The key to a successful fulfilment company is efficiency. Without it, you risk delaying orders, upsetting customers and losing clients. To run efficiently as a fulfilment company, you need to always look to improve and evolve alongside your clients, ensuring you can deliver the high standards of service they require for their customers.
For customers sitting at home, the way their order is fulfilled and delivered is the last thing on their minds. All they want is to receive their item in good condition and on time, and the client needs to know that you can provide this service as seamlessly as possible.
If you’re looking at ways to speed up order fulfilment in your warehouse, here’s our top five tips.
Manage your inventory accordingly
Before orders are even placed, you need to be sure you’re prepared and in control. All stock should be accounted for and managed to stay on top of demand, upcoming promotions and lead times. To avoid delays and mistakes when it comes to having the right amount of stock, you must know exactly what is always in your supply chain.
Be smart about how you arrange your inventory
You need to be prepared to pick and pack products as quickly as possible. Keep high demand items that you know are replenished on a regular basis in a convenient location that is easy for employees to pick and pack. Reserve top shelves and locations further away from the shipping area for the lowest velocity items that you know won’t be packed as often.
Embrace automation and continue to improve your process
Technology is ever changing and can hugely benefit the fulfilment process when used correctly. It doesn’t mean the warehouse will become robotic, but rather manual steps of inputting information about your inventory can be automated to remove the chances of human error. As demand for online shopping and high levels of customer service increase, fulfilment processes need to be continually enhanced and improved.
Don’t forget reverse logistics
With any E-commerce business, returns are inevitable. You need to get products that are returned listed back into your inventory as soon as possible to avoid issues such as over purchasing stock or listing an item as out of stock when you have this item. You also need to have a system in place to deal with damaged items or if the customer is disappointed with product quality.
Consistently review and react
To make effective decisions, you need to consistently review your fulfilment process and react to changes in demand and seasons accordingly. Consider the visibility of your products, systems you have in place for promotions and if you can scale up and down quickly when needed.
Transform your warehouse operations today
At Optima Warehouse Solutions we pride ourselves on providing high quality but cost-effective warehouse management software (WMS) systems to the warehouse industry and logistics companies.
Contact us today to find out more.
