How Ecommerce Order Fulfillment Software Builds Customer Loyalty
You know the pain of having blind spots in your inventory levels? Those hassles multiply by 10 once the holidays hit.
Calls and emails from confused customers clog up your day. Management’s stressed about cash flow and that rolls down to your team.
Snags caused by vendors get blamed on the retailer. The complexity of multi-channel fulfillment feels out of control. Stock info is spread across multiple platforms, spreadsheets, and even sticky notes.
Here’s the good news: Real-time inventory management software keeps getting smarter and easier to use.
We’re going to break down the most painful holiday headaches your retail fulfillment team faces and show you how to make everything easier — from the warehouse to the road to the customer’s front door, so you can enjoy more time with your family this holiday season with alerts on mute and a relaxed scene in your living room.
Summary:
- Retail logistics software can solve the holiday overstock/stockout puzzle
- Double-digit improvement on fulfillment times is within easy reach
- Automated, branded order updates keep customers happy and coming back
Keep Stock Levels Right and Your Holiday Orders Flowing Nice and Easy
Front-line warehouse and retail fulfillment teams are turning to new solutions. First, they make your day-to-day easier. Then they drive improvement not just during the holiday rush, but across the business all year long:
- Overstocking problems are massively reduced
- You’re not understocked during a surge
- Everybody can see what’s happening from order to delivery with one tool
- Easier to make better decisions on the fly
- Customers have a better experience and buy again
The jury is back: Better inventory management is good strategy. Real-time inventory management software de-fragments your work. It’s the better future that’s easily in reach today.
Trend: Retail Teams Are Asking for Better Solutions and They’re Getting Built
Investment in end-to-end inventory management and other supply chain management tools is on the rise because teams like yours across the world know these realities:
- Businesses need a simpler “central nervous system” for inventory
- Real-time visibility is critical
- New solutions have to integrate quickly with other platforms
- Everybody’s getting tired of spreadsheets and fragmented processes
- eCommerce, D2C, and personalized fulfillment simply demands more efficiency
Fast and Accurate Order Fulfillment for Retailers
Cutting-edge order fulfillment software simplifies the puzzle and makes holiday shipment promises easier to keep. Here are a few key capabilities you should look for when considering a new inventory management system:
• Ecommerce Integrations
Whatever you install has to play nice with the Shopifys of the world. The edge of your new retail shipping management platform has to fit neatly in to that big eCommerce system. If it’s disruptive or there’s a bunch of ramp-up time, it’s a non-starter.
• Multi-Channel Fulfillment
Multi-channel fulfillment functionality keeps your inventory synced. It means quick, accurate deliveries, even with increased holiday demand.
Bonus: You’re also going to be much more agile in the face of unavoidable seasonal weather events. Your solution should support you across eCommerce, marketplace orders, in-store shoppers, or buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS). Without robust multi-channel fulfillment, you’re at risk of more inventory allocation issues and potential stockouts.
It’s not unusual to see double-digit reductions in fulfillment times with the right inventory management system in place.
• Order Management and Real-Time Tracking
This lets you automate order workflows and makes ops more efficient. During the holiday rush, the real power is this: Everybody from the executive suite to the loading dock can see your supply chain from end-to-end in real time. Delivery-focused teams can start planning a couple days ahead, instead of running on today’s treadmill.
Delivery Management: Where the Rubber Meets the Road
Everybody wants a single, bright path from the Buy button to the customer’s porch. A real-time, multi-channel fulfillment system instantly syncs all of your Ecommerce platforms with your logistics software, taking the pressure off of you and the bottlenecks out of your operations.
Once you’ve got granular inventory knowledge in hand, orders can be assigned to the nodes and routes can be planned to crush holiday volume with fewer bottlenecks, especially because your team doesn’t have to do manual intervention at every level.
“What’s the Order Status?” Now Everybody Knows the Right Answer
With a strong inventory management system, everyone on the ground and in leadership gains access to the same multi-channel data. The daylight-burning back-and-forth between phone, email, and apps is gone and your entire team can see what’s on a truck, where it’s headed, and when.
Without it, everyone looks at different parts of the problem on a different system and communicates across several more. This disconnection causes critical information to get lost and updates to not reflect across all platforms.
An inventory management system:
- Reduces drag on resources from split shipments
- Decreases wear and tear on your fleet
- Improves route planning and coordination
- Allows you to pivot more easily in the face of surprises
This all adds up to faster deliveries, operational savings, and a nimble network during this, the busiest of times.
