Communicating product availability to customers is a crucial aspect of warehouse operations. It can affect customer satisfaction, retention, and loyalty, as well as your inventory management and replenishment. In this article, you will learn some tips and best practices on how to communicate product availability to customers effectively and efficiently.
The first step to communicate product availability to customers is to know your inventory status. You should have a reliable and accurate system to track your inventory levels, locations, and movements. You should also monitor your demand patterns, lead times, and reorder points. This will help you avoid stockouts, overstocking, and waste. You should also update your inventory status regularly and share it with your sales and customer service teams.
As a WMS solution provider our product can be used to support your business with a client portal. This provides a live and real-time view that you can provide your clients, giving them access to stock, tasks, transactions and a full audit trail of everything in the warehouse.
know your stock quantity with item by using warehouse management system , that to check on daily your stock to start your communication
The entire inventory count is required to be available at all times in real-time. From the WMS, IMS, to the CRM; all in sync. - Real-Time Inventory Updates on E-commerce Platform: Use clear and concise messages such as "In Stock," "Low Stock," or "Out of Stock." This provides customers with immediate information and helps manage their expectations. - Automated Email and SMS Notifications: Proactivity communication with your client encourages them to make a purchase when the product becomes available. - In-Store and Online Availability Integration: Allow customers to check product availability online and see if the item is in stock at nearby physical stores. Have the CRM with real-time info; for better customer service.
In my experience the best way to achieve this is through API’s connecting a WMS’s live data via a replicated database into a portfolio/suite of dashboards in a contemporary BI visualisation tool such as Qlik or Tableau BI. WMS portals are great if you work in the warehouse setting as they tend to be utilitarian in design and one size fits all, but for customers that want ease of consumption and an enjoyable user experience, tailored well thought through BI dashboards win out. Achieved this recently for a very large 3PL with fashion and luxury orientated inventory owners.
Use of Inventory Management System tools will help you communicate product availability to customers efficiently and effectively. Ensuring that orders are fulfilled in a timely manner, without over stocking and under stocking. Cut down hours spent in complex sums and reduces human errors with automated workflow.
The second step to communicate product availability to customers is to set clear and realistic expectations. You should inform your customers about your product availability before they place an order, during the order confirmation, and after the order fulfillment. You should also provide them with accurate and timely information about the estimated delivery date, the shipping method, and the tracking number. You should also communicate any changes or delays in your product availability as soon as possible and offer alternatives or compensation if needed.
The third step to communicate product availability to customers is to use multiple channels and formats. You should use the channel and format that best suits your customers' preferences and needs. You can use email, phone, text, chat, web, or social media to communicate product availability to customers. You can also use different formats, such as text, images, videos, or audio, to convey your message more clearly and attractively. You should also ensure that your communication is consistent, coherent, and concise across all channels and formats.
The fourth step to communicate product availability to customers is to solicit and respond to feedback. You should ask your customers for their opinions and suggestions on how you can improve your product availability communication. You can use surveys, reviews, ratings, testimonials, or social media to collect feedback from your customers. You should also respond to their feedback promptly and courteously. You should thank them for their input, acknowledge their concerns, and address their issues. You should also use their feedback to improve your product availability communication and enhance your customer experience.
The fifth step to communicate product availability to customers is to train and empower your staff. You should provide your staff with the necessary skills, tools, and resources to communicate product availability to customers effectively and efficiently. You should also empower your staff to make decisions and take actions that can improve your product availability communication and customer satisfaction. You should also motivate and reward your staff for their performance and contribution to your product availability communication.
Training and empowerment of our staff is a priority. We meet for 30 minutes weekly for major updates and we will randomly ask team members to share their experience(s) with a specific project and what they would alter within the process. In that same session, cross-training opportunities are announced and anyone seeking a cross-training opportunity in the future can also make that election known. We pull in various team members based on skill set to offer input and/or assistance during the onset of new projects and at the ending of a project. The goal is always to pull on all the strengths of our team members and to maintain an "open" policy when it comes to skill development and growth. Today's learner will be tomorrow's project leader.
The sixth step to communicate product availability to customers is to measure and improve your results. You should use relevant metrics and indicators to evaluate your product availability communication. You should also use data and analytics to identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. You should also use benchmarks and best practices to compare your product availability communication with your competitors and industry standards. You should also use experiments and tests to try new ideas and innovations. You should also use feedback and reviews to monitor your customer satisfaction and loyalty.
In my experience you can only effectively manage what you measure, so having the relevant metrics measured and key KPIs reported on regularly is extremely important. Those KPIs need to be at a level that is meaningful... not all products sell equally. The old adage of 80% of sales comes from 20% of skus is not far off in most instances. So having proper reporting on inventory based on sales velocity is extremely important. Having 100% of the products that generate 2% of sales, in meaningless if you are having 50% of the products that do 80% of the sales.
We can provide real time inventory visibility to customer by providing our system access to customer. This will allow customer to see their order status to understand that order is at which stage of warehouse & distribution process such as picking, packing, shipping, in transit status and expected time and date of delivery.