Think fulfillment is just boring box-packing? Think again! In the cutthroat world of e-commerce, it's the silent assassin of costs and profits for countless businesses. Don't believe us? Here's a reality check:
61% of customers using e-commerce platforms will abandon their carts if faced with high shipping fees, taxes, and other charges.
53% of shoppers emphasize the importance of delivery speed when contemplating online orders.
25% of consumers have opted to cancel orders due to slow delivery speeds.
Therefore, fulfilling and processing orders in the e-commerce sector has never been more critical. Beyond factors such as in-demand products, visually appealing online storefronts, and delivery times, the optimal, fast, and accurate fulfillment process is the next crucial focus for e-commerce businesses to gain a competitive advantage and enhance the shopping experience for their sales channels.
What is Fulfillment?
First of all, the procedure that starts as soon as a customer verifies a transaction is known as fulfillment. Put another way, the business has all the information needed to start the order fulfillment process as soon as an order is generated, including customer details, delivery address, product, quantity, models, etc. The processes involved in fulfillment usually include packing, getting the order ready for shipping, or choosing the items from storage.
The number, SKU codes, storage locations for each SKU, and usage guidelines for packaging materials (e.g., boxes, envelopes, thank-you cards) are all documented in an order processing plan. Ultimately, upon fulfillment, the box needs to have the shipping label attached to it and given to the shipping company.
Despite its seeming simplicity, preserving a large number of goods, amounts, and variations can be difficult for businesses. Thus, in the process of fulfilling orders for e-commerce, operational problems such as missing or incorrect items or delays in processing speed that exceed the scheduled timetable, are frequently encountered.
The e-commerce fulfillment process is a complex chain of activities, requiring synchronized coordination among various parties, from the e-commerce platform, sellers, buyers to shipping carriers. Understanding the entire process can be overwhelming for many managers. While comprehending efficient operational directions is one thing, executing and managing the actual operations are another story, demanding various skills and experience.
Hence, many businesses, despite achieving significant sales on e-commerce platforms, are hesitant to establish and operate warehouse activities—or may not even know where to begin.
Which scope is suitable for implementing a fulfillment order processing system?
The completion of the order fulfillment process and an effective inventory management system are the keys to success for every e-commerce business, regardless of its scale. The inventory management system will be flexibly adjusted to fit the operational characteristics of each business. Small-scale businesses may manage inventory in-store with simple features, while larger enterprises may need to utilize warehouses and professional shipping systems.
Small-Scale
Small to medium-sized businesses can initiate order fulfillment operations by managing inventory at the point of sale or a home office, using basic features such as order information management, inventory quantity management, auditing, order tracking, etc.
Enterprise-Level Scale:
Large enterprises require a modern Warehouse Management System (WMS) to meet the complex demands of the order fulfillment process. This system can automate steps such as receiving, auditing, packaging, and shipping, helping businesses save time and costs. Additionally, the WMS provides detailed reports on inventory status, operational performance, and other key metrics, enabling businesses to make informed and strategic decisions.
5 Factors to Consider When Choosing a Fulfillment Management System
Features
A fulfillment management system should provide the following basic functions:
Order processing: This includes the steps from order receiving, order processing, packing, shipping, and delivery.
Inventory management: This helps businesses track the current inventory levels in the warehouse, ensuring that they have enough products to meet customer demand.
Inbound and outbound logistics: This helps businesses manage inbound and outbound logistics operations efficiently.
Order information storage from marketplaces: This makes it easy for businesses to access and process orders from e-commerce marketplaces.
Consumable materials management and tracking: This helps businesses control consumable materials used during fulfillment operations.
Operational workforce management: This helps businesses effectively manage their fulfillment workforce.
Interface
Any software, the interface and accuracy are two factors to consider. The interface needs to be simple, easy to see, easy to track, and easy to understand.
Security
Typically, management support software is directly linked to the sales management app software. Therefore, if the security is not good, it will be very easy to affect the data on sales, profits, or customer information.
Reasonable implementation cost
Cost is a factor that needs to be balanced when choosing software systems. If the software is too cheap or simple freeware - typically it will not be too stable and really effective for the warehouse fulfillment business processes that need to be managed.
However, businesses cannot afford a large investment just to use the software. Therefore, choose software that has enough tasks suitable for the current operating purposes for your business.
Professional fulfillment management solution in the Vietnam market
Vietful has successfully developed and provided E-commerce Order Fulfillment System, combining 2 OMS & WMS solutions to support unified management and optimize the operation of order processing on the same platform to solve all difficulties in completing e-commerce orders across channels. Vietful has an understanding of the needs of the majority of businesses operating fulfillment and have plans to take control of their logistics.
At the moment, Vietful fulfillmentmanagement software offers an extensive range of specific features and management capabilities for processing e-commerce products, including:
Connects with leading carriers Viettel Post, GHN, GHTK, Ninja Van, ...
Monitors the entire process, all products are encoded to help workers easily find the right ones, helping the packaging to be accurate and complete, without shortages or damage when reaching the hands of customers.
Increase the order processing activities during peak seasons such as major sale events by arranging a reasonable, simple, and accurate process.
Optimize speed: 65 - 150 orders/hour/employee
Store inventory up to millions of SKUs of hundreds of retail and e-commerce partners.
Optimize storage space.
Manage and evaluate the performance of over 1,000 warehouse staff each day according to KPI.
Manage multiple warehouses, multiple employees, unlimited quantity, no additional fee
OCIMI is a consulting partner and exclusive implementation unit of the Vietful Order Processing Solution in Vietnam. OCIMI is proud to have a team of professional staff with over 10 years of experience in the field, who can help your business optimize the fulfillment process in e-commerce comprehensively.
By applying optimization methods in a comprehensive fulfillment system, businesses can build a flexible, efficient fulfillment process that best meets the needs of the increasingly competitive e-commerce market
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