Trying to improve your e commerce logistics?
Looking for ways to solve common logistical challenges?
While e-commerce logistics may be easy enough to manage in the beginning, once your business grows larger it can start to get tricky fast. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be impossible. A few simple tips and strategies can help you solve the most common problems you’ll be facing.
Below we’ll look at the top 7 ways to conquer the challenges of e-commerce logistics.
1. Add the Right Delivery Options
One of the best ways to improve your logistics is to offer more delivery options. Giving your customers more options and making the shipping process as easy as possible can go a long way.
In practice, this may mean providing a few different shipping options for your customers to choose from. You’ll also want to offer fast delivery options as well.
Then, it’s important to promote your shipping options on your site and make sure customers know that they have multiple ways to receive their products. By giving your customers more choices and a smoother delivery, you’ll increase the chances that they go through with any purchase that they are considering.
2. Offer Free and Fast Shipping
Another great way to improve your logistics is to start offering faster shipping and to offer it for free. Free and fast shipping can do a great job in encouraging a customer to make a purchase and can increase conversions in a big way.
Be sure to make it clear on your website that your shipping is free and that it won’t take too long for them to get an item or product.
Promoting your free shipping and making it known can expedite the entire purchasing process. It can make the entire journey from a purchase to a delivery go smoother as a result.
3. Communicate Well
Another important way to improve your logistics is to simply prioritize communication. Make sure that things are always clear between your business and its customers. The best strategy is to simply be honest and let them know whenever there are problems or delays with delivery.
Great tracking options can also be helpful and will ensure that your customers are always kept in the loop. Make sure that they’ll be able to use technology to check in on the status of their purchases and know where things stand at all times.
4. Focus on Quality and Accuracy
It’s important to make sure your business maintains a large focus on quality and accuracy when shipping items and fulfilling orders. Make sure that your employees are trained well to check and double check all orders before shipping them out.
A little bit of extra time ensuring the accuracy of orders is essential if you want to remain a thriving e-commerce business.
Even one mistake can lead to your business losing a customer, so it’s important that you put in the extra effort to ensure that your customers are satisfied and that they’ll keep coming back to you time after time.
5. Consolidate Your Stock
When managing e-commerce logistics, it’s important that the bulk of your stock is all in one place at any given time. This will make shipping out an item as smooth and seamless as possible.
If you have different items in different warehouses it can cause problems when it comes to estimating delivery options and getting products to customers. If you have items in multiple regions or cities it can be particularly hard to manage.
It’s important that you look for ways to maintain and manage your stock all in one location so you’ll always be ready for a shipment. It shouldn’t be any harder than it has to be to simply get a product from Point A to Point B after a purchase.
6. Track Your Inventory Perfectly
Along with consolidating your stock and putting it all in one primary location, it’s important that you use modern technology to track your inventory. You should try to maintain an accurate count and know exactly what you have in stock at all times.
Great tracking and supply chain visibility is absolutely essential for a growing an e-commerce business and scaling it well. However, it is harder to keep track of a large inventory than you may think.
It’s important to use tools such as barcode scanners and codes to ensure that you’re able to track your inventory well. You should always know exactly what is going out. You should also work to get new stock in as needed.
7. Know When to Seek Help
To get your logistics right, it’s important to seek outside help with delivery, fulfillment, and supply chain logistics. It’s best to look for this kind of help early on, if possible.
Seeking outside help can allow you to keep doing what you’re best at while letting someone else handle the bulk of the logistical issues. Professional fulfillment services can be a great help and can allow your business to run more smoothly.
Using a courier service with warehousing services can be a lifesaver as well. A courier with a warehouse can keep your items in stock and ship it out quickly once an item is sold. This will take a lot of the weight off your shoulders and may be a good choice if you don’t have a large warehouse space of your own yet.
Getting Started With Improving E Commerce Logistics
Believe it or not, e commerce logistics don’t have to be impossible to get right. However, you do need to put in some effort to consistently get things right and to manage your products more easily.
By following the above tips you’ll have the best chance at having a thriving e-commerce business that satisfies customers every single time.
Ready to get started with a great courier service? Contact us today to learn more about what we can do for you.