The Ecommerce Guide

Ecommerce fulfillment services means that the process that goes into the delivery of the product/service from the time it is ordered to the time it is delivered to the customer’s door step. Many sites will outsource this feature to a third party or an ecommerce fulfillment services vendor who will handle this process on behalf of the organization. 

Need to Know

What do you need to know before hiring one such vendor organization? I have highlighted a few of the fundamentals in this article:

1. Receiving – how do they procure their goods from the suppliers and how much time does it take to do so?
2. Inventory – the cost of a ecommerce fulfillment services is highly influenced by this aspect. Many customers leave the site for good if after they have ordered an item, they are met with the answer that product is not available. This information should be available before the customer starts placing an order.
3. Shipping of the goods – this is one of the most crucial features of the ecommerce fulfillment services offered. The vendor should be able to adjust the shipping process according to the needs of the customer
4. Enquiry/ Tracking of the order – this is a feature which is extremely popular with the customer who needs to know where and in what stage of processing his/her order is at any given moment.
5. Return and refund – This part is very sensitive and many times the real test of the ecommerce fulfillment services offered.  The customer should be able to refund an item he/she is not satisfied with without too much fuss and formalities. If the customer finds that he/she have to go through a lengthy and cumbersome process to get what a refund, then you can bet that you will loose him/her as a customer.
6. Record keeping – the services should be able to track and store all information that covers the fulfillment of an order, right from the start to delivery. This is usually done through specially designed software which is well within the means of even small size ecommerce businesses.
7. Online payment processing – without this, the online business will most likely close down. The fulfillment vendors should be able to process all payments online.

The list goes on and on. You can add any type of service to it that you think will add value to the process for the customer.

Tags: Ecommerce, Ecommerce Fulfillment