Is your e-commerce business growing? Is it growing faster than you anticipated? If so, were you ready for the growth? A growing business is wonderful and what we all strive for, but if you aren't prepared or don't have the right processes in place, you could experience significant growing pains.
Perhaps your website couldn't handle the traffic, your phone lines were full and you couldn't take all the calls, your OMS (order management system) struggled to keep the orders coming through quickly, or maybe your fulfillment and shipping operations struggle to get orders out the door fast enough. These may seem like minor growing pains, but any one of these can damage the growth you worked hard to get. All areas of a business must be examined and carefully evaluated when striving to grow its e-commerce presence. The big picture must be considered to make sure the growth can be supported.
One of the more prominent growing pains a business experiences with an e-commerce boom is in the fulfillment and shipping processes. Depending on how the process is set up, it can make or break a business. There is good news, though. This is a process that can be revamped prior to growth so that you are prepared.
It is all about streamlining the process. Reducing the touches reduces the time to fulfill, which in turn reduces the chance of error, simplifies the process, and will save money. Small changes add up. Saving money but speeding up the process and making it more efficient.
With the right partners and tools, achieving this is simple. What if you could link your ERP or WMS with your shipping software? What if all of these systems worked together to streamline your process? How would that impact your business? Would it eliminate the number of times the order has to be touched before it is shipped? What if you didn't need to print the order before the fulfillment process? How about that packing slip/invoice? Do you put one in the package or plastic pouch? What if that was an unnecessary step and could be eliminated?
The best course of action would be to take preventative measures. Bring in specialists to evaluate your processes during the regular season. Allow them to learn your methods and then make suggestions to help you streamline operations and reduce the labor required to process orders. Doing this allows you to begin reducing overhead costs faster and increase throughput. Who doesn't want to have a more substantial profit by cutting overhead costs?
Be proactive in your business - bring in a specialist and start making the small changes that make BIG impacts on your business growth.
Reach out to me today, and we'll get started together.
(800)-821-4021 ext. 4052
Comments