The process of receiving orders, managing, and fulfilling them is known as order management. The order management procedure starts with placing the order and finishes when the consumer gets their product.
Order management not only tracks order progress from processing through shipment, but it also maintains the customer data, procedures, and relationships required to fulfill those orders. Businesses, for example, will be required to warn consumers when items are out of stock or unavailable and reply to inquiries when transportation is disrupted.
Order management is a critical stage in practically any business. It is also one of the more difficult phases since it comprises many subtasks. So, how do you handle orders effectively?
Profitable inventory management
You may already be the biggest seller of the trendiest things, with your warehouses well-stocked and prepared to meet the market’s whims. But, one fine day, the market swings unexpectedly like the weather, and your clients suddenly desire things of a different kind, maybe from new rivals in the market.
While customers may continue purchasing your goods, demand declines as trendier products gain momentum. You can purchase more things now in demand, but what will you do with the ones you already have, mainly because you don’t know whether this move is temporary or the start of a new market trend?
All you’ll need to do is set up an inventory management system at your warehouse. The idea here is to have adequate stock without having excess amounts of your popular things so that you may create a way for new items when the market changes.
You may begin by designating a reorder level for each item to have additional control over your inventory. This will not only provide a safe level at which you can purchase and wait for products to arrive while continuing to sell, but it will also help you to better manage your cash flow by concentrating on items that need to be reordered rather than items that will simply sit there chewing up space and money.
Determine the appropriate order quantity for each of your goods in your warehouse.
Retailers often disagree on how much to order at once. Purchasing in bulk, such as for a wholesale buyer, may reduce the cost of the commodities since they are purchased in bulk. Still, it also raises transportation and holding expenses.
On the other hand, purchasing products in lesser quantities results in a greater item cost but cheaper shipping and holding expenses. This is why you should calculate the economic order quantity by adding the ordering, holding, and handling costs. Moreover, having an annual inventory budget plan and knowing how many units of a particular item you sold the previous year may help guide your purchases.
Another form of inventory management is to employ the Just In Time delivery technique for purchasing, in which appropriate amounts of parts or components are delivered to your warehouse just before they are required for creating products.
Dealing with shipping uncertainties
A typical day at a warehouse starts with consolidating orders and duties in preparation for the day’s shifts. Orders are prioritized based on item availability, preferred delivery mode, and cargo volume. The things are then properly packed and dispatched.
After a shipment leaves the warehouse, it is now the responsibility of the courier service to deliver it to the client. What happens now if anything goes wrong? What happens if the product is not delivered to the client on time?
Assume, for example, that a truck carrying several same-day delivery items is involved in an accident and cannot make these deliveries. Apart from the damages and losses, you may lose those clients or transactions if you cannot monitor your goods, analyze the problem, and notify your consumers of the delay before things spiral out of hand.
One approach to handle such a situation and avoid consumer backlash is to use the services of FirstMile ecommerce shipping, which sellers and buyers trust. In addition to having high reputation and providing transparency via real-time package tracking, they have the option of insuring the merchandise to cover any losses that may occur.
Improving Product Returns
You will encounter clients who return things to the merchant. Their motive may vary from anything substantial, such as a broken product or improper shipping, to something minor, such as a change of heart. Whatever the reason, these scenarios are bad for the seller; product returns may ruin an otherwise fantastic buying experience due to the time it takes to replace the items. They also deplete your earnings. Moreover, dealing with unhappy, angry, or upset clients frequently may significantly lower employee morale.
Regarding returns, what do we do with the things returned to your warehouse? Do you have a set procedure in place for dealing with returns? Is this left to the imagination of your employees?
The first and most fundamental step in improving your problem is establishing a regular protocol for dealing with returned merchandise. Make it easy to detect the condition of returned products as soon as you get them from your consumers. This may be accomplished by applying product tags to each item depending on its physical condition.
Following that, sort them according to these tags so that sellable products may be immediately placed back in inventory, while defective ones can be repaired, returned to the manufacturer, or, in the worst-case scenario, written off and disposed.
Regardless of industry, it is also wise to retain a percentage of stock inside the warehouse to function as replacements, samples, and buffers. Some warehouse managers even store these reserved products in different zones to handle returns more swiftly while limiting their influence on the usual flow of goods.
Now that you know how to handle things returned to your warehouse, simplify the process for both the consumer and yourself by creating an efficient returns policy. It should contain all of the terms and conditions that allow a customer to return an item to you, instructions on how to make the return, and a fair time window for returning the item to you (e.g., two weeks from the date of delivery).
When you’ve written your return policy, make it as apparent to your consumers as possible by displaying it everywhere: on your wall, on your website, in promotional emails, and even on the back of your orders. Apart from demonstrating your attention to detail, the return policy will increase your reputation, put worried consumers at rest, and provide your staff with the most efficient ways to deal with such circumstances.
Look for trends in the returns products while you’re at it. You never know whether your clients will return because they were puzzled by a few confusing photographs on your website or if there is a technical problem that the item’s maker has to fix.
You can accelerate your warehouse order management process by controlling your inventory, handling refunds, and managing shipments and back orders using the abovementioned techniques.
