How to Improve the Order Fulfillment Process? 9 Simple Steps

Customer fulfillment, often known as order fulfillment, relates to company techniques for delivering goods and services to customers. Order fulfillment is both a goal and a difficulty for every business, as it combines the promise of a sale with the possible hazards of order fulfillment. So, how can you make the process from the order placing through delivery more efficient? In this section, we will go through some actions that might potentially aid in to improve the order fulfillment process.

A Successful Order Fulfillment

First, let’s go through the conventional e-commerce order fulfillment process that compose effective order fulfillment. On the surface, order fulfillment appears to be a simple procedure using a regular approach that leaves the client and everyone involved in the supply chain pleased with the result. However, there are stumbling barriers to ordering fulfillment in the age of next-day delivery, and other businesses must have a system in place to assure order fulfillment success.

For many businesses, it looks somewhat like this:

• Orders received over the internet
• In the back-office system, process the order (example: an ERP)
• Notify the consumer that their order has been received.
• Send the fulfillment request to the warehouse.
• The order has been selected.
• The order has been packed.
• The order has been dispatched
• The consumer receives a shipping notification.
• The order has arrived.

However, this section will describe 8 of the most crucial suggestions for improving order fulfillment process.

Improving the Order Fulfillment Process in only Eight Steps

Step 1: Ensuring Seamless Customer Integration

In today’s environment, when everything is going online, you presumably don’t create the things you sell in-house. The online items are most likely acquired from numerous distributors, warehoused, and then drop-shipped to the clients.

Suppose this is the situation for the organization. In that case, it is critical to incorporate seamless connections with the suppliers via any order management system that interacts seamlessly between the systems and the suppliers. Finally, you may be confident that the goods will reach the clients as soon as possible.

Step 2: Enabling Order Transparency from Beginning to End

If you are linked in real-time to the customers, the e-commerce clients who are browsing should be able to see if an item is in stock and, if quantities are limited or quantity matters, how many products are available.

This clarity is referred to as end-to-end transparency, and it is critical for both customer pleasure and precise order fulfillment.

Step 3: Selecting the Best Shipping Agent

So, now that the product is flawless and the back-end processes are working well, it’s time to tackle the primary stumbling block of e-commerce order fulfillment: shipping. Bottom line: If the shipper is less than outstanding and/or consistently underperforms, the consumers will vent their annoyances on the company’s reputation. It’s not the shipper’s fault.

Step 4: Making Exception-Based Order Management Possible

While we are on the subject of order shipment, end-to-end visibility enables exception-based order management. What does this imply? Essentially, instead of just telling clients that their goods have been delayed, you may instead automatically update shipping options to match the original delivery guarantee.

Yes, exception-based order management may cost more in shipping, but it will spare furious consumers and lost business stress. This automated approach can also enhance brand loyalty and the chance of repeat purchases.

Step 5: Identifying the Suitable Warehousing Sites

Today’s e-commerce customers expect their orders as soon as possible. This demand may be met in two ways by the company:

Choose warehouses and shippers that can satisfy the needs for quick-picking and quick-shipping to achieve speedy yet low-cost ground shipment, store items in many warehouses positioned across the delivery region and, therefore, near the clients’ locations.

Finally, use sophisticated shipping algorithms to find the best delivery option, so you don’t overpay but also don’t under-deliver.

Step 6: Paying Attention to the Customer Experience

The customer experience is critical to building long-term brand loyalty. If the clients have previously been placed on wait or given incorrect information, they may forgive you.

In the end, a positive customer experience boils down to open and honest communication. If a product is missing, notify the consumer and explain how you will make it right. While they may be angry right now, they will certainly appreciate you more in the long term because of the openness.

You should maintain constant contact with the consumer throughout the process. We mean real-time, on-demand notification about order progress, from order, received and in the process to order shipped and shipment delivered.

Step 7: Accepting Returns and Issuing Refunds

It is, after all, a necessary component of any business, but not every firm approaches it positively. Make an exception for yourself.  And, always working with vendors who accept returns, charge no restocking fees, and handle refunds and replacements is preferable. Yes, be explicit about the return policy, but also create efficient processes for handling returns, managing reverse logistics, and issuing reimbursements.

Step 8: Standardizing the Overall Process

One of the most important aspects of a good order fulfillment process is consistency, covered in this article. Everyone in the company should understand their responsibilities and carry them out without hesitation. If the company handles each order randomly and inconsistently, the employees will grow annoyed and weary, the customers will become frustrated, and the company will fail.

Maintaining a consistent method efficiently resolves all of these challenges, allowing the order fulfillment operation to thrive.

Self-Evaluation Questions

1. Do We Charge Too Much for Parcel Delivery?

This is an important subject since shipping may account for up to 70% of an e-overall retailer’s fulfillment costs. Delivery costs will always exist, but learning how to eliminate package surcharges can save 10–30% each year.

There are a lot of high-zone movements. However, if you ship from a single fulfillment center or if the facility is not located in an optimal position for national fulfillment, you will be charged for the additional miles the product travels through the postal carrier’s network.

Also, suppose you outsource fulfillment but still negotiate directly with parcel carriers. In that case, one of the easiest ways to save is to take benefit of the volume discount that the shipment charges by high rates based on low quantities most certainly enjoys with the same carrier.

2. Do I Track Fulfillment Performance in Order to Promote Continual Improvement?

Because you can’t manage what you don’t measure, continuous improvement for fulfillment operations begins with good KPI management. Many e-retailers fail in this crucial area. Make 2021 the year when you solve this deficit.

Final Remarks

To improve the order fulfillment process, we need to follow these easy alternatives.

While there are many moving parts in a good order fulfillment process, the eight suggestions stated above are the simplest and most basic to apply to any organization. The order fulfillment process may be enhanced in a reasonable length of time if you create a consistent, data-driven, structured, transparent procedure developed with the consumer in mind.