Ecommerce Entrepreneurs Know A Lot About Websites – But Fulfillment? Not So Much

There are a huge number of blogs out there, dedicated to helping ecommerce entrepreneurs maximize conversions on their sites, get traffic and generate sales. Most of it’s driven by the fact that web design companies need to create content that appeals to their target market to improve their SEO, and it all gives a rather skewed impression of what’s important for ecommerce businesses. Yes – it’s certainly helpful if you have a shiny website, but if your fulfillment sucks, you’re in trouble.

As a result, this article collects what a bunch of sellers had to say about their fulfillment practices and how you can get yours right. Take a look at this.

Have A Daily Routine, And Stick To It

Ofir Amsalem, head of ecommerce at a big online diamond retailer says that fulfillment is all about looking for new ways to reduce costs. After all, customers want products shipped to them at the lowest possible price. He says that the best way to achieve this is to have a daily routine and to stick with it. Daily routines, he says, makes it a lot easier to find bottlenecks in your processes. It also frees up time when you know what jobs need to be done in what order, enabling managers to focus on new ways to drive efficiency.

Let The Professionals Handle It

Brandon Dupsky is the CEO of an ecommerce website. He’s got a message for wannabe ecommerce entrepreneurs: let the professionals handle it. He points out that it’s hard for new businesses to develop their own retail management system and efficient warehousing practices, especially when orders start to mount. He says that it’s a much better idea to outsource these services, getting companies with a proven track record to take over things like order management and warehousing.

As Dupsky points out, moving boxes around, scanning thousands of barcodes and working out what is in your inventory is a big cost to most ecommerce businesses. An entrepreneur’s time, he says, is much better spent on marketing, hiring new employees and expanding product lines.

Give Buyers Lots Of Options

Dan Burnham, an account manager at an ecommerce site, says that ecommerce companies need to give customers lots of different fulfillment options. He points out that eight out of ten buyers might be okay with three-day delivery, but there will be at least one person in that group who will want their order delivered on the following day. Not catering to that person’s needs is a big problem, and can lose you business. Burnham says that by not offering multiple shipping options, you could be missing out on as much as 20 percent of your sales.

Copy Amazon

Daniel Koernke is the head of sales at a shipping company. He’s got some simple advice: copy Amazon. His philosophy is along the lines of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” According to Koernke, Amazon’s shipments are always packed very securely, fulfilled quickly – usually the same day – and the customer is always notified of the progress of their packages.