Large Item Delivery Management: When the Holidays Get Heavy
If you’re on the hook for getting furniture, appliances, or fancy home gyms to the right place before Dec. 25, you’re playing for higher stakes:
- Pull the wrong inventory and you’re eating up valuable truck space
- Heavy items bloat the delivery window and add hours to your routes
- More returns, which nobody wants for obvious reasons
How Your World Changes With Real-Time Inventory Management Software in Place
Because everything you’re shipping now has accurate, up-to-the-minute location data, all your multi-stop routes are now simplified. You can now stage outbound loads knowing that your inventory record is synced with what’s actually on the warehouse floor.
Everything is now centralized. Your “do or die” shipping day isn’t going to go sideways because somebody made an update in one system and forgot to make the same change in another.
Multi-Channel Fulfillment for Heavy Stuff: Let’s Get Surgical
Let’s say an armoire on a recipient’s wish list is only stocked in a few regional nodes. Knowing with 100% certainty where that’s sitting is requirement one.
Especially when you consider all the other overlays: Carrier capacity, white-glove zones, and the load mix this special armoire shares on the truck…and you’re hitting narrow delivery windows on top!
Starting the game with synced inventory simplifies the whole puzzle. Especially when it’s connected in real-time to your route planning and optimization tools. It all rolls up to less time spent doing things like scrambling to make up a partial delivery when you’re not sure if you’ve got a box truck out there that has time to add a last-minute stop.
Dialing in your whole-team on big items reduces:
- Failed deliveries
- Second attempts and re-routes
- Expensive returns that create one-stop runs and eat profits
- The amount of disappointed holiday shoppers
It’s beautiful when customers are more excited to assemble their armoire than bug your team — which reflects badly on the brand, even if the 3PL driver was actually at fault. A quieter inbox for the holiday rush might sound like beautiful music to you.
But up until this happens, you’ll need efficient customer comms: The heavier the item, the more clarity your customer needs. Real-time delivery tracking helps customers plan their day, clear space for their new item, etc. Which brings us to the next critical piece: Real-time communication to go with your real-time inventory and delivery insight.
CRITICAL: Fluid Customer Comms Throughout the Process
If better multi-channel fulfillment is the swing, then fluid customer comms throughout the order life cycle is the follow-through. This is where all that real-time inventory management muscle flexes.
Capabilities to look for:
-Built-in, automated, branded customer communications
-Customers get a scheduling email so they can “pre-schedule” their delivery
-Instant notifications by text and email at every step: “Item is Out for delivery / 3 stops away” etc.
-Live order tracking for customers on a webpage with your branding
Happy customers who leave great reviews and come back to buy again are the strongest proof that your upgraded system is doing it’s job.
It’s the clearest sign that your processes, technology, and operations are aligned and functioning exactly as they should.
Your company’s name is now on top of a solid ecommerce logistics backend that tells the customer everything they need to know at a glance. That equals peace of mind and fewer complaints fielded from your team.
What Happens When an All-in-One Logistics Software Clicks
Carriers who specialize in heavy items have a lot of the same problems and goals as your retail team: Stop hopping across so many platforms to do one thing, get an eagle’s eye view of all deliveries, keep customers happy, and drive down returns and complaints.
Key Logistics Features That Help Get it All Under Control:
-Built-in warehouse management system with full inventory control.
-Built-in transportation management system to coordinate every mile of the journey.
-Customizable reporting to track your most important KPIs.
-Ability to manage claims and returns to reduce extra workload.
-Carrier and partner integrations to streamline every handoff
Once implemented, you’ll see immediate efficiency improvements in scheduling, routing, returns, and deliveries like never before.
Outcomes to Measure and Aim For
Every team and set of goals is different. With a modern inventory management system in place, you can be hitting targets like:
- Increased warehouse throughput and reduced delivery times
- Decreased volume in complaints and returns
- Reduced warehouse clutter and less time spent managing problems
- Uptick in positive reviews
- Reduced admin burden
The holidays are upon us, but better delivery management will feel like a year-round gift to a fulfillment team.
Takeaways:
- Multi-channel retailer environments demand modern inventory systems and delivery management that drives increased customer satisfaction
- Cutting-edge order fulfillment software that’s easy to deploy improves retail ops and de-frictions the supply chain
- The “next level” without huge investments or integrations is easier to achieve than ever
- A real-time, “single version of the truth” tool for inventory massively simplifies the delivery and fulfillment puzzle