If you haven’t optimized your order fulfillment system, running a drop shipping business can be challenging. As a result, your company may run the risk of running out of inventory and being unable to meet customer demand. It’s not uncommon for drop shippers to import goods from other countries, which gives rise to the following:
Get in touch with a reliable provider.
Obtain a reasonable estimate
Spending time keying in supplier and customer data by hand is a distraction that prevents you from putting your full attention toward marketing and satisfying your customers.
However, you shouldn’t have to face the challenges of order fulfillment alone, and there is always a way to overcome them. While programs like Oberlo can automate some processes for you, they aren’t optimal for speed. Here, we’ll discuss some ways to streamline the process of fulfilling orders for drop shipping so you can stop pulling your hair out in frustration.
Why Streamlining the Order Fulfilment Process is Essential for Your Business
Your priority should be the timely delivery of your products to the customer. Customers will be dissatisfied if you have a disorganized order fulfillment process. If you run a traditional storefront, this isn’t an issue because customers can buy what they need and leave with it the same day.
However, because of the added complexity of running a drop shipping business, this isn’t how things work.
It’s crucial that orders arrive on time and contain exactly what was ordered so that customers can keep using their preferred products. Reduced sales and other unintended consequences can result from a lack of process streamlining. To ensure a steady supply of products, it’s important to have a system in place.
How Can You Improve Your order fulfillment process?
It is crucial for small businesses to ensure that their products can be delivered from the supplier to the buyers. But not all online shop owners have the time or resources to keep a list of suppliers to keep the products available. If you’re having trouble ensuring a steady flow of products are drop-shipped to your store, these nine steps will get you well on your way to generating revenue and keeping happy customers.
Use an Integration
Integrating the entire procedure not only helps you save time, but it also allows you to have a streamlined product line that can be shipped directly to your customers. Using an ordering management system to coordinate with your vendors and speed up deliveries is straightforward.
Facilitate End-to-End Order Visibility
Once you’ve located a suitable OMS to integrate with, you’ll need a tool that gives you and your suppliers access to the same catalogs, order fulfillment procedures, and inventory data in order to guarantee that the products you require are in stock. Customers should be able to easily see what you have in stock and how many units you have available while shopping on your website.
Connect with the Right Shippers
Finding the right group of shippers to get the products out to your buyers is the next step after integrating your system and gaining access to the catalogs for the products your customers want. However, you should conduct regular audits of your current shipping provider to check the accuracy of their tracking and for any unusual changes in the way they process orders. If things have changed for the worse, it may be time to seek out a new fulfillment partner.
Find a Way to Manage the Exceptions
It’s expected that when you ship a package, it will arrive at its destination on time and in good condition, but this isn’t always the case.
That’s why it’s crucial that you turn on a program that helps you monitor shipments and handle unusual situations.
You can get software like Aftership, which will notify you if your order doesn’t arrive on time, if it is being held at customs, or if it has been delivered but the recipient isn’t there to accept it.
In this way, you can preemptively address the issue through customer service and head off any subsequent complaints.
Be Strategic With Your Shippings
Customers have come to expect prompt delivery of their orders; having a reliable and speedy shipping service is crucial to meeting their expectations.
We want you to hear fewer complaints from your customers.
Take a hit in your profits.
Always use the most cost-effective and time-efficient shipping option by implementing smart shipping algorithms to determine which one to use.
Keep Good Communication with Your Suppliers
You should know that being able to effectively communicate with your suppliers is one of the most crucial things you can do for your company. You need them to give you a step-by-step breakdown of what’s going to happen with your order and when your customers can expect to get their hands on the goods. When products are delivered promptly, customers are more satisfied.
Work with Suppliers That Accept Returns
If a customer receives a defective item due to a bad batch, you want to be able to return it without being charged a restocking fee. What you don’t want is for product returns to cause havoc in your business.
Optimize your inventory
Even if you’re in the drop-shipping business, you may occasionally need to purchase inventory. In fact, it is especially important to have a small stock of your most popular products always ready in your warehouse, to avoid out of stock problems and to keep a constant streamline during important periods of the year, such as Black Friday or Christmas. To make sure you don’t run out of your best-selling items before you have time to restock, it’s important to keep track of your stock levels carefully and get alerts when you need to.
Make Improvements to Your Flexibility
Sometimes life happens, and things can be out of your control, so it’s vital that you have a few options when you partner with a few different suppliers who carry your products. Thus, you can pick from a variety of sources in case one doesn’t carry the items you require.