4 Tips for Staying on Top of Online Orders
The end of the year is prime season for ecommerce, and if this year left you wondering if your business is built to withstand a large order increase, you’re not alone. It’s time to take a hard look at how you’re going to scale fulfillment for the future so you can face the next spike in sales with confidence.
#1: Position Yourself for Quick Scaling
Predicting how many orders you’ll get each week with perfect accuracy isn’t realistic. The truth is that ecommerce can be volatile, which means your business must be prepared to scale quickly. Would you be able to reconfigure your fulfillment services if you saw a sudden spike (or decline) in orders? If not, it’s time to outsource fulfillment to a partner that can respond quickly to your business needs. If you’re currently doing fulfillment in-house, outsourcing will help to eliminate fixed costs that eat into profits when sales are down.
#2: Collect & Use Data
Understanding the habits and behaviors of your customers will simplify business decisions and lead to a more intuitive consumer experience. It will also help you better predict when you’ll see a spike in business, or when a drop in sales is part of a trend.
Be sure you have a system in place for not only capturing customer data, but for putting it to use. This can be a tricky task, so it’s best to have access to experts who can help.
#3: Streamline Your Order Management
A major source of frustration for customers is a lack of inventory. Of course, if an item is out of stock, the consumer will more than likely stop in their shopping tracks and take their money with them. In order to avoid out-of-stock issues, and to control the amount of inventory you have on hand, it’s important to streamline your ordering process. Ohio Valley Goodwill’s Industrial Services can help your business reduce inventories and shorten lead time.
#4: Free Up Investments for Infrastructure
As a business owner or manager, it’s easy to find yourself getting sucked into the day-to-day operations and left with no time to dive into different business functions. But the fulfillment side of ecommerce is crucial to growth and customer retention. If your orders aren’t being shipped in a matter of 1-2 days, data shows that 69% of customers are not likely to return!
It’s also important to understand what you’re spending on warehousing, picking, and packing. If your fulfillment is done in-house, these are expenses that will hit your bottom line no matter how many orders you have. Outsourcing these tasks gives you the financial flexibility to scale up or down based on sales “” all while having the peace of mind that you have a fulfillment partner to oversee this portion of the business.
It’s Time for Ohio Valley Goodwill’s Local Outsourcing Services!
Give yourself the confidence to handle your next spike in online orders. Choose the Cincinnati fulfillment service experts at Goodwill Industrial Services to meet your packing and shipping demands!
Goodwill’s Industrial Services Division is unlike any other fulfillment service in the region because we’re driven by the non-profit mission to create employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. This means that when you choose Ohio Valley Goodwill as your fulfillment partner, you’re also giving people the chance to participate in their community, earn a living, and gain greater independence through meaningful work.
Contact us today to schedule a free tour of our Cincinnati-based facilities and see what we can do for your business!
