As we all know, the importance of e-commerce is exponentially growing. Today, we are going to talk about how to organize logistics for an e-commerce.
When a customer completes his or her order on your website, the transaction will trigger any inventory software you have. Most e-commerce platforms have integrated inventory management software, so a completed payment will automatically adjust your inventory accordingly.
Once you get the notification that an order has been confirmed, it is time to ship the product. It depends on the size of your operation, the next steps could vary a little bit:
Home/office operation: If you’re have a small business, and you are running your website from your home or a separate office and store inventory there, you just have to package the product and, of course, send it to the buyer. This is a great option for newer and small business because they save money on overhead by not having to outsource their warehouse management to a third party.
Brick-and-mortar retailer: If you own a storefront location and have the room to store the products you sell online there, the same principle applies as above. You just have to pack up the product and send it to the awaiting customer.
Outsourced logistics: In case your operation is large enough to outsource your online operation logistics, you will probably have to synchronize your platform with the third part you partner with. In this way, once a customer makes a purchase, the distribution centre will know and they can send the package out quickly. This hands-off approach is well organized and eases the stress of shipping so you can focus on other aspects of your business.
Can you track items on the back end? The answer is yes. Since logistics has become so complex and reliant on digital technology, there are options for you to keep tabs on your inventory and where it is in the supply chain. Inventory management solutions within your ecommerce platform give you visibility into how much of a given product you have left. Inventory management tools give you real-time insight into your products so you are never behind on customer orders.
If your business collaborates with a service like UPS, FedEx or the USPS, you can also track items based on the fulfilment numbers they provide. Once the product leaves your hands, it may be a good idea to keep tabs on certain orders to make sure they reach the customer. It’s also an industry best practice to provide the same tracking numbers to customers in their confirmation email so they can keep track of where their package is.
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