(This is a contributed post)
Ecommerce is booming right now, but you don’t need us to tell you that. After all, value here was set to increase to an astounding $4.13T by the end of the year And that’s before we entered a worldwide pandemic! Now, with countless companies operating solely online, ecommerce has only come even more sharply into public consciousness.
Hence why you’ve likely spent the last few months shifting to online sales wherever possible. And, with online spending seeing boosts as high as 21% right now, you’re likely experiencing the benefits of doing so. But, there is one issue setting many new online sellers back, and it comes in the form of order processing.
Admittedly, consumers understand these issues right now. Even ecommerce giant Amazon has only recently resumed their deliveries after delaying all non-essential orders for March.
But, this patience won’t last forever, and, as companies get back on an even postage footing, you’ll need to find speed with online orders in the following ways.
Dedicate a team to avoid backlogs
If you’ve never considered online business before, you might want to think about dedicating a team to this alone. Depending on consumer interest, assigning at least one or two employees solely to online orders ensures that you avoid backlogs. And, given that these are the worst culprits for delayed postage, that’s guaranteed to bring much-needed ease and flow to your new ecommerce practices.
Enhance your product handling
If you’re having to order products from an outsourced warehouse with each purchase, you’re automatically adding as long as two or three days to wait times. That’s terrible news in an age where shoppers expect orders to arrive in five days or less. Luckily, this is an issue you can overcome sharpish by reconsidering how you handle your products. It may be, for instance, that working with an outside warehouse that can ship items directly brings ease and speed to your processes. Or, you may simply want to invest in larger quantities of each product and keep them in a convenient self storage facility that you can access as necessary. In both instances, you could send items out as soon as you’ve processed orders and enjoy speed benefits as a result.
Arrange courier pickups for the end of each day
Working with outside couriers can be fantastic for offering things like next day delivery, but only if you arrange the right pickup times. For instance, couriers who arrive to collect orders midday are going to struggle with keeping on top of all orders on a fast basis. By comparison, a courier who comes at say four or five can collect every order on the day of placing, and hopefully have them happily with your consumer in at least the next day or two.
Speed isn’t always easy to come by, especially with new online processes. But, as you can see from this list, it’s far from an impossible goal. So, it’s past time you put your foot to the pedal and got going!