ecommerce shipping and fulfillment plan is actually costing you hours of productivity and even possibly future customer business, then your inklings are likely correct. But rather than worry about it or ignore it, why not consider looking into what the core of the issues is, and finding a way to positively resolve them? These following suggestions can help you revamp your shipping and fulfillment department.
Systematize Fulfillment
What system do you currently have in place for shipping and fulfillment? One thing that is commonly overlooked by e-retailers is their growth and the need to expand this department. Whether this involves hiring on more help, expanding the hours that you dedicate to fulfilment or rethinking your plan – you’ll want to spend time looking at ways that you can economize your time while assuring accuracy of your fulfillment, explains this guide on ecommerce shipping and fulfillment.
What can you do to fulfill packages more quickly? Could a software solution that automates label generation and order sorting help? Could you be using a better shipping label to get packages fulfilled quicker?
Offer Prime Like Ecommerce Shipping
What is prime-like ecommerce shipping? It’s where you assure your customers that their orders are delivered in just a few days. Now this won’t be possible on all orders that are placed, nor will it be realistic. But with discount options for Priority Mail in place, you can expedite package delivery in just three days or less, up to a certain pound limitation, and at a very reasonable cost. Who says you can compete with Prime?
Automate Tedious Processes
Quality and accuracy of shipping – or just about any process for that matter – can greatly dip when tediousness is present. Think it won’t? Try working on an assembly line for a few days doing the same thing over and over. That’s why there are entire QA departments at factories, because they know that quality can deplete with repetition of the same task.
So what solution can you instead use for your ecommerce shipping? Automation. With the right software in place, you can greatly reduce fulfillment time while improving accuracy. A variety of systems are available, and most come with a trial usage period so you can see if they are a good fit for your business.
Offer A Free Shipping Threshold
A free shipping threshold has been shown to dramatically increase the average order value at most online stores. That’s because studies have found that free shipping is something that over 90% of shoppers want. So if you can’t afford to offer it on everything, make it available with a minimum purchase and you can skyrocket orders at your online store. Of course, make sure you have the right fulfillment system in place first that’s time tested or you could find yourself overwhelmed.
On the other end of shipping and fulfillment is reverse logistics. What happens when purchases are returned by consumers, which is unavoidable, and how will you track and manage all of these inbound packages?
First, understand that making this process easier for customers can help you profit more in the long term, explains a related guide on ecommerce returns and management. Secondly, consider putting a system in place that automates the process for the consumer and for your online store, so you can expedite returns and better manage your inventory and overhead.
Tackling your fulfillment is going to be an ongoing chore, there’s no doubt about that. How you choose to approach this task is up to you. But if you want to streamline it a bit more, these aforementioned tips can greatly help.