Whether it’s the festive season or an ordinary day in your online selling business you have to be prepared with your logistics. Purchases are made when consumers feel like it and if you aren’t ready to dispatch products within 2 days, you will lose your sales and face the risk of being deactivated by the marketplace.
If groceries can reach you in no time why do formal shoes have to take days? People want things quick and if you cannot manage that, you are out of the running for online retailer of the year! Also your sales will drop along with your ratings on marketplaces and search engines.
Online seller without on-time shipping and delivery are just sellers with product variety and major inconveniences to the consumer. Why would people buy from online sellers if they cannot get quick delivery? Wouldn’t it make more sense to go to the physical market and make purchases?
Now that you know ecommerce rests upon good logistics, how do you ensure you have the best?
Hacks for high speed ecommerce logistics
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Efficiency on your part
Efficiency on your part will make a lot of difference if you know where to show it! As a seller on an online marketplace, your main logistical task will be dispatching products on time; after this delivery is in the hands of the marketplace. In this case, your preparations will involve the following stages:
A] Managing inventory
Your logistical work starts from the availability of stock. You need to make sure you have a sufficient number of your goods to meet demand. To know this you go through your sales reports and identify the number of sales you make each month.
Once you have assured yourself that you have sufficient stock in place to meet demand, you need to look into order processing. Make sure you are aware of the orders coming your way. If you use more than one marketplace, keeping track of orders could get tricky and delays may become rampant. Luckily ecommerce has advanced to the point where you can manage your orders all in one place. Browntape has a specialized software that allows you to do exactly this. Giving you an efficient edge over your competition by shaving off a considerable amount of minutes from the time it would take to complete your marketplace SLA.
B] Proper packaging
The next step is packaging. You have to predetermine the type of packaging you need and how much of it you need per product. Since they all come in a standard size and their characteristics are not subject to change, this should be easy. Fragile items like glassware needs more secure packaging and cautionary directions compared to clothing. Make sure you have the essentials to package your goods quickly and efficiently. In case you are asked to take care of your own shipping and delivery then make sure you use the services of a reliable logistics company.
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Simplicity
Keeping things simple will help you achieve your goals with the least amount of difficulty. When you use complex strategies even the slightest of details can throw you off track. There are multiple areas that demand attention and a confusing strategy will only encourage delays. For example: – packaging instructions, if these are difficult to understand or have too many steps, mistakes will occur and correcting them will be a nightmare.
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Think ahead
Business is subject to change and change cannot be stopped. As a result flexibility is essential. The reach of ecommerce is growing day by day, which means more orders! That’s great, but what if you are ready to cater to only a limited crowd?
You need to think ahead! Expansion is every online seller’s goal. But whether you expand or downsize will depend on the type of demand coming your way. If your products have potential and you have the means to meet demand, you have to plan for expansion in terms of things like, a bigger work station, higher inventory, automated packaging or more funds. Should you have a small team, make sure everyone onboard has an idea of the way things are run. Lack of knowledge will also make your business rigid. And your business will come to a halt in the absence of a team member.
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Make use of numbers and codes
There is one thing worse than late orders and that is wrong orders! This can be damaging to your relationship with the customer, his social circles and anyone who reads his reviews. To avoid such a dramatic loss of consumers you can ensure the right product is sent to the right consumers. Using UPC and EAN codes will help you ensure the right products are being packed and delivered from your warehouse to the marketplace then to the consumer. These codes are barcodes that only need to be scanned to know what’s in the packaging. If your products lack barcodes you need to be vigilant while packaging. It will reduce delays and also prevent delivery of wrong goods.
You need to realize that to save time you need to spend time. Rushing will make you slipup, while taking your own sweet timed will cost you dearly. At Browntape we understand the value of time and logistics. For more hacks and tricks on ecommerce logistics get in touch with an expert at Browntape. We are India’s leading ecommerce experts and we are ready to help you take your online retail business to the next level.
