Over the next five years, the global e-commerce market is expected to grow at a rate of 14.7% per year. While that’s not as fast as the growth witnessed at the start of the pandemic, it’s still a healthy rate.
With that takes time, and it’s hard for e-commerce brands to keep up. Setting up websites to take orders online is only half the battle. Getting orders to customers is a different ball game.
Fulfilment has become one of, if not the biggest, problems for e-commerce businesses dealing with a mountain of new online orders.
And brands that don’t deliver face serious problems if they want to attract new customers and keep old ones: A survey by the e-commerce platform FarEye found that 85% of people would switch retailers after just one bad delivery experience.
To stay competitive, you must keep the customers’ promises as an eCommerce seller. To stand out and grow, you need to earn your customers’ trust and, in the end, their loyalty.
How people see your brand depends on how quickly and accurately you can get products into their hands.
Remember that delivery of the wrong orders or slow deliveries will make your customers unhappy and, in the end, less likely to buy from you again.
Simpson and the e-commerce group at NFI researched, wanting to know what eCommerce brands are looking for when hiring order fulfilment companies. The company just released a report that breaks down the biggest qualities that the brands look for.
The survey found that scaling up fulfilment to keep up with demand is the biggest pain point in ecommerce, and brands are looking for a partner to help them reach a broader market.
This is one of many qualities that the surveyed brands mentioned. Here is an in-depth look at the research.
A partner that will help with scaling
Not surprisingly, more than 9 in 10 respondents (90.91%) said that scaling was one of their three biggest challenges regarding fulfilment. In particular, brands said it took a lot of work to find a partner who could help them grow.
Many people who answered said they had to switch ecommerce order fulfillment providers because they couldn’t reach as many customers as they’d hoped. And this is true for the global market as well. More than 75% of brands said that getting customers from other countries was one of their biggest challenges.
If you are receiving orders from far-flung areas, you should be cautious when choosing a fulfilment company. As a rule of thumb, choose a company with an extensive transport network like AMS Fulfillment to ensure your products reach your target customers, regardless of their location.
Brands are looking for automation
Even though the report didn’t say how many people said automation was a problem, it did say that various brands have been switching to fulfilment that has utilized technology to improve their networks.
One company said, “We hired a different company to handle our fulfilment because we wanted to grow and needed someone who had already invested in fulfilment technology.”
“We want to work with a provider that is working to improve their technology and automation,” said someone else.
Automation in the warehouse is becoming a hot market, and fulfilment providers are using machine learning, AI, and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to speed up the process.
Most estimates say that the use of newer technologies like AMRs is still low, at around 20%.
However, a survey by Peerless Research Group found that more than half (56%) of companies that handle materials use warehouse management software (WMS), and another 36% use supply chain management and planning software.
If you have an order fulfilment company, move quickly and embrace technology in your operations. On the other hand, if you are looking for a fulfilment centre, you want to work with one that uses software that makes the work easy and operations more transparent.
Knowing what they are paying for
More than 8 out of 10 brands feel that their outsourced fulfilment provider cheated them. According to the survey, 85% of respondents said that one of their three biggest problems with fulfilment providers was that prices weren’t clear and they charged unfair rates.
The research clarified that a lack of transparency usually means that fees or costs are added to a bill that the brand should have learned beforehand.
Because there is no standard way for fulfilment companies to price their services, some partners might charge a flat fee for services like pick-up and packing, while others might break up that category into smaller charges.
Companies said that “fair pricing, transparency, and competitive rates” were crucial in making decisions. Their preferred providers have a “simple pricing structure that considers the nature of their business.”
As an ecommerce order fulfilment service provider, you need to keep your rates transparent and always let your customers know what they are paying for and the amount they are paying.
Excellent customer service
In this age of supply chain problems, it’s essential to be quick and flexible. But regarding outsourcing fulfilment, 7 out of 10 eCommerce brands said that fulfilment companies needed better customer service.
When a company’s supply chain manager is put on hold for an hour, that’s not the only sign of bad customer service. If the brand can act quickly, it can lead to better experiences for the end consumer.
“One of our biggest fears is that a fulfilment provider’s bad service will cause us to lose a customer for life,” one respondent said.
Another person said, “We chose our current fulfilment service provider because they could help us serve our customers better.”
In sports, they say that “being there” is the best skill. Even if the service provider has all the skills in the world, it doesn’t matter if there’s no one to answer the phone when something goes wrong.
E-commerce brands need to talk to their customers daily, as one company explained: “We switched fulfilment providers because our new one is thorough and gives us ways to check on open orders daily.” They pay attention to requests and needs and are always willing to talk on the phone or by email.”
From this information, it’s vital that you, an eCommerce fulfilment service provider, maintain the highest levels of customer service and always be present to answer any question your customers might have.
Also Read: Tips to Find the Best Dropshipping Suppliers in India
