The digital revolution has changed the way we live our lives, and one of the industries that have been most affected by this is the retail industry. No longer do we have to trudge the high street on a Saturday lunchtime to buy our goods.
Nowadays, consumers can shop from the comfort of their sofas and have pretty much anything they want to be delivered straight to their door.
However, with this industry becoming increasingly competitive, eCommerce businesses are having to do more and more to stay ahead of their competitors. A huge part of this means being able to manage the supply chain in a precise and agile way, in particular, ensuring quick and efficient shipping.
Many companies use e-commerce tracking tools to stay in the loop, while others opt for customer relationship management platforms. But, even then, they often find it challenging to satisfy their customers.
After all, today’s consumer expectations are much higher, especially with brands like Amazon offering same-day delivery. Almost half (40%) of shoppers say they would avoid brands that took more than two days to deliver their goods, and a further 63% expect delivery within three days maximum.
Automation has played an integral role in providing this speedy shipping, but if your eCommerce business is not quite there yet, this guide is for you. Below, we’ve created a guide to automating your eCommerce shipping this year, so you can win customers and stay ahead of the competition.
Connect your website checkout with your logistics
The first thing you need to optimize is the checkout process on your website. This will help to speed up the preparation and the postage of your orders. This is actually very important when you sell on various channels like Amazon, Etsy, OnBuy, BigCommerce and eBay, and much more, connecting to a reliable shipping service requires more time to research and deal with a good price.
Never heard of OnBuy? Check out LitCommerce’s latest reviews of this potential UK online marketplace right here!
Investing in post-checkout infrastructure tools can establish better links between orders being placed and those in the warehouse. After all, some people will choose express delivery, while others will stick to longer (and cheaper) options.
This means those in the warehouse need to know what orders to prioritize, and connecting your checkout with logistics tools makes this possible.
Set your shipping rules
As well as understanding which orders need to be prioritized, those in the warehouse also need to understand the best way to ship certain products. For example, they need to know how the shape, size, and weight of a package will impact which courier service provider is responsible for its delivery.
By setting and automating this information beforehand, those in the warehouse should be given the correct details automatically each time an order is placed.
Make sure to offer different shipping methods
A one-size-fits-all approach to shipping is not going to cut it in 2022. Abandoned carts in eCommerce stores are so often the result of poor or expensive delivery options. So by offering more choice, you could increase the likelihood of a sale. Not to mention eCommerce brands need a variety of shipping options if they want to keep up with ever-changing consumer demands.
Start with standard delivery, of course, and then determine what other options you want to offer. This could be express, next-day, or overnight delivery. Just make sure that you can fulfill orders within these time frames. It’s no good offering next-day delivery if you know you can’t feasibly get their goods to them that quickly.
Optimize your logistics for better order management
Once you’ve connected your checkout process with your logistics and sorted your shipping options, you need to move on to automating the actual preparation and sending of your orders. This task can be broken down into several steps throughout the warehouse facility. These include:
Automating your label printing
You need to find a tool that can automate the printing of any labels and/or shipping documents. There are lots of tools out there that can automate this part of the logistics process by printing any invoices, documentation, and labels required for customs and courier services.
This means that once an order has been processed and the pickers and packers have selected those they intend to prepare, they can have all the correct documentation within minutes.
Automating picking and packing lists
The next step is to automate your picking and packing lists. This can speed up response time from those in the warehouse and help you to get orders prepared and shipped as quickly as possible.
Automation tools make it much easier for warehouse workers to print order lists at the same time as labels and shipping documents, scanning barcodes for more efficient stock-taking and then quickly finding the goods that need to be sent.
Getting the right automation tools in place can make processing orders quicker and simpler, reducing the risk of errors.
Automating stock-taking and release to reduce walking distance
It can be very helpful to cut down the amount of waking distance in a warehouse. Forcing pickers and packers to walk miles each day can slow down the preparation process, which will ultimately slow down collection and delivery.
In order to do this, you need to automate the release and stocking of goods. This could mean that certain goods are released and brought closer to the packers once an order has been placed. This might include relocating goods from one warehouse to another.
Essentially, you want those preparing the orders to work within a smaller space, making it easier for them to gather the goods and get them packed as quickly as possible.
Sync up the preparation of shipments with the arrival of couriers
You need to make sure that all your couriers or delivery drivers are integrated into a single interface that lets them know when orders are ready to be collected. After all, it’s senseless to call for a driver when the orders are not fully ready to go. This wastes time and money for both parties.
By investing in automation tools, such as warehouse management systems (WMS) or enterprise resource planning platforms (ERP), your eCommerce business can encourage interconnectivity between the different logistics departments.
This will help to speed up deliveries, ensuring that all parcels are ready for couriers to take away upon arrival, without any time spent sitting around waiting.
Using automation to prevent incidents
Finally, you’ve probably heard that famous saying ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’, and this is very true during the logistics process. Relying on multiple agents throughout the packing and shipping process increases the risk of an error or delay. Therefore, it’s important to:
- Identify any possible bottlenecks within your logistics department and processes
- Prioritize risk management
- Implement the best possible control and prevention mechanisms, including reducing the number of people involved in preparing each package
- Run regular maintenance on your infrastructure and processes to ensure these are always as efficient as possible.
By regularly reviewing your current logistics and shipping you can mitigate risks and try to prevent issues at the source. This includes running regular software updates and removing any bottlenecks you identify.
Comments 2