What is Ecommerce Fulfilment?

As an online store, putting your customers first is a reliable path to long-term success. Read on to learn how ecommerce fulfilment can optimise your operations to cater to your customers.

In today’s competitive landscape, user experience can make the difference between consumers choosing you over one of your competitors. And a well organised ecommerce fulfilment process is one of the main ways your brand can demonstrate it prioritises customer experience.

The Basics of Ecommerce Fulfilment

While ‘ecommerce fulfilment’ might sound like an abstract concept, it is, in fact, made up of tangible business assets, connections and efforts. All of these work to ensure your supply chain delivers on customer’s orders. Speed, efficiency and consistency are the key aspects to bear in mind here.

The amount of resources that are involved in ecommerce fulfilment usually scales with the size of the business. For instance, if you expand your market to reach a new country it may be necessary to invest in warehouses abroad.

The Process

The following are the stages of ecommerce fulfilment that almost every growing ecommerce business goes through. At every stage, this process offers opportunities for businesses to improve and optimise their services.

1. Sourcing Inventory

Even before you’ve received orders from customers, your inventory should reflect what is available on your website. Some best practice is to have a cataloguing system in place for when new goods arrive. A basic checklist might include the number of items, sorting any damaged goods and assigning SKU (stock keeping unit) numbers.

2. Inventory Management

Building from the first point, your physical storage facility should be designed with inventory management in mind. Considerations should be made regarding layout, machinery, internal conditions and, last but not least, integration between your physical inventory and your online store.

3. Picking

After an order is placed, the corresponding products need to be picked out in preparation for transportation. Making sure your customer receives exactly the products they purchased is an important step to reduce the amount of post purchase support tickets. Automation software can help make this stage seamless.

4. Packing

Securely packing products ensures their safety while in transit to your customers. Keep in mind that the type of materials you use will vary from order-to-order, depending on the products within.

5. Shipping

Here is the most crucial step in ecommerce fulfilment: how the order gets delivered to your customer. Employing a carrier to take care of shipping is the most financially viable option for a majority of ecommerce businesses. Every carrier will have their own pricing structure and delivery options, which you should investigate before choosing the right shipping carrier for you.

6. Accounting for Returns and Refunds

Customers may need to return items or seek refunds for any number of reasons. Having a comprehensive system in place for returns, while just generally good practice, shows you care about your customers. An open refund policy can also create a positive reputation for your brand.

What Bovoba Can Do For You

With us, you’ll be able to keep your customers in the loop when issues arise, thus showing that you care about their experience. Bovoba can help prevent disruptions to your ecommerce fulfilment process, all but guaranteeing a smooth user experience.