E-commerce fulfillment is the process of delivering your products to your customers, and it can make or break your online business. If you want to improve your customer satisfaction, reduce your costs, and stay ahead of the competition, you need to constantly explore and implement new e-commerce fulfillment ideas. In this article, we will share some tips on how to do that effectively.
Before you try any new e-commerce fulfillment ideas, you need to understand your current strengths and weaknesses. Analyze your fulfillment metrics, such as order accuracy, delivery time, shipping costs, return rate, and customer feedback. Identify the areas where you are performing well and where you need to improve. Also, consider your business goals, your target market, your product characteristics, and your budget. These factors will help you determine what kind of e-commerce fulfillment ideas are suitable for your business.
It’s necessary to look at your metrics better to understand pain points & strengths w.r.t. a. Order to delivery TATs (average target 3 days, varies from city to city) b. promised v/s actual deliveries % (target >97%) c. PIN codes serviceability (subjective to the target audience) d. order cancellations due to delivery delays (target <1%) e. RTO% (target <5%) & Return% (target <15% subject to the category you’re selling) f. Number of delivery attempts made before concluding RTO (target >2) g. NPS and app rating related to fulfilment. Post the assessment of all metrics against the targets, prioritise depending on the criticity levels of reds you have and make an action plan with timelines. Important : Start marketing your strengths
The e-commerce fulfillment landscape is constantly changing, so it's important to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices. You can learn from other successful online businesses, industry experts, and e-commerce platforms. Currently, offering multiple delivery options, such as same-day, next-day, or scheduled delivery, is becoming more popular to meet different customer needs and expectations. Additionally, using third-party logistics (3PL) providers can help you outsource some or all of your fulfillment tasks. Dropshipping is another option, where products are shipped directly from suppliers to customers without having to stock or handle them yourself. Omnichannel fulfillment is a strategy that integrates your online and offline channels for a seamless customer experience. Lastly, automation and technology like software, robots, drones, or smart lockers can streamline and optimize your fulfillment processes while reducing human errors and delays.
It’s great to learn from the rest, but remember that ONLY you can understand your constraints and strengths for your products and organisations. So the key is to be in the loop : monitor-assess-correct-feedback using monitoring. Don’t get lost amongst the number of options you have no like- Logistics aggregators 3P partners Warehouse management systems Inventory management systems Everyone is trying to make money, so observe the best practices, copy the relevant requirement and improvise. Remember when you build your tech and network in-house, it’s a long term investment and helps you in ROI.
Once you have chosen one or more e-commerce fulfillment ideas that suit your business needs and goals, you need to test and evaluate them before implementing them fully. You can use different methods, such as surveys, focus groups, A/B testing, or pilot programs, to collect feedback from your customers and stakeholders. You can also measure the impact of your new e-commerce fulfillment ideas on your key performance indicators, such as sales, revenue, profit, retention, loyalty, and referrals. Based on the results, you can decide whether to scale up, modify, or discard your new e-commerce fulfillment ideas.
The final step to implement your new e-commerce fulfillment ideas is to communicate and promote them to your customers and potential customers. You need to inform them about the benefits and features of your new e-commerce fulfillment options, such as faster delivery, lower shipping costs, more convenience, or more flexibility. You can use various channels, such as your website, email, social media, blog, or video, to showcase your new e-commerce fulfillment ideas and encourage your customers to try them. You can also use incentives, such as discounts, coupons, free samples, or loyalty programs, to reward your customers for choosing your new e-commerce fulfillment options.
Implementing new e-commerce fulfillment ideas can be challenging, but also rewarding. By following these tips, you can enhance your e-commerce fulfillment strategy and gain a competitive edge in the online market.
Very important aspect for operations team managing the fulfilment needs to implement- 1. Stay close to the demand and buisness team - everyone needs to work together for customer satisfaction. Plus, be proactive to understand the business strategies which can impact the ops in order to anticipate and prepare ahead of time. 2. Be where your customers are. Ensure to always use heat maps against each metric w.r.t. the customer growing demand. Example- in India, north-eastern customers are huge potential buyers but are you serving them in 3 days to grow the revenues before everyone else does?