Glossary
Full Glossary
Discover, Optimize, & Profit with an Enhanced Order Fulfillment System

What Is eCommerce Order Fulfillment?

As a budding entrepreneur, having an online e-commerce store can revolutionize how you run your business. With an online presence, you can attract a wide range of customers and build a solid reputation. A successful e-commerce business requires robust organizational and networking skills to juggle multiple vendors, suppliers, and orders. This is where ecommerce fulfillment comes in.

ECommerce fulfillment is not only the most exciting thing about running a successful online business. It is crucial to get this process right to have a successful e-commerce business. This includes having a robust supply chain system along with customer services centres to address any queries regarding order fulfillment.

Industry experts maintain that a reliable order fulfillment process is crucial to the success of any online business. Most online shoppers are likely to return to a website if they have had reliable experiences with shipping and receiving the product. With smooth shipping, returns and customer services, any merchant can build themselves into a trustworthy brand on the internet. Building customer trust is a key ingredient in expanding your business and reputation online. Read along to know all about e-commerce fulfillment.

ECommerce order fulfillment refers to the process of storing and keeping inventory of products, selecting and packaging products and shipping them to respective customers. It is a process that is either done by the ecommerce company or outsourced to third-party logistics services.

ECommerce fulfillment is required by all kinds of business. Be it business to business shipments where large amounts of products are shipped to retailers or business to customer orders, where single products are shipped directly to the customers address.

Business to business shipping orders are taken via mutually agreed contracts between the supplier and the retailer. They are popularly known as B2B orders. As for business to customer interactions, these mainly occur when a customer buys a product from the merchant’s websites or an online marketplace like eBay or Amazon. It is known as B2C order. The process of order fulfillment begins when the order is confirmed by the client or the customer.

Understanding the Stages of Order Fulfillment

What All Does The Order Fulfillment Process Entail?

With the orders coming, the next step is to figure out the logistics. For this, it is important to understand the entire supply chain network- how a product moves from the warehouse to the customer's doorstep. Several organisational and logistical measures are involved in the order fulfillment process. Here is a breakdown of how the entire process works in ecommerce fulfillment services:

Processing Orders

Based on the product availability and inventory data, you need to advertise your products online. You can begin the process of shipping once you start receiving your orders from customers. Once the order has been received and paid for on the website, the company or third party logistics partner begins the process of fulfilling the order.

This involves procuring the item from the organised inventory and packing it appropriately for shipping. The packaging often includes protective materials like boxes, plastic wrap, bubble wrap, tape and other custom packing materials to keep the product safe during the shipping process.

The final step of this process is attaching the shipping label. This includes all the necessary information required for shipping the order correctly- the product name, the order name, the customer’s name and address and contact information. Once all these steps are completed, the product is ready for shipping.

Keeping a Solid Inventory

It is important to have a proper idea of your inventory before you fulfil the received orders. An inventory is constantly updated to keep a note of the products in or out of stock. Also known as warehousing, the process of inventory includes organising and storing products neatly and efficiently. This makes the procurement and shipping process smooth and hassle-free. The fulfillment for an ecommerce business starts with having a solid inventory.

Processing Shipments

Once the order is received, processed and packaged, it is ready for shipping. Here, the merchant may use local postal or courier services to ship their products. Many online marketplaces have a dedicated department that handles the shipping process. As a merchant, you can tie up with local postal and courier services to make the shipping process cheaper and simpler for you and your customers.

Handling Returns

Having a robust return and customer service policy is a must if you want to run a successful online business. If a customer returns an order, you need to have systems in place to process it smoothly. You can communicate with the customer directly via a customer service representative to initiate the process of return.

You can either send a delivery person to collect the returned order or ask the customer to ship the order back to you. If the return order is received in proper condition, you can add it back into the inventory. Alternatively, you can dispose of the product if it is damaged.

Important Tips To Remember While Setting Up An Order Fulfillment System
  • Be sure to have a dedicated section on your website with all information regarding shipping and return policy. This will help you immensely in avoiding any unpleasantness with customers regarding order returns and company policy.
  • Have a robust shipping policy based on the location. It is easy to plan cost-effective methods of shipping based on the location of the orders. Domestic and international shipping work and cost differently, therefore it is important to plan.
  • As a merchant, you can consider providing promotional offers, guaranteed shipping times, and discounts to attract more customers. Having a two-day shipping policy has proved effective in increasing sales and traffic online.
  • Using technology to integrate the supply chain process can be beneficial for small and independent e-commerce businesses. This will help you automatically update your inventory, as well as keep track of your orders and shipments.
  • Small and independent business owners should consider partnering up with third-party logistics companies. These third-party companies specialize in the logistics industry and can transform your e-commerce business. It allows you to focus on your products and marketing as the logistics side of things is taken care of by someone else.