Opening an ecommerce business sounds all cool! You start your ecommerce business, you get customers, and ship products. The newbies are often of the view that their job ends here. However, the reality is that the actual job lies within these processes. What you tend to miss is the importance of a smooth fulfillment process. If you don't have flawless ecommerce fulfillment, you might disrupt your customer's experience. Furthermore, such difficulties in the order fulfillment process can lead to supply chain issues, delayed shipments, and ultimately unhappy customers. Let us get started by exploring major pain points in ecommerce fulfillment and learn how you can take proactive measures to fix them.
Why Does Ecommerce Fulfillment Matter?
Let's first examine the significance of e-commerce fulfillment before moving on to the pain points with it. The entire process starting from accepting, and handling to sending orders is known as e-commerce fulfillment. The sole driving force behind a solid ecommerce fulfillment system is the satisfaction of customers. Since customers are the king, they need to have a positive shopping experience. Another reason is to minimize operational costs. Improper fulfillment processes can eat up your margins especially if you deal with high shipping costs, excess inventory, etc. Last but not least, strong ecommerce fulfillment processes target your business expansion. Optimization of your ecommerce fulfillment will guarantee enhanced brand image and expansion into new markets.
Pain Points in E-Commerce Fulfillment You Need to Know
Order Processing that is Slow
Problem: If your ecommerce business is new and orders arrive slowly but steadily, manual order processing could do good at first. However, as your firm grows, delays in orders can have a detrimental effect on your ultimate customers. Nowadays, customers anticipate receiving their orders in a flash, especially given the multiple competitors that have mastered same-day or even next-day delivery and hyped-up consumer standards overall.
Not just one, delay in order processing could be because of numerous factors. These could include manual picking and packing, outdated systems, difficult-to-understand and clumsy inventory management systems, or excessive reliance on spreadsheets.
How to Fix: Automating your manual tasks should be the first thing an ecommerce enterprise does when it scales up. An ecommerce-focused software such as MapMyChannel could make this process simple. MapMyChannel is a multichannel ecommerce management solution that offers automated workflows for ecommerce businesses selling on multiple channels. The application automates and eases the cumbersome task of order synchronization and inventory management and provides a real-time view of such substantial information. This ensures that customers receive their products without delays and further frees up previously occupied staff to concentrate on business expansion.
Errors in Shipping
Problem: As per data, 69% of customers say they will be less inclined to return to a store after a late delivery. Every customer expects product delivery on time. However, if they don't, it tarnishes the brand's reputation over a prolonged period of time. There could be multiple reasons affecting overall shipping such as wrong addresses, damaged or incomplete items, sending wrong products, inadequate logistical planning, and many more. It is the ultimate responsibility of the ecommerce business owner to provide prompt deliveries to their customers.
How to Fix: To minimize the impact of late delivery and manual errors, you need a dependable application to efficiently manage your shipping processes. Along with providing the best multichannel ecommerce fulfillment services, MapMyChannel swiftly extends to top 3PL providers including Amazon MCF, ShipBob, ShipStation, DCI, Desktop Shipper, Shipping Easy, and Zentral. Through this, you can efficiently manage your pick, pack, and ship and minimize overall shipping delays.
Scattered Multichannel Sales
Problem: The famous expression “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” clearly proves its point in today’s scenario. When it comes to e-commerce, it makes financial sense to list your products on diverse marketplaces and take advantage of them to increase clientele, amplify revenue, and establish your brand. However, the pain point lies in managing these multiple sale channels efficiently. Among numerous pain points in multi channel e-commerce fulfillment, this challenge stands still.
How to Fix: A multichannel ecommerce software like MapMyChannel helps resolve such a pain point. The application puts together all the data across multiple sales channels into one centralized platform. This way you would never miss a sale or face delivery concerns across multiple sales channels. The automated workflows manage order synchronization and inventory management, ensuring seamless data synchronization across multiple sales channels.
Erroneous Forecasting
Problem: Among multiple order fulfillment pain points, erroneous forecasting is common. The concern is that the future is unpredictable. Sadly, nobody can predict it. Forecasting demand minimizes the chance of ordering too much running short of out of inventory. It is difficult to predict and plan for changes in demand without keeping a check on inventory and accumulating data. If you are not doing so, you risk being caught off guard by either an increase in demand or a decrease in it, which may be costly. This may lead to an issue wherein you are unable to fulfill orders due to an inadequate stock level.
How to Fix: The solution lies in adopting automation. You need to utilize a software that collects all of your relevant business data and provides reports. These useful reports can be utilized to formulate more precise plans and estimates for the future.
Handling Returns
Problem: Your top priority should be to ensure that your clients receive exactly what they ordered, in top shape, and on schedule. Your clients rely on you to provide the items you promised to supply. However, despite your best efforts and the best-automated system you may have used to guarantee correctness, errors might still occur. A customer may simply have chosen the wrong product, or the item may turn out to be different from what they had anticipated. For such situations, providing customers with a simple method to return things and receive their money back goes a long way toward earning their belief.
How to Fix: As mentioned above, an organized system to manage returns is the most efficient alternative. A reliable return management system authorizes returns, sets up refund reimbursements, and updates consumers via phone and email on the progress of their orders. If the returned goods are in sufficient condition to be sold again, you can choose which warehouse they should be returned to and log them back into the system.
Tracking Inventory
Problem: Another prevalent pain point in ecommerce fulfillment is an inconsistent inventory system. If you are unable to provide the customer with the thing they requested, you may have to refund their money, which could give you a bad reputation. In clearer terms, you will not remain the first choice of customers if they ever think of ordering something. The consequences would be losing sales, the customer, and ultimately your reputation. A consistently negative customer experience may result in negative reviews and a blemished reputation, which can take up a lot of effort and time to repair. This is why, having a robust inventory management system is vital to ensure that you can meet customer demand and sustain your credibility in the ecommerce landscape.
How to Fix: The easiest method to fix these issues is through an inventory management system. MapMyChannel resolves your inventory-related issues by performing all the legwork for you. The application provides you with all the updated information on your inventory. With real-time view of the stock availability, you can easily identify which items are in demand and which ones need restocking, enabling you to formulate informed business decisions.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, launching an enterprise may seem like a thrilling venture, but the true challenge lies in fixing the pain points in ecommerce fulfillment. As we have explored, each pain point in multi channel e-commerce fulfillment—from slow order processing and shipping errors to unclear multichannel management and inventory problems—can substantially impact customer satisfaction and your brand's image. Proactively addressing these pain points with the solutions mentioned can help you set the stage for a thriving ecommerce business that not only meets but exceeds customer expectations.
