Having a successful order fulfillment strategy is imperative for e-commerce and is imperative in gaining a competitive advantage as many online shoppers cite excessive shipping fees as a reason to cancel the order. Order fulfillment is a part of a broader supply chain process, therefore, with the order fulfillment process you receive, process, and deliver the orders to your end customers.
E-commerce order fulfillment process might not be the thing that tends to get you excited about your online business, but it is quite a crucial element of your success in online retail. Predictable and accurate fulfillment equals positive reviews and happy customers. Robust e-commerce processes can save money and time, and a well-run fulfillment will help you expand your business.
What Is Order Fulfillment?
Order fulfillment is the complete process of receiving, processing, packing, picking, and also shipping an online order to the customers. Successful fulfillment depends on the third party to complete the order the steps of the order fulfillment process for the e-commerce online store.
A successful order fulfillment strategy is quite vital for e-commerce businesses to stay competitive and build customer loyalty. To maintain quality control and also keep as much profit as possible, many smaller companies opt to handle their order fulfillment process.
Order fulfillment varies widely based on the industry and can be quite complex. e-commerce order fulfillment for a small online company handling small volume online orders can be different as compared to the large organization which has a dedicated fulfillment center.
Understanding the Order Fulfillment Process
The e-commerce order fulfillment is pretty straightforward and comprises the activities of receiving, processing, and shipping the order. A successful order fulfillment process can be broken down into the following steps:
· Receiving Inventory
Normally an e-commerce company has two ways to handle inventory. It can either choose to receive and stock the inventory in-house or can use an e-commerce order fulfillment outsourcer to take care of the stocks and all the related tasks.
In case if it goes for the first option, has to be responsible for taking stock, examining the inventory, labeling, and also managing the inventory system. If the company happens to choose to outsource the order fulfillment services or decide to dropship, then all such tasks will be handled by the order fulfillment partner or supplier.
· Storing Inventory
If you have decided to warehouse the inventory yourself, then there will be a slate of tasks awaiting you once the receiving part is completed. The major tasks on the list will be to shelve the inventory and keep a close eye on what items come in and what items go out so that you can be able to ship the orders without any delays.
· Order Processing
The businesses that happen to outsource order fulfillment should not go into the nitty-gritty of order processing, as these companies simply pass the order request to their partner and allow them to handle the rest.
For the companies that manage their own inventory, this one is the part where the order is picked off the shelf, transported to the packing station, inspected for any type of damages, boxed, and then moved to the shipping station.
· Order Shipping
Though it depends on the size, weight, and specific requirements of the order, to ship the order, the best shipping method is determined. Normally a third party carrier is contracted to fulfill this important step.
· Handling Returns
For online buyers, the ability to return unwanted items easily is a major factor in the buying operation. To ensure receiving, replacing, and refunding the returned items to the customer as efficiently as possible, you are required to design a crystal clear returns policy that can be accessed easily to both your buyers and the staff. Having such a step in an automated way can be helpful for you to avoid unnecessary chaos and errors.
Dropshipping for Online Sellers
Dropshipping is also an order fulfillment model and is the easiest one to implement. To fulfill an order, you simply have to place the order with the supplier by adding the address of your customer and the goods will be shipped straight to them.
Dropshipping is quite an extremely popular business model for new companies or entrepreneurs due to Internet marketing skills far outweighing the financial capacity. As you don't need to stock or handle the items that you are selling, therefore, it is possible to start a dropshipping business with limited funds.
An e-commerce website that operates a dropshipping model purchases the items it sells from a third-party supplier or manufacturer, and the third-party supplier then fulfills the order. This not only helps to cut the operational costs, but it also frees up your time so that you can focus all of your efforts on customer acquisition.
If you are to start a business that can compete with the retail giants, and want to do so on a limited budget, then there are a few steps that you need to follow. Though it doesn't take too much of startup funds to start a dropshipping business, it will obviously require an immense amount of hard work. For a successful dropshipping business, you will have to select a niche, perform competition research, secure a supplier, build your e-commerce website, create a customer acquisition plan, and analyze and optimize.
Conclusion
An insufficient e-commerce fulfillment might slow the growth of your business; therefore, you must know the order fulfillment meaning and have a grip on the order fulfillment process. Poorly packed boxes, shipment errors, and delays might lead to dissatisfied customers and bad reviews.
fulfillment is a core component of your e-commerce success, and it might be a challenge to assess your fulfillment center in detail. Another core component has a return and refund process that is easy for you and also your customers. Keep in mind the best practices to ensure that your company is doing everything that it can to make this process easy.